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Slasher claims Fortnite esports’ real problem isn’t the prize pool
Esports reporter, Rod ‘Slasher’ Breslau, claims that Fortnite’s main problem as an esport isn’t the dwindling prize pool.
With the recent announcement of the Fortnite Season 4 FNCS tournament, high-level competitive players have been calling out Epic Games for the lowering of their esports prize pool after their massive $100 million splash during the 2018-2019 season.
Top competitors like BenjyFishy, Zayt, and others have taken to social media to call out Epic for the seemingly drastic lowering of the prize pool over the course of the last year.
Players who place in the top three of the most popular regions in the game are seeing about half of what they won a year ago. The winner of the European region in the FNCS will earn almost $370,000 less in Chapter 2 Season 4 than they did during the same tournament in 2019.
To be fair to Epic Games, there are a few reasons for this. Most obviously, Epic are now providing daily and weekly Cash Cups to their player base. These events might not garner as much attention as the seasonal FNCS and DreamHack tournaments, but they do count towards the total prize money that Epic give away for Fortnite esports.
This might sound like Champaign problems to a lot of people reading this. Yes, we’re largely talking about young video game players who are competing for hundreds of thousands of dollars from the comfort of their own homes.
To the top players in the game, however, this isn’t all about the money. To them, it’s another sign that Epic don’t care about the competitive side of Fortnite. In their defense, they have years of evidence to back this up.
Esports reporter Rod “Slasher” Breslau weighed in on this topic on Twitter, stating that the real problem with Fortnite esports has nothing to do with the prize money. “Fortnite esports doesn’t need $100 Million in prize money for (it) to be successful,” he wrote. “Fortnite needs Epic Games to truly care about its competitive player community with a long term plan for the pros instead of treating esports as a nonsense marketing exercise to promote the game.”
In a follow-up tweet, Slasher evoked the ongoing battle between Epic Games and Apple and how many of the pros in the community remain indifferent on the objectively positive stand that Epic are taking. This writer has heard one popular pro claim that he wanted Apple to “clean out” Epic while raging about the Fortnite server performance in the Season 3 FNCS Grand Finals.
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As unfortunate as it may be, Slasher is right. Epic are using Fortnite esports as a “marketing exercise to promote the game.” They always have. When did Kevin the Cube come to Fortnite? In the middle of a tournament. When did the Infinity Blade come to Fortnite? The night before a tournament.
Chapter 1 Season 7 began four days before a $1 million Winter Royale tournament. That means that all of the qualifiers took place on a different Fortnite season than the finals. In fact, the EU finals and the NA finals for the same tournament happened on two entirely different seasons.
In his final tweet in the thread, Slasher acknowledged that “Fortnite esports is still in an okay spot, but given the size and impact of the game to the gaming community at large or even mainstream culture.” Fortnite might be the biggest game of all time when it’s all said and done, but the esports side of things, “could be so much more,” as Slasher states.
Over the past year, in an interesting twist of fate, competitive Fortnite has become the number-one way to watch Fortnite on Twitch. Popular streamers like CouageJD, Ninja, DrLupo, and NickMercs have all left the game. Browsing the Fortnite category will primarily bring you streams of players like Clix, BenjyFishy, and Bugha broadcasting pro scrimmages.
At the same time, however, these pros are largely negative about the game that they all play. We all rage from time to time, but many of the Fortnite pros go out of their way to trash the game on other platforms – not just on-stream. It’s a problem for a game when its most popular players are constantly talking about how bad it is.
The worst part of this scenario might be that the game isn’t bad. It’s actually quite good. Casual players who don’t understand why these pros are complaining start to drift away from watching them. This was the primary cause of the philosophical divide that we’re now seeing between the casual and competitive Fortnite player bases.
There’s a way out of this for Epic Games, but we’re not too confident that they’re going to take it. Like Slasher said, Fortnite esports is in a good spot; despite all of the issues that it has. On a casual level, Fortnite has almost as many players as ever. Season 4 seems like a return to form for the core game.
