Epic Games came forward with a solution of sorts after getting called out for its handling of the Fortnite Championship Series. Now, there’s a Second Chance Qualifier on April 28th and 29th, offering Division 1 players another chance to qualify for the FNCS Major 1 Summit and Global Championship.
In addition, the FNCS Major 1 Summit will now be three days and feature 150 qualified players. Fifteen teams will qualify for the Global Championship from there, up five from before.
At the end of the update, Epic added that it had made some changes to its integrity rules. Section 8.2.1 states that using any program, hardware, or tool that has access to the game’s real-time state is considered an advantage and is prohibited.
This comes in response to a recent controversy in which Epic disqualified some pro players from the FNCS, including Kyle “Bugha” Giersdorf, sparking major backlash from the Fortnite esports community.
Fortnite doesn’t allow pros back in FNCS after “legit confusion” over drop calculator
A well-known software that provides teams with ideal bus drop-off routes has been deemed cheating because it interacts with Fortnite’s files. Known as a “drop calculator,” this overlay uses real-time game data to determine the optimal time to jump from the battle bus. Bugha and other pros use it, making it quite the shock when Epic decided it was not allowed right before the FNCS.
Epic’s response made it even worse. Epic admitted the disqualifications were a mistake. However, the team decided to continue the FNCS after forcing those pros out of the tournament.
Epic explained: “Given the confusion on this, the disqualification of these players was a mistake, and the DQs will be removed from their record. The bad news: due to the tournament timing, the lobbies are now full for this event, and it’s too late for them to continue in the current tournament.”
This made it even worse, with Fortnite fans pointing out that these pros now lost their spot for no reason.
Even esports fans outside Fortnite reacted with horror across the internet. The decision to boot the best players in the world and then shun them from returning after realizing it was all a mistake was shocking. Watching a tournament unfold without the top players who qualified by skill felt almost like a chore.
For now, Epic has been forgiven after announcing the Second Chance Qualifier.