Fortnite bars Russian players from participating in cash tournaments- Fortnite players from Russia have encountered a major setback. Today, a blog post and tweet by Epic Games has made it harder for Russian Fortnite players to participate in competitive tournaments. While the developers of Fortnite have not clarified the reason, the team has decided to bar the players from this country from competing in “cash tournaments.” Following the boycott Russians are facing from other major esports organizations, this does not come as that big of a surprise.
Epic Games officially bans Russian players in cash tournaments
Although Epic Games removed the tweet and blog post shortly after posting, it was posted again after some time. Hence we can now consider the ban to be official. Russia is forbidden from participating in Cash Cups, the Fortnite Champion Series (FNCS), and all tournaments where money is on the line.
People had dug out the previous tweet that had shared a blog post talking about barring Russian players from participating in Fortnite monetary tournaments. According to the official statement, “Effective as of March 11, Russia will be added to the list of countries that are ineligible to participate in Fortnite Competitive tournaments with cash prizes. Players residing in Russia will still be able to compete in non-cash tournaments and earn in-game cosmetic prizes.”
Similar to Epic Games, other major gaming corporations had also announced their ban/boycott of Russia after it began invasion in Ukraine. Epic has advised the Russian players to claim recent prize winnings before 22nd March. After that time limit, the company will freeze payments until further notice. The statement read, “If cash prizes remain unclaimed after March 22, 2022, they will be frozen until Epic’s payment service provider is able to resume prizing support for players residing in Russia.”
It seems this decision occurred due to recent sanctions on Russia. Either way, Fortnite players within Russia are stuck in a bind. Many of these top players have dedicated the last four years to rising the ranks in competitive gameplay. They will now have to wait until the Russia-Ukraine conflict ends and the ban on them gets lifted.