As someone who was overwhelmingly excited for the future of Fortnite esports during the first Friday Fortnite tournament, though, I can’t help but feel disappointed. There was a ton of potential and it seems like we might already be past the peak. It could have been a lot more, but that’s not the route Epic are taking.
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How to get the Dish Destroyer pickaxe in Fortnite Season 3
Another exclusive pickaxe arrives to Fortnite in Season 3 and it sure looks quite different. Here’s how you can get it.
The Dish Destroyer pickaxe is another free cosmetic you can get in Chapter 3 Season 3 if you haven’t already. Here’s how to get the pickaxe right into your locker.
Fortnite players sure love freebies that the developers give them away each season. From a free Refer-A-Friend skin to a slurpy back bling that you can get upon completing quests, players have faithfully completed every task that Epic has asked them to claim the free reward.
However, over the course of several seasons now, getting these freebies is starting to feel too much work to some players. Epic continues to add away free content, but players are asked to put in the work in order to claim these rewards.
This time around, there’s a new item on the block, The Dish Destroyer Pickaxe, which you can get in Fortnite now by doing a few simple steps. Here’s how you can get it in Season 3.
Get the Dish Destroyer Pickaxe in Fortnite now
Nvidia’s cloud gaming platform GeForce Now was launched earlier this year when players were able to stream Fortnite on any device if they were a member of the service. This also allowed iOS users to stream the game on their phones despite the Apple vs. Epic lawsuit.
In a recent tweet, Nvidia announced that Fortnite players will be able to redeem a free Dish Destroyer Pickaxe if they stream Fortnite on their GeForce Now enabled devices until August 4, 2022. Players who are members of the exclusive service will only be able to redeem this for free in-game.
However, in another announcement, Epic told its player base that the pickaxe is not exclusive to GeForce Now but will also be available in the Item Shop at a later date. This means that those who aren’t able to redeem the free pickaxe using their GeForce Now memberships will have a chance to buy it using V-Bucks in the Item Shop.
The cost of the pickaxe has not been revealed as of yet as players believe that it will be released once the limited window of August 4 for GeForce Now members have expired. As soon as we get any news on its Item Shop release, we’ll be sure to update this article.
GeForce Now players have had the perks of free rewards ever since the service allowed players to experience the thrill of Fortnite anywhere on their devices. Falling in line is XCloud’s gaming service which has become extremely popular amongst Xbox players.
For more, check out our guide on How to use Ice Cream cones in Fortnite Season 3.
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Fortnite players call on Epic Games to fix Loot Chests bug in Season 3
As the latest Fortnite Season 3 update brought players a No Sweat Summer, it left a weird bug in the game where players are getting empty loot chests. Here’s the latest on that.
Fortnite players have finally given up on the game due to its never-ending glitches and bugs that affect their overall gameplay experience. The latest glitch in the game is teleporting chest loot to a different location, and it’s getting pretty annoying for players.
Player feedback is one of the many things Epic takes very seriously that it aims to fix in every major weekly update or minor hotfixes from time to time. Often there are times when these bugs can get pretty annoying as they affect the overall gameplay experience for the player.
Fortnite players have seen bugs ranging from being stuck under the map or taking fall damage after jumping off a launch pad. From pros to content creators, each one of them took to social media to call on the developers to “fix the game”.
However, a recent update, v21.30, left a bug that has tested the patience of every Fortnite player active this season – potentially the most annoying Fortnite bug of all time. Here’s everything we know about it so far.
Fortnite bug teleports chests loots to other locations
A strange Fortnite bug that is going viral right now on social media is the Loot Chests bug. It all began when Epic added the update v21.30 and introduced players to this year’s summer event, No Sweat Summer.
The update also saw the addition of Prime Shotgun which is considered to be the best shotgun in Chapter 3. While all the additions are fascinating and exciting to the players, the bug the update left in the game is still haunting players who are failing to win a game like they used to.
The bug, as shown in the clip above, teleports the chest loot to a nearby location outside if a player opens a chest box inside a building. This is pretty annoying as it doesn’t let the player farm loot fast as they usually would while landing on a hot drop.
Players have already started uploading their clips of the loot chest bug and are calling out the game to come out and fix this issue. This bug also creates double the work for those players who like to play a fast-paced Battle Royale match.
Joining in the conversation are a few FNCS players who feel that this bug might cost them several games where they would end up losing on a major competitive level. The entire community has joined hands together to ask the developers to fix the game at the earliest.
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While Fortnite has not addressed this issue on their social media handles or on the Trello board could also mean that players in higher ping regions might be the only ones experiencing the bug. However, the player base is still keeping their hopes high to get these issues fixed as soon as possible.
As bugs and glitches continue to add to several issues Fortnite is filled with, events like No Sweat Summer keep the community excited for more in-game content and freebies that they can get. The challenges for No Sweat Summer are live in-game now and players can redeem their share of rewards upon completing them.
For more, check out our article on Fortnite introducing the new Prime Shotgun in update v21.30.
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Fortnite introduces the new Prime Shotgun in update v21.30
Prime Shotgun is the latest game breaking weapon that has been added to Fortnite in v21.30. Here’s all about the new shotgun.
Prime Shotgun is another addition to Fortnite this season in terms of weaponry that has been added to the game. Here is all about the latest shotgun that was introduced in v21.30 and what players think of it.
Fortnite Chapter 3 Season 3 has been a joyride for both OG and new players alike. The new mechanics, the reality bloom spreading everywhere, and the addition of new weapons to the game have kept the community satisfied so far.
However, during the beginning of Chapter 3, the shotgun meta was deemed to be the worst shotguns the game had added to the game. The Striker Pump, Ranger, and Auto Shotguns were weapons that players had deemed incompetent to other shotguns in Fortnite.
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Much so, even the newly released Two Shot Shotgun couldn’t impress the players with its faster fire rate and damage. So, Epic decided to throw a new shotgun into the mix to seek player reactions and improve the messed-up shotguns in-game.
Prime Shotgun is the new community favorite shotgun in Fortnite
Prime Shotgun was added in the latest update v21.30 to the unvaulted weapons arsenal in Fortnite. The shotguns were the second one introduced to the player base apart from the Two-Shot shotgun.
Read More: Fortnite leaks confirm Beerus, Goku, and Vegeta skins for Dragon Ball Z crossover in Chapter 3
It holds 4 bullets in a clip and promises heavy damage on the first shot fired from a fully loaded clip. The 3 shots that follow inflict lower damage than that of the first one.
When a player reloads the shotgun, 3 blue dots appear on the gun with the red dot being the first shot being loaded. This brings back the memories of the infamous “One Shot Meta” from the OG days when the community used to perform using a Pump Shotgun.
Pros like NickEh30 sang high praise of the Prime Shotgun as the weapon contains elements of the OG pump in terms of range, accuracy, and firepower. Other pros like SypherPK & Ninja also commented their thoughts on the gun which were highly positive.
Read More: Combat SMG removed from Fortnite in v21.20 and replaced with new Charge SMG
With the recent Fortnite update, leaks have also been floating around about the No Sweat Summer and Ice Cream cone consumables that the player base can see in-game in the coming days. However, an official announcement has been made about the same on the official blog website of Fortnite.
How to get the Dish Destroyer pickaxe in Fortnite Season 3
Another exclusive pickaxe arrives to Fortnite in Season 3 and it sure looks quite different. Here's how you can get...
Fortnite players call on Epic Games to fix Loot Chests bug in Season 3
As the latest Fortnite Season 3 update brought players a No Sweat Summer, it left a weird bug in the...
Fortnite introduces the new Prime Shotgun in update v21.30
Prime Shotgun is the latest game breaking weapon that has been added to Fortnite in v21.30. Here's all about the...