More Cheating Allegations Arise in the Duos Fortnite Champion Series

Two more cases of alleged cheating have come to light in the wake of week two in the Fortnite Champion Series.

The Fortnite Champion Series is in week two of its four-week qualifying period heading into FNCS Heats. In week one, the original top two duos received a 60-day ban due to allegations of collusion. Evidence surfaced of professional players Keys, Slackes, Kreo and Bucke trading shots in Slurpy Swamp to put each pair in a comfortable position for Storm Surge later in the game. Epic Games reacted swiftly with punishments to all four players. Unfortunately, they may have two more cases of alleged rule violations to analyze in the aftermath of week two.

Assault Allegedly Streamsnipes Innocents and Ajerrs

Former Ghost Gaming member Assault was streaming game four of the NA East Fortnite Champion Series finals with new duo partner Blakeps. 62 players remained in game four as Assault and Blakeps were farming for materials, Assault then seemingly implicated himself by stating explicitly what position Innocents and Ajerrs were in at that point. “That was Ajerrs that died and Innocents is stacked,” said Assault and then he continued, “Nevermind he’s shambles. 76 wood.” Although Assault and Blake were in no position to push Innocents, it revealed that Assault had his opponent’s stream loaded. At the time, Innocents and Ajerrs were in the lead seeking their second duo tournament victory and first in the Fortnite Champion Series.

Assault Responds to the Allegations

After the NA East Fortnite Champion Series completed, Assault took to Twitter in response to the clip that surfaced earlier in the tournament. He defended his position before deleting the Tweet, stating,

“Anybody who thinks I would stream snipe a homie is mad weird. Never once in the tourney did we even encounter each other. Tweet whatever you want to tweet, Ik i’m not a cheater. and who would be dumb enough to cheat after four 60 day bans.”

Innocents and Assault previously competed under the Ghost Gaming banner before parting ways with the organization. The evidence here seems clear from a fan perspective, but Assault feels as though he did not stream snipe, considering that he did not engage in a fight with Innocents or Ajerrs. After seeing the bans handed out by Epic Games last time around, we may not have to wait long for a statement on this matter. Although the situation is noticeably different from last week, it continues a developing trend of alleged rule violations in competitive Fortnite.

UnknownArmy Capitalizes on Stream Chat

In another match, UnknownArmy took guidance from his stream chat, which could be a violation of Rule 8.2.1. In the clip, UnknownArmy checks his stream chat as they reveal that the team contesting them at Slurpy Swamp is in dire straights. The eventual third-place duo of Vanish Jahqfishy and Acorn contested UnknownArmy and duo partner Ronaldo off the spawn. Jahqfishy earned the tower chest and began firing upon Unknown, but soon after went down to fall damage. Unknown then rotated toward Jahqfishy and Acorn to pressure them. Although the two duos did not engage in much of a fight, Unknown did identify a downed player from his chat’s advisement. There is one particular rule worth pointing out in this situation.

Potential Rules Violation

The one rule in question, according to the Fortnite Champion Series ruleset, is number 8.2.1.

“Receiving outside assistance regarding the location of other players, other players’ health or equipment, or any other information not otherwise known to the player by the information on his or her own screen (e.g., looking at or attempting to look at spectator monitors while currently in a match).”

In this situation, we could say that Unknown received outside assistance from his stream chat. There is a gray area, in this case, considering that Fortnite coaches exist and guide players during matches. The sole purpose of a coach is to identify aspects of a particular game that their player may not have seen. It’s almost impossible to police this rule considering the Fortnite Champion Series is an online tournament. Epic Games would have to review the evidence on Unknown’s stream and make the determination on whether or not its a rule violation. Although these policies are in place to prevent cheating, the competitive team can only do so much to prevent stream sniping and other rule breaks.

Three Bouts of Alleged Rule Violations in Two Weeks

Many hoped that the rule enforcement placed on Kreo, Bucke, Slackes and Keys would end any potential cheating as the Fortnite Champion Series continued. Epic Games has its hands full with potentially two more cases to investigate. Although these are undoubtedly minor in comparison, there is a clear zero-tolerance policy that Epic Games stands behind. After the botched disciplined placed XXiF and Ronaldo during the Fortnite World Cup qualifiers, Epic Games is looking to reinforce how they handle rule violations. The unfortunate circumstance that Epic is under is that most of their tournaments take place online. It’s challenging to keep a stranglehold on alleged rule violations like in the case of Unknown and Assault.

Stay tuned to ESTNN for more developments on this situation and Fornite Champion Series results.

Photo Credit: Ghost Gaming / Team Kungarna