When Fortnite announced the release date of Season 2 in Chapter 2, professionals were concerned. But Epic Games has now managed to make the players happy: Because Epic is adopting a principle from successful titles like LoL in eSports and will let the tournament be played on an “old patch.”
What concerned the professionals? Meanwhile, most of you have probably heard that Fortnite has postponed the start of Season 2 in Chapter 2 to February 20th. Until then, the “normal” players will somehow be kept entertained with overtime challenges.
However, professionals were worried about the late date. Starting February 21st, just a day after the season starts, a $250,000 tournament in Fortnite: Battle Royale will be held at DreamHack in Anaheim. A new season usually means that significant changes are ahead, turning the game upside down. New weapons, vehicles, and even a completely new meta.
In the past, Epic showed no qualms about releasing such major patches before important tournaments. The professionals then had only a few hours to deal with the new patch.
So the new Infinity Blade ruined a $1 million tournament for Fortnite professionals in 2018.
This is how Epic Games reacted: This time the Fortnite developers have thought about the professionals’ welfare. The Twitter account of Fortnite Competitive announced: “Since Season 2 of Chapter 2 is expected to start on February 20th, DreamHack in Anaheim will use the Fortnite build 11.40.”
Professionals, coaches, and commentators reacted positively to the tweet:
- Benjyfishy from NRG writes “OMG, this is so good. Thank you!”
- Fortnite caster Ballatw writes “You guys have been really great lately – thank you so much!”
An important step for eSports in Fortnite
Why is this important? What may seem like a minor comfort change for players is extremely important for professionals. In other games with high eSports involvement like League of Legends, it has long been the case that tournaments are only played with patches that professionals have been able to test sufficiently.
In Fortnite, this was not the case for a long time.
- Shortly before a $100,000 event, the Boom Box was introduced – “Epic is trolling us”
- Shortly before the start of the $30 million World Cup, professionals were no longer having fun – They wanted fewer new features
That Epic Games listened to the professionals here and also provides the certainty that Patch 11.40 will be used for DreamHack in Anaheim is important for the players. Because this allows the Fortnite eSports to be taken more seriously.
If DreamHack had been held on the new patch for Season 2, which would only have been active for a few hours, a shitstorm would likely have been preprogrammed.
Nevertheless, professionals are no longer allowed to signal jump during tournaments.
