Epic announce $500,000 Fortnite Secret Skirmish event
Epic Games have announced a brand new Fortnite esports event set for February, titled the Secret Skirmish.
The Fortnite tournament will take place on February 14 and 15 2019, from a “classified, undisclosed testing facility,” with $500,000 on the line.
The event will be an invitational, with Epic Games stating that they will be bringing in the top players from each Open event that has been held on Fortnite so far.
Matches will be broadcast via Fortnite’s official channels, and the developers state that fans can expect the “same high-powered matches as TwitchCon and PAX,” but should keep an eye out for new additions to the broadcast throughout the two day event.
The Secret Skirmish will be used to prepare the broadcast team for the Fortnite World Cup, which is set to take place later in 2019. While no details have been made available yet, Epic Games did say that they will be releasing more information about qualifying for the World Cup in the near future.
The reveal of the Secret Skirmish comes on the back of Epic Games’ announcement that they are changing their approach to competitive Fortnite, and specifically the way in which they release updates before major tournaments.
Epic have previously released a number of game-changing additions days, and sometimes hours, before an event, leading to a great deal of criticism from the Fortnite community. This is set to change in 2019, with Epic stating that they will adjust update releases to fit with competitive needs.