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Fortnite: The Success of Competitive Skirmish Tournaments

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In July 2019, Fornite's competitive landscape changed forever. Epic Games has disbursed $ 30 million to the best players worldwide. Two hundred talented players qualified for the Fortnite World Cup, which gave them the opportunity of a lifetime. It was the height of the Fortnite competition, in a sense, but it certainly wasn't the beginning.

For sure, Fortnite's history is an enigma. Once, tournaments did not consist of moving zones, which meant that the player or team with the most healing items would normally win. In July 2018 the whole game scenario became different. At that time, the seasonal Skirmish competitions began. These offered million dollar cash prizes to the invited players.

Recently, Twitch superstar Tyler “Ninja” Blevins revived this exclusive guest format. The Ninja Battles. With that, players remembered the summer of 2018, when Epic Games spent millions on this type of competition. Some would bet the best times on competitive Fortnite. Gaming Net will go over some details to come to a conclusion as to whether or not Fortnite Skirmish tournaments should return regularly.

Summer Skirmish 2018

In the summer of 2018 there were few well-known Fortnite tournaments. It was them, UMG Friday Fortnite and a Celebrity Pro-Am that took place at E3 in 2018. With that, Epic Games ended up making the decision to make a big tournament. On July 11, 2018, the developers announced the first significant Battle Royale tournament in the game's short history, known as Summer Skirmish.

Summer Skirmish, however, was not an open tournament like the one we see today. Epic Games sent out invitations to play competitive games. The Summer Skirmish format would also change from week to week. The scoring system fluctuated considerably. It was the beginning of a major change in Fortnite, raising the bar for competitive Battle Royale.

Summer Skirmish was Fortnite's first real attempt to become a legitimate competitive video game. (Image: Epic Games)

Summer Skirmish was Fortnite's first real attempt to become a legitimate competitive video game. (Image: Epic Games)

Several players and content creators had a chance to play. With that, the chance to win some insane cash prize, in addition to disclosing your name to the public. Tfue, Vivid, Chap, 72hrs, Myth, Hamlinz, Daequan, SypherPK, Cloakzy, Ninja, NICKMERCS were examples. Epic Games knew the exact players it needed for Summer Skirmish.

Throughout the tournament, Team Liquid's Vivid managed to win four of the eight individual sessions. He did this alongside partners Kevie1, Poach and GrenaderJake in weeks one, four, five and seven, respectively. Vivid also won the solo tournament in the second week.

Fortnite Summer Skirmish Grand Finals - PAX West 2018 Live!

On September 3, 2018 at the PAX West video game convention, Summer Skirmish came to an end. 99 players remained for the Grand Finals with $ 1.5 million at stake. Six intense fights closed the tournament and Morgausse won the victory. Overall, Summer Skirmish was a milestone in the Fortnite competition.

Fall Skirmish 2018

Fortnite Summer Skirmish was a success, so Epic Games did not stop there. Professional players were constantly improving and exploring new ways to dominate the competition. And it took less than a month for developers to create yet another new tournament. On September 20, 2018, Epic Games announced Fall Skirmish. A six week $ 10 million tournament series for North America and Europe.

Fall Skirmish followed a format similar to that of Summer Skirmish. This one had the finals of the TwitchCon Convention. However, this time, Epic would split the guest players into four different teams with Fortnite character themes and locations. That list included players like the Americans Tfue, Vivid, Zayt, 72hrs, Chap, Myth, SypherPK, Bizzle and Summer Skirmish Champion, Morgausse. Europe's main representation came in the form of mitr0, k1nzell, Pate1k, Airwaks and several others.

Fortnite Fall Skirmish followed a format similar to that of Summer Skirmish. (Image: Epic Games)

On October 26, 2018, Fall Skirmish came to an end at TwitchCon. The best players from Europe and North America traveled to the San Jose Convention Center in Calfornia to dispute the prizes. duo Tfue and Cloak from FaZe Clan reigned supreme with 28 eliminations in six matches. They raised an incredible $ 400K USD for their victory in the Fall Skirmish Finals. FaZe Clan's duo Nate Hill and Funk took second place, earning $ 225.5K USD. TSM ZexRow and TSM Vinny1x secured third place, and Ghost Gaming's Bizzle and Dmo came in fourth.

Fortnite Fall Skirmish Grand Finals and Streamvitational - IGN Live

Fall Skirmish continued Summer Skirmish, raising Fortnite competitions. Epic Games was giving away millions and millions of dollars to these iconic names and some previously unknown players. The last Fortnite Skirmish tournament took place four months later, in February 2019.

Secret Skirmish

The successes of the Fall and Summer Skirmish tournaments legitimized Fortnite: Battle Royale as a competitive game. Tfue, Cloak, Chap, Vivid, 72hrs, Bizzle and many others had already established themselves as the cream of the crop. In January 2019 Epic Games released Secret Skirmish.

One hundred players received invitations to the Secret Skirmish contest based on their latest performances. Epic Games split the competition into two separate days. The first day followed a duo format and solos occupied the center of the stage on the second day, both with six games and an almost identical scoring system.

One hundred players received invitations to Secret Skirmish. (Image: Epic Games)

One hundred players received invitations to Secret Skirmish. (Image: Epic Games)

Epic Games placed the 100 players in different combinations on the first day. As a result, Tfue and Cloak, 72hrs and Chap, NICKMERCS and Aydan would not participate in the competition as partners. After six fights, Saf and Ronaldo won the victory and took home the grand prize. JTruth and Thwifo took second place and Tfue and Dmo completed the first three.

Secret Skirmish | Day One (Duos)

On the last day of Secret Skirmish, 100 players played against each other. The finalists had all the incentive they needed to get out and win first place. Former Ghost Gaming player Bizzle won a victory in the final game to declare himself the winner of Secret Skirmish. Secret Skirmish has elevated its name on the Fortnite scene.

Saf, another member of Ghost Gaming finished in second place. He also remains one of the best players in Fortnite throughout the three-year history of the game. The former Team Liquid Vivid member who dominated Fall Skirmish months earlier took third place. The three players have remained at the top of the competitive landscape to this day. It was a very different time from competitive Fortnite today.

 

Brazilian, 23 years old, I follow eSports since 2010 with a good experience in Counter Strike Global Offensive, Fortnite, League of Legends and Valorant with articles and news published in the electronic sports scene.