An accused cheater reaching the FNCS Warmup Finals led to a walkout in the European region.
This afternoon, European Fortnite Battle Royale pro players had a rough outing in the Fortnite Champion Series (FNCS) Season 8 Warmup Finals. Top trio teams across the game’s seven regions battled through three rounds to reach the last leg of the season’s first tournament. Thirty-three teams in the European region prepared for the finals but essentially staged a walkout mid-tournament.
Players found that an alleged cheater made their way into the competition early in the going. It’s not uncommon in any game, but hackers in Fortnite Battle Royale seem to infect lobbies far too often. Finalists began hurling accusations at the accused cheaters on Twitter and many bowed out of the FNCS Warmup Finals entirely.
Accused Hacker Appears in FNCS Season 8 Warmup Finals
guys hes not cheating pic.twitter.com/Mq7w0T21sr
— GUILD Hen (@hentvv) September 26, 2021
FNCS Season 5 Champ Henrik “Guild Hen” Mclean posted supposed evidence on Twitter of a “blatant cheater” during the tournament. In the clip, the player is on high ground and manages to take Hen’s health bar from 200 to almost zero in the blink of an eye.
same guy different day pic.twitter.com/RcaypayM2V
— GUILD Hen (@hentvv) September 26, 2021
The former Axe of Champions holder posted another video shortly after — depicting the same player knocking Hen similarly to the first clip. Many other players posted clips, but it’s nearly impossible to tell whether someone is cheating in Fortnite