Epic Games introduced a new item into Fortnite today. They are calling it "The Boom Box" and any player who reads its description can surmise it will have a profound impact on the way the game is played.

Boom Box

• Activate to create powerful blasts of music that deal structure damage in a large area!
• Newly built walls in the radius of the box are destroyed with every blast.
• Shoot the Boom Box to stop its effects.   

(description provided by Epic Games)

Game Changing

Many Fortnite diehards will resent the addition of new mechanics that flat-out destroy buildings as the continued effect of multiple blasts are sure to change the dynamics of a 1 vs. 1 scenario. When both players are trying to out-build each other, the ability to create a second point of pressure that threatens the stability of a structure will most likely influence the meta significantly.

Normally, such gameplay additions wouldn't be much of an issue, but Epic Games has once again decided to unleash major patch changes on the same day as major esports events.

In this case, it was the $100,000 WSOE 3 LAN tournament. Last time it was the inclusion of a Sword before the $1M Winter Royale and before that it was the TwitchCon Fall Skirmish being played on a brand new patch despite competitors expecting an older one.

Community Concerns

Naturally, those critical of Epic Games and their push into esports had a lot to say regarding the Boom Box and WSOE:

Some have even accused Epic Games of purposefully using esports events to advertise their new updates, despite being fully aware last minute patches before tournaments ruin the competitive integrity of the event. Considering these "mistakes" are taking on an increasingly predictable pattern, it is quickly becoming the predominant opinion among the esports community that Epic Games doesn't care about esports and are only using its boom in popularity to sell more in-game content.

Perhaps it is naive to think that a developer as massive as Epic should care about keeping their esport fair to the small minority of competitive players. It is likely that Epic's core audience is more entertained by pro-players using the new game content and having to adapt on the fly.

This response from pro player and streamer Ali "TSM Myth" Kabbani highlights why these type of last-minute game updates make it hard to take Fortnite esports seriously:

"Epic is trolling. Yeah. I'm going to abuse the living hell out of it. If we get Boom Boxes, if we see any team, I'm going to throw all three at them and wish them a happy tournament."

This is the state of Fortnite esports. It is a real strategy to abuse whatever new item Epic throws into the mix and hope for the best. These type of tournaments won't "really" be about who is the best Fortnite team -- they will be about which team discovers something broken about the new weapon first.