There is trouble at Fortnite regarding the ongoing tournament: the FNCS. After 4 pros were banned for cheating last week, there is now a new case. The professional player Unknown Army streamed his tournament on Twitch, and an irregularity was noticed.
This is special about the tournament: Fortnite is currently hosting the FNCS, the Fortnite Champion Series. Unlike regular eSports tournaments, which are held in a LAN on-site, pros and other players compete online from home. This has always been the case with Fortnite; it is not due to the Corona crisis.
Therefore, there are no tournament conditions, but there are clear rules that count. After last week 4 pros were banned who tried to help each other sneakily, this time there are accusations against another player.
Player uses information from the Twitch chat
This is what the player did: In a 20-second Twitch clip, you can see the player UnknownxArmy. He is considered one of the best Fortnite players in the world with a controller. He is nicknamed “Controller God” and has earned nearly $100,000 in prize money in Fortnite:
- The video shows the player reading the Twitch chat
- then he calls out information to his partner that they need to attack an opponent team now because they have taken “fall damage”
- now he runs towards a position without any apparent reason
- he says: “Everyone in his chat says that,” also the player Fatch, whom he trusts
Why is this cheating? In Fortnite, it is strictly forbidden to receive external information that reveals the status or location of other players. Therefore, the behavior is clearly against the rules.
Here are the reactions:
- Some Twitter users are now calling for the ban of the player, whose Twitch clip clearly shows his misconduct
- Others say Unknown Army only read this in the kill feed – but that seems hardly credible, especially since the player explicitly says “Everyone in the chat is talking about it”
In the past, Epic has consistently taken strong action against such behavior: At the Fortnite World Cup, a player was even removed from the ongoing match, because he looked up at a monitor that showed him information he was not allowed to have.
Fortnite vulnerable to cheating in online tournaments
This is the issue: Fortnite is currently vulnerable to cheats and misconduct. The integrity of eSports in this form is low, and cheating is easy.
This case was noticeable. However, it is quite conceivable that other players are cheating cleverly to gain advantages.
The biggest cheating scandal in Fortnite occurred in 2019 when two players were banned during the qualifiers for cheating. However, the ban lasted only 14 days: they were able to continue playing and actually qualify for the World Cup. At the Fortnite World Cup, the team was booed by the fans.
