Fortnite: Epic Confirms No Winter Royale Event In 2021
| Tags: Fortnite
| Author Matt Pryor
Fortnite's trend of yearly winter competitions has officially ended.
Winter-themed Fortnite tournaments have been around since 2018, beginning with the unprecedented Winter Royale. In its first year, this competition boasted a $1M USD prize pool and elevated the careers of such players as Tom “Liquid 72hrs” Mulligan, Dmitri “Liquid mitr0” Van de Vrie, Issa “Issa” Rahim and many more.
Epic Games has hosted a winter competition with various formats and outcomes for the past three years. In 2019, the second Winter Royale featured an impressive $15M USD split across seven regions and three days of differently formatted Duo competitions. The Winter Royale did not return for the third time in 2020. Instead, Epic Games unveiled Frosty Frenzy—a three-day Trios tournament with $5M USD up for grabs.
Players came to expect another winter tournament in 2021, but Epic Games confirmed today that this would not occur.
No Winter Royale 2022
We've got one final Competitive Update in 2021! What you need to know before jumping into 2022 competitions: https://t.co/E4JyBxp5EW
— Fortnite Competitive (@FNCompetitive) December 15, 2021
Fortnite's yearly consistency with its seasonal Fortnite Champion Series (FNCS) tournaments and Cash Cups left players waiting anxiously for a massive competition before the end of 2021. Professional players took to Twitter over the last few days with their predictions of a Winter Royale to close out the year. However, Epic Games released a blog post today, informing players that no other event would occur until 2022:
“The normal competitive reevaluation period coupled with the timing of the new Fortnite Chapter (new weapons, Island, and new engine with Unreal Engine 5), on top of the much needed Holiday time off for players and employees did not allow us to squeeze in any additional competitions in December. We look forward to seeing you all competing in 2022.”
While it's not what most players expected, Fortnite Chapter 3's sudden launch came as a surprise ten days ago. Recent winter tournaments did occur following a season release, but not of this magnitude. Competitive Fortnite fans and players will need to wait until January 10 for Epic's in-game competitions.
In Other News
Epic's recent competitive-focused blog post included clarifications and plans for the new year. Here is a recap of what they mentioned:
- All tournaments will now require a minimum account level of 50 (previously 30) to participate.
- Premiere tournaments such as FNCS will also require an even higher minimum account level of 100.
- FNCS Semi-Finals will be a single-lobby tournament.
- After each session, qualified teams will be removed from the player pool.
- Teams on the Series Point Leaderboard will fill those spots.
- Semis will include two five-game sessions and one six-game session.
- The previously announced Match Point Format is not set in stone as presented.
Epic also revealed the Best-of Format:
“…a player's best games from a given set would be counted towards an individual or team score. For example, if you have three hours to compete in up to 10 total matches, this format could be used to only count the best seven matches out of the possible 10.”
That likely covers all competitive Fortnite news we'll receive until next year. We'll be sure to keep you updated with everything Fortnite-related!
Matt is a graduate of Southern New Hampshire University. He appreciates all esports titles but primarily focuses on Fortnite and Call of Duty. Matt continuously analyzes gameplay and plays the games himself to better understand in-game decisions by the best players in the world.