Ya know, there three really good ways to ensure you’re never going to win the $30M Fortnite World Cup. One is to not play. Two is to suck at Fortnite. But three is to cheat so overtly that you get caught and booted. That’s exactly what happened this week in Fortnite.
Kotaku’s run-down of the events earlier this week paints the picture: Pro Fortnite player XXiF stood accused of cheating, specifically of teaming up with specific enemy players – repeatedly – who then helped throw the match in his favor, ultimately pushing him to second place and securing his spot in the final event this summer. Such actions are explicitly against Fortnite’s event rules; participants aren’t allowed to collude, team or communicate with enemies, or intentionally drop items for opposing players.
Ultimately, Epic Games agreed with the accusers and has barred the involved players from further tourney play in the near future.
“Based on an internal investigation, we have concluded that a group of players attempted to undermine the Week 3 Fortnite World Cup Online Open competition on April 28 by colluding across several matches. All players involved will receive a 14 day competitive ban and will be ineligible for any Week 3 prizes. This group also included a player whose score would have qualified them for the Fortnite World Cup finals in New York. Consequently, in addition to the competitive ban and loss of prizing, this player will also forfeit their Fortnite World Cup Finals qualification spot. As a result, the qualification spot will be granted to the next highest ranking player on the Week 3 Finals leaderboard for the NA-E region who has yet to qualify for Solos.”
And that’s in addition to 698 other players Epic says violated the rules and were punished accordingly. Sheesh.
