Epic Games announces $20 million prize pool for 2021 Fortnite tournaments

Epic Games has recently announced the Fortnite tournaments for the year 2021. The prize pool of the game is set at $20 million dollars. With a goal of 20 million, the company claims that its “overall goal is to create better consistency throughout the year and tie the 2021 seasons together for a more cohesive experience.”

The announcement includes some significant format changes that longtime FNCS fans and participants have been asking for.

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FNCS 2021 Format

Perhaps the biggest change to previous Fortnite Champion Series, Epic has decided to make all of 2021’s FNCS events trios format.

We’ve got a meaty blog post for you today covering:

➞ #FNCS Chapter 2 – Season 5 Format, Schedule, Prize pool, Broadcasts
➞ Gameplay changes
➞ More ways to compete

Read all about it here: https://t.co/fZ8iOXu2x5 pic.twitter.com/Ji7kxaU69T

— Fortnite Competitive (@FNCompetitive) January 19, 2021

Players can now compete in cross-platform pools, meaning the whole team doesn’t need to be playing on the same platform. Though you can probably bet that most of the top players will be on PC for obvious reasons.

Weekly qualifiers will have one additional round, and once a team has qualified for the semi-finals, they will not be able to participate in subsequent qualifiers for that event. Evidently, players had been complaining about qualifier rounds being influenced by teams who had already secured their spot.

Epic is splitting up semi-finals and finals to separate weekends to avoid player fatigue. As someone who has to cover this stuff, I appreciate it, too.

All prizes have been shifted to the finals of each event.

The top three teams from each region’s finals will automatically qualify for the next season’s FNCS Finals, provided the same team members are still present.

Some indeterminate scoring format changes to account for the increased influx of players into the FNCS.

Fortnite Champion series Schedule

Qualifier 1: February 4-7
Qualifier 2: February 11-14
Qualifier 3: February 18-21
Bye Week: February 25-28
Semi-Finals: March 5-7
Reboot Round: March 12 & 13
Finals: March 12-14

Epic Games announced Fortnite Tournaments – Qualifiers Format (THREE WEEKS)

Each week, top performing teams will progress through different Rounds of competition culminating into a 33-team field in the final stage. The top 10 teams from each region in the final stage will move on to the Semi-Finals. Series points will be awarded to teams that advanced to Round 2.

Additional Qualifier Path – After three weeks, the top 102 teams in series points will also advance to the Semi-Finals for a total of 132 teams in each region progressing in the tournament.

Semi-Finals(MARCH 5-7)

Once teams advance to the Semi-Finals, they will be placed into four groups in their respective region. Each group consists of 33 unique teams. The top 8 teams from each group will advance to Finals. Teams that placed 9th-16th in each group will compete in the Reboot Round.

EU Example (Check the Official Rules for your local region coming next week)

Reboot Round (MARCH 12 & 13)

Teams ranked 9th – 16th in each Semi-Finals group will move to a special consolation round, the Reboot Round. The Reboot Round is a winners-take-all single match where the team that earns the Victory Royale will be awarded a qualifying ticket to the Finals.

Finals (MARCH 12-14)

With the competition down to the top 33 teams in each region, our Chapter 2 Season 5 FNCS winners (and new wielders of the Axe of Champions) will be determined across 12 total matches in two days (6 matches each day). Additionally, the top 3 teams from each region will automatically qualify for the Chapter 2 Season 6 FNCS Finals. 

Epic Games announced Fortnite Tournaments – Prize Pool

With the format explained, let’s break down our plan for distributing the $20,000,000 over the course of 2021. 

Epic Games plan to have four FNCS seasons in 2021, each with a $3,000,000 prize pool, for a total of $12,000,000 in FNCS prizes for the year. The distribution across all regions for the $3,000,000 prize pool is currently based on the most recent competitive participation and regional game population. We have provided a chart below and will continue to monitor and evaluate data before each season to make any necessary adjustments.

Current Season FNCS Finals Prize Distribution by Region 

We also have plans for mid and end of year competitions where we will bring together the top performing FNCS players in each region in multiple competitive formats to compete for an additional $8,000,000 in prizes. We’ll have more to share about these events as we get closer to the middle of the year.

Competitive Gameplay Changes

The changes to competitive playlists before FNCS starts include:

• Addition of Lever Action Shotgun
• Vaulted Rift Fish
• Vaulted Shockwave Grenades
• Removal of Elevators and IO Guards
• Sand tunneling will remain in competitive playlists and tournaments as long as it remains in the core playlists, as it is a major feature of this Season’s map.
• We’ve made adjustments to the amount of Bars players start with in competitive playlists. We’ll continue to monitor how the Bars system fits in competitive, and will make adjustments as necessary.

MORE WAYS TO COMPETE AND WIN PRIZES – Epic Games announced Fortnite Tournaments

In addition to the $20,000,000 FNCS related prize pools, we have more ways to compete for an opportunity to win prizes. 

SOLO SATURDAYS

Solo Saturdays are weekly Cash Cups for Champion level players to show their skill, compete for the opportunity to win cash prizes, and potentially get on the radar of players looking to fill out their FNCS Trio. There will be intentional overlap with FNCS to provide players who may have already qualified, or didn’t make it to Round 3 of the FNCS Qualifier for that week, an opportunity to jump into a cash prize tournament.

MORE TRIOS CASH CUPS AND LTM TOURNAMENT ADJUSTMENTS

Trio Cash Cups for Champion level players will now be every Monday, instead of every other Monday, to provide teams a consistent weekly tournament to prepare for FNCS, as well as a chance to try out a new team combination. After careful reflection and considering player feedback, the LTM’s we had previously planned to hold on the alternating Mondays with the Trios Cash Cups will now be held on Sundays to support a wider audience of participants. We’re also shifting the prize pool originally allocated to these LTMs to both the Trios Cash Cups and Solo Saturdays, and the LTM Tournaments will instead be focused on fun, no-stakes formats for the rest of the season.

CONSOLE EXCLUSIVE COMPETITIONS

We held several console exclusive tournaments last year and saw a lot of positive feedback from the console community. We’ll continue to add more console exclusive tournaments in 2021 with dedicated prizing.

The rulebook for various tournaments is posted on the official website of Epic Games.

You can visit the rule book by just clicking here.

Do let us know how many of you are participating. Our best wishes are with you.

Aakanksha Chandra

An enthusiastic writer, counselor, and education specialist. Having worked with the corporate, writing has become my all-time favorite. It brings out a plethora of emotions and knowledge. Know more about her on facebook