How does the new ‘Events’ tab and in-game tournament system work in Fortnite?

One of the most exciting aspects of the October 16 V6.10 patch for Fortnite Battle Royale is the introduction of the all-new ‘Events’ tab.

Originally announced October 15, the Events tab is now live and will give players the chance to take part in competitions and tournaments in-game, without the use of the third party sites or organizers, and should make it significantly easier for aspiring competitive players to get a foot in the door.

But how exactly does it work? Well, according to the developers this is the very first open online competition for the game and is very simple to get used to.

“Events have scheduled tournament sessions for you to play in. After you’ve selected one of the tournaments, you’ll see when the session is set to begin so you can warm up or talk strategy with your squad.”

How do the tournaments work?

Each tournament session begins with a completely clean slate, so all players will begin with the same score and compete over a number of hours to earn points in a variety of ways.

Matchmaking during a tournament session will match players with opponents that are on similar point standings, so you’ll continuously be playing against people in a similar skill group.

Tournaments will feature a target score and players that achieve it will earn a special pin. According to the developers, these pins may advance you to the next round of ongoing tournaments or earn you a prize in the future.

What platform will the competitions be played on?

Every platform will be used for the tournaments, meaning that PC players will be matched up with users on consoles or even touchscreen devices:

“players from all platforms will compete against one another as equals, regardless of if they are on a Mouse, Controller, or Touch input device. Every player will participate in the same competitions from start to finish, with equal opportunity to rise above the competition.”

This means that you will have to opt-in and enable cross-platform play in order to compete in the tournaments.

When do tournaments begin?

A number of tournaments have been made available with the release of the new in-game competitions tab.

The events will be scheduled in North America, Europe, Brazil, Asia and Oceania – you’ll be able to check the exact time for your region when you look at the event.

The first tournaments are as follows:

• Alpha Tournament (Solo)
  • Dates: October 16 – October 21
  • Description: Participate in the first in-game tournament, spanning across several days of daily competition!
• Beta Tournament (Duo)
  • Dates: October 23 – October 25
  • Description: Grab a friend and take on the world – until you are the last two left.
• Friday Night Fortnite (Squad)
  • Dates: October 19 – November 30
  • Description: Join your friends every Friday and kick off your weekend with some exciting Squad action.
• Salty Springs Cup (Solo)
  • Dates: October 27 – October 31
  • Description: One week and three attempts to prove you’re the saltiest that Salty Springs has to offer.
• Tomato Temple Cup (Duo)
  • Dates: October 28 – November 1
  • Description: Become legends of the Tomato Temple Cup.

What’s the long-term plan?

Epic Games say that they will be: “Continuing to develop the tournaments feature to allow for events to occur across multiple rounds, requiring players to have earned a pin to qualify for each subsequent round.”

The developers also say that they are working towards developing an “exciting and varied” tournament schedule for players of all levels to enjoy around the world.

There will also be a chance later in the year to qualify for the 2019 Fortnite World Cup directly through a “Showdown Royale” event which will use the in-game tournament system.