
Fortnite Champion Series Game Performance and Servers are a Problem
| Tags: Fortnite
| Author Matt Pryor

Fortnite has a long way to go before the FNCS begins in a few days.
Less than a week ago, competitive Fortnite players and fans received news they had been waiting on for many months. Epic Games announced the third-ever Fortnite Champion Series with a duos format. Professional players were ecstatic, to say the least, considering duos and trios are far and away the two preferable game modes. Although the prize pool caught some flack, the pros gathered their duo partners in preparation for nearly a month-long competition. This version of the FCNS began with a warm-up weekend, and so began all the problems that we are too familiar with in competitive Fortnite.
Contents
Unfathomable Game Performance
Since the release of Chapter 2 Season 2, Fortnite’s general in-game performance has taken a huge hit. Unfortunately, the game just cannot seem to keep up with itself. Players are often unable to build structures or consume items, which creates an unfavorable experience. A few clips from over the weekend were startling. Most of these incidents occur during end games, where Fortnite seems not to register player inputs.
*NSFW VIDEO*
FUCK THIS SHIT GAME AND ITS SHITTY DEVELOPERS. I CBA. WERE NOT GOING TO QUALIFY BY LIKE 3 POINTS BECAUSE OF THIS… 1500+ MATS LEFT ON MY DUO AS WELL. 7 FLOPPERS.. C . B . A . pic.twitter.com/KlvRocxCUu
— Wickesy (@Wickesy_) March 14, 2020
In one specific instance, an EU player named Wickesy could not build, eat floppers or drink a mini potion in the closing moments of one of his FNCS warmup matches. This situation is just a small taste of what many players, both casual and professional players, have endured over the past few weeks since the latest season released.
Server Lag
In an online scenario, anything could happen. For this reason, popular esports titles host offline events to break up the inherent randomness that occurs online. In Fortnite, if you're not in Virginia or Germany, your ping this season is likely all over the map. One of the most significant takeaways from the weekend events was how delayed, and sluggish the servers looked. Players were editing and tarping slower than molasses, and it creates an uncomfortable situation.
Fortnite end games are all about rotating, hitting shots and making critical split-second decisions. These tasks often get lost in the shuffle when players have to suffer through such glaring server issues. Lag, in general, is certainly not new to Fortnite, but hosting a $5M USD tournament with unbearable servers will ruffle some feathers. Both server lag and performance issues work together to make a frustrating time for players and a poor experience for viewers.
Developers Address the Issues
Big thanks to everyone participating in this weekend’s FNCS Warmup. We’ve identified some issues that may impact gameplay through the weekend. We’re working on fixes and optimizations that will arrive in the next game update.
— Fortnite Competitive (@FNCompetitive) March 14, 2020
One positive takeaway from this weekend’s competition is that the Fortnite Competitive team is actively working on improvements. Some may not find solace in this promise based on the history of in-game issues. However, what we have here is much better than the developer completely ignoring what’s right in front of them. Plain and straightforward, Fortnite needs to see reliable servers and performance. Otherwise, players won’t take the FNCS seriously. Fans and observers are rooting for a prosperous future in competitive Fortnite, but there’s no telling what will come next.
Promised Updates and Improvements
v12.20 arrives tomorrow. Downtime will begin at 4 AM ET (0800 UTC). pic.twitter.com/4jjtuapiom
— Fortnite Status (@FortniteStatus) March 16, 2020
The next five days are imperative to the future of online Fortnite competitions. With an update soon to come, we will have to keep an eye out for how the game and servers perform after the adjustments. It’s exciting to have a legitimate competitive Fortnite tournament back regardless of how players feel about the current meta. Seeing the best duos across all seven regions duke it out to decide the winner is the reason why most of us watch. The game will receive a patch early tomorrow morning, which should address the ongoing issues. Let’s just hope that players will be able to play Fortnite up to its true potential without any game-breaking misfortunes.