Bugha explains why he’d never quit Fortnite for another battle royale

Kyle ‘Bugha’ Giersdorf is one of the best Fortnite players going around, and that’s not likely to change in 2020, after the Solos World Cup champion explained why he isn’t the quitting competitive battle royale any time soon.

As far as Fortnite players go, it’s hard to come by one more decorated than Bugha. Winning the World Cup 2019 in solos shot the then 16-year-old to fame, and since then, he’s proven time and time again it wasn’t a fluke.

He’s racked up his fair share of Cash Cup wins, and had consistently good performances across squads and duos in the last 12 months. It’s hard to see a player of his calibre give up his title, but stranger things have happened in esports.

However, even if you put his results aside, it’d be hard to draw Bugha away from Fortnite. His love for the game is deep, and it’d take something highly innovative for him to jump ship.

Him joining the Fortnite ship in the first place was because of innovation, after all. Fortnite took the battle royale genre, which was just starting to become a big thing, and turned it into a creative masterpiece, according to Bugha.

From the art style, to the fast-paced gameplay, and even just the fact it was a battle royale ⁠— everything Bugha saw in Fortnite lured him to pick up the game and become the best.

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“I really liked the idea that you’d be the last one standing and you’d eliminate every other person,” he explained in an interview with ESPN. “It kind of reminded me of Search & Destroy in CoD, and I love that game mode, so coming from that to battle royale, I loved it.”

Fortnite’s unique building mechanic was the big draw card though. It made the game feel more like a sandbox with an infinite amount of solutions and possibilities that allowed players to express their skill in so many different ways.

Bugha saw that if he could nail building ⁠— by emulating the likes of TSM star Ali ‘Myth’ Kabbani in the early days of Fortnite ⁠— he could become the best.

“I think I’d say [I fell in love with Fortnite immediately]. The whole building aspect of the game just made me want to keep getting better at building, the aiming aspect, I just wanted to get better with my edits and it got me hooked forever,” he said.

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“I thought [building and editing] was really cool because I hadn’t played a game before where you could do your own mechanics and create your own things. It reminded me of Minecraft in a way.”

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While he’s dabbled in games outside of Fortnite since then, like Apex Legends and more recently Warzone, nothing has been able to draw him away from the Epic-developed battle royale, and it’s unlikely anything will.

“I think those games [Apex Legends and other battle royales] have a lot to them, but Fortnite in my heart is just going to be the best because of the whole building aspect and being able to do your own thing,” he said.

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“You can categorise yourself as a different kind of player based on how you build or edit, and I think that’s really good.”

If a new game came along with a more interesting creative mechanic maybe Bugha would make the jump.

However, for now, the Solos champ is focusing his attention on defending his World Cup title and not only becoming the game’s best player, but the best he can be.