It was definitely not the start fans, players and developer Epic Games hoped to kick off “official” Fortnite esports tournaments. Since the announcement in June that Epic would be investing $100 Million to fund esports tournaments’ prize pools, everyone’s question was how exactly would that gargantuan amount of money be distributed.

Announced earlier this week, the first edition of the Summer Skirmish today would mark the official start of the game’s esports scene – despite tournaments such as UMG Friday Fortnite already being incredibly popular across the ever-growing community.

After controversially not including some of the top players at the moment, including FaZe duo Cloak and Tfue, 3-time UMG Champions and arguably the strongest duo players in the world, 49 duos were to compete in the initial tournament, which would give away a prize pool of $250,000.

The rules were quite simple: the first team to win two matches would be crowned champions, with up to 10 matches being played. Besides, an extra award of $6,500 would be given to the team with the most eliminations in every match played.

However, a not welcomed guest had a massive impact on each of the matches, which led to the tournament’s cancellation after just 4 matches played.

72hrs and Chap take the inaugural game – lag says “hi”

In a slow paced game, with many duos staying alive until the final moments, 72hrs and Chap, representing Team Liquid, decided against building high, staying instead glued to the ground, bringing their opponents’ structures down to take the first win. The match was however defined by the first appearance of the “character” who marked the day: huge instances of lag greatly affected many players’ performances, with some of them, like Timthetatman, openly complaining about the problems, which definitely shouldn’t be happening at an event that is giving away a quarter of million of dollars in prizes.

Trying desperately to find a quick solution, C4 was initially identified as the main “culprit” for the lag - which led to it being virtually disabled for the remaining of the tournament. With match 2 underway, after the blue led the players to the middle of the Lake, the lag however returned, likely due to the sheer amount of competitors concentrated in a small area, greatly affecting the quality of play once again.

At the end, the Liquid boys somehow were there at the very end, playing to win the whole thing after just two matches played. Facing Kevie1 and NotVivd, they had the numbers advantage after NotVivd died, but Kevie1 managed to make a magical play with the grenade, putting a halt to an abrupt end to the tournament.

Lag puts an end to the tournament

Moving further, Bartonologist and Baysoldier managed to take home the win in match 3, while Marksman and Wildcat grabbed themselves match 4 – with the lag always returning in the latter stages, angering and frustrating players. Epic then took the drastic decision. For the sake of competitive integrity, the tournament was canceled:

The abrupt end of the tournament caught everyone involved by surprise, but considering the circumstances, it was the correct choice.

Today was supposed to be Epic Games biggest triumph in the esports scene. It was supposed to be the ultimate proof that Fortnite esports are here to way and that the game is more that capable to compete on equal footing with other major titles. Indeed, the viewership numbers don’t lie: despite League of Legends’ NA LCS and Overwatch’s Overwatch League taking place at the same time, more than 650.000 people tuned in several channels simultaneously to follow the action.

Instead, Epic has put itself in a somewhat delicate position, becoming for now the laughing stock of an entire community, astonished that a company from its size and resources can’t provide its players a stable environment to compete clean and fairly.

The potential is definitely there: the game is fun, the personalities are captivating, and the viewership numbers are there. Now it is up to Epic Games to not let the ball drop even further: the next weeks will be a true trial by fire as the developer will be looking to recover from today’s fiasco and fulfil the immense expectation it has put on its own shoulders since the already historical announcement last month.

As Julius Caesar once said, “the die is cast”: nothing but perfection is expected from the upcoming events, the ones who will potentially define the shape of Fortnite esports for years to come.

Full list of winners:

Game 1 – Winner: Liquid 72hrs and Liquid Chap

Game 2 – Winner: Kevie1 and NotVivd

Game 3 – Winner: Bartonologist and Baysoldier

Game 4 – Winner: Marksman and Wildcat