This article is part of our Fortnite series.
It was supposed to be the crowning moment for Fortnite esports, yet it quickly turned into a minor disaster as server issues plagued the first Summer Skirmish tournament. By the time the tournament was ended after just four of a possible 10 matches were played, it was clear this week's Summer Skirmish was nothing more than a $250,000 test run.
It's no secret I've been a major proponent of Fortnite esports over the last few months, but even I've got to admit that this just about the worst start to the 2018-2019 competitive season. There's one clip that encapsulates everything wrong with this tournament.
First off, my condolences to Uncle Jack "CourageJD" Dunlop. You just hate it see it.
Now, let's break down that clip. The biggest thing here was the lag. In every single one of the four games played on Saturday afternoon, players experienced some of the worst lag I've ever seen in a Fortnite game. With these players needing to execute high-level and intricate building maneuvers, even the smallest bits of lag can throw them off. The levels of lag here were out of this world and led to some frustrating moments for players and fans alike.
The cause of such lag is unclear, but one of the prevailing theories is that the large number of players present in the final few circles was too much for the server to handle. As you can see in that clip above, there were 39 people left as the zone moved to its fifth or sixth circle. In comparison, a normal match will see less than 30 people alive before the first circle fully closes in. In that sense, it makes sense that things would be wonky since this is a situation just about never seen outside of a competitive setting. Whatever the reason, though, Epic will need to get back to the drawing board and shore up these server issues before next week's Summer Skirmish or risk derailing the whole series.
Outside the lag, though, there were still some pronounced issues with the broadcast. As mentioned above, the teams were playing very cautious, leading to small circles with large amounts of players left standing. This was both a good and bad thing. On the one hand, it led to incredibly tense moments like this at the end of the second game.
At that moment, Team Liquid was on the verge of ending the tournament outright after having won the opening match. Had they been able to clutch out the final 2-vs-2, the $50,000 top prize would have been theirs, as the tournament was a first-to-two wins format. Instead, Ryan "Chap" Chaplo blew himself up and handed the win over to kevie1 and NotVivid. It was a great moment that shows off the levels of hype that Fortnite esports can bring to the table. Everything up to that moment though? Yikes.
While it's expected that teams will play much more cautious with so much money on the line, the level of caution seen in these matches wasn't very conducive for a fun viewing experience. Sure, the opening moments saw some fun gunfights as teams battled after their initial drops. But after the first couple minutes, we saw a lot of this.
People holed up in 1x1 forts just waiting to rotate to the next zone. Now, this was just one player's perspective and the official stream was bouncing between different teams and finding the few fights breaking out. But the above playstyle was prevalent throughout the entire lobby and it just isn't fun to watch. I realize that this might just be a necessary evil, but hopefully Epic can come up with some ideas or tweaks to the zones that can lead to more exciting and interesting gameplay.
Going back to our original clip above featuring poor Uncle Jack, we've got the final reason for my lackluster feelings on this event: the casters. Just listen to their reaction to him complain about the incredible lag he was experiencing. It was no doubt kind of funny that he repeated the same phrase about 15 times in that 30-second span, but their reaction just felt over the top and didn't add anything to the conversation. Rather than give us some insight or try to work through the technical difficulties, they simply guffawed at the lag. Much like the 1x1 clip from above, this was admittedly a single moment during a two-hour stream, but it left a sour taste in my mouth regarding the whole thing.
One other thing that wasn't as big of a deal but curious to me was the manner in which the tournament was presented. While both Tyler "Ninja" Blevin's event at the Esports Arena in Las Vegas and the Pro-Am at E3 utilized Epic's slick observer tool that allowed them to switch between perspectives from within the game itself, this week saw them hopping between the players' individual streams just like a regular Friday Fortnite tournament. Now, I'm all for seeing the players' reactions and whatnot, but it felt odd that they weren't able to use the game client itself and have the casters commentate from that. Maybe that feature is something only available in a LAN setting, but it was a curious oversight that led to some, uh, interesting moments like this (warning: NSFW language):
While I don't have a problem with that, if parents are letting their kids watch these tournaments, as is no doubt going to happen given the game's popularity with the younger audience, that's not the best look. I mean, there's a reason that Ninja famously swore off cursing on his own personal stream. Just like the entire method of hopping through streams feels odd, it felt equally odd to switch to these perspectives and let some harsh language seep through. It was even odder that they include that same clip in the montage that closed out the show, language and all.
So yeah, it was a bit of a rough outing from Epic on this one. But kudos to them for recognizing that the lag was negatively impacting the entire tournament and throwing in the towel early. It ended up as a false start for the Summer Skirmish Series, but they've got some solid data now and can build on this foundation for the next event.
As negative as I might sound here, it was just one week after all. If things are still this bad weeks from now, then we might have a problem. But as we've seen over the last 10 months, Epic is great as calling audibles and fixing things in a hurry.
If there's anyone that can right this ship, it's Epic Games.
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Final placements:
- 1st. Kevie1 & NotVivid
- 2nd. Bartonologist & Baysoldier
- 3rd. Chap & Liquid72hrs
- 4th. ImMarksman & YaBoyWildcat
- 5th. KittyPlays & TFue
- 6th. GS Solonazgul & GS Logan
- 7th. SypherPK & FaZe Jaomock
- 8th. Calebur & Twitch Gratrixtv
- 9th. HighDistortion & FaZe Cloak
- 10th. TwitchNox_the_Fox & Symfuhny
- 11th. Myth & TSM Hamlinz
- 12th. Gotaga & Mickalow
- 13th. FemSteph & WildsBR
- 14th. NoahJ & TSM Daequan
- 15th. Babam_ & TB Lavak3
- 16th. GS_Rxmpxge & TTV GS_Warpath
- 17th. Kp5ive & Chrispy
- 18th. TinyTimothy & Brushh
- 19th. King Richard & Cowv1n
- 20th. Typical Gamer & Thiefs
