Epic Games has confirmed third-party Fortnite: Battle Royale tournament organizers have a prize pool cap that’s much lower than Epic’s average payout, according to Kotaku.
The cap is set at $10,000, with Daniel “KEEMSTAR” Keem being an exception to this rule—he’s allowed to put up $20,000 in his weekly Fortnite tournaments. NerdOut also announced a $20,000 Fortnite tournament for tomorrow, however.
Since the announcement of the Summer Skirmish, a series of tournaments paying out $8 million over an eight-week span, Epic has faced community backlash for stifling grassroots events. Fans have been quick to criticize the developer’s readiness to show it is the biggest and baddest tournament organizer around, despite what it may do to smaller event hosts.
Related: This week’s Friday Fortnite is canceled due to Summer Skirmish
While there will certainly be several more affected by this attitude, KEEMSTAR has certainly felt it the most.
UMG Events, which had been assisting KEEMSTAR in hosting the Friday Fortnite tournaments, revealed it would no longer have any involvement in the weekly competition. The final Friday Fortnite event didn’t end up happening either after a public spat with Epic led the developer to flex its virtual muscles and effectively raid the Friday Fortnite talent pool for its $500,000 Solo tournament on the same day.
In order to stay away from Epic’s tournaments, KEEMSTAR will be moving his weekly tournaments to Sunday, a day free of Epic-run competitions for the time being. That may change, though, when Fortnite World Cup qualifying begins later this year.
Related: PS4 players excel in Fortnite’s first $500,000 Solo Summer Skirmish tournament
And while some may think Epic is unknowingly damaging its reputation with these actions, the tactics seem intentional. Possibly taking cues from League of Legends and Overwatch, where the developers run their respective esports scenes with large-scale leagues, Epic is likely trying to monopolize its own game’s competitive space.
Whether that’s a smart strategy for Epic and Fortnite: Battle Royale as a whole remains to be seen—but with the success of LoL esports and the Overwatch League, Epic may have strong templates to choose from moving forward.
