Fortnite’s Fall Skirmishes have ended, but another tournament series is just about to begin: the Winter Royale Online event. Developer Epic Games announced the tournament in a blog post this morning, which also outlined new changes to the tournament system and ongoing plans for competitive Fortnite.
To run everything smoothly, Epic has updated its online tournament system. In the v6.30 update, the developer made “critical fixes,” like adjusting how points totals impact matchmaking. “Now, players will be correctly matched against opponents with similar point totals.” So as a player advances in a tournament, matches will get more challenging.
“Please note that players with many points may have to wait more than 5 minutes to find a suitable match,” Epic said. “We will continue to explore the best fit for competition by adjusting the matchmaking process over time as needed.”
The team also fixed issues with incorrect point totals showing up post-match, as well as an issue that caused points to show up slow. Epic said it’s hoping to move toward a “real-time point tracking” system as things advance.
Another addition is the “Pop-Up Cups” tab found tucked in the events section. These are online tournaments with “different game settings,” an equivalent to Competitive LTMs, Epic said. Epic wants to iterate on this idea and explore in-game adjustments using this tool. And that brings us to the big event: the Winter Royale tournament.
The $1 million Winter Royale tournament will be held in two parts, the qualifiers and the finals. Using the new online tournament system, Epic will test the program that will “emulate the World Cup qualification process.”
Winter Royale will use the same settings as the current Pop-Up Cup, Epic said. Top performers from North America and Europe will be chosen and invited to the regional finals. The Winter Royale is restricted to those two regions, but Epic will hold other region-specific tournaments for more areas “in the near future,” Epic said.
Here are the dates:
- Winter Royale open qualifier: Nov. 24 to Nov. 25
- Europe Winter Royale finals: Nov. 30 to Dec. 1
- North American Winter Royale finals: Dec. 11 to Dec. 12
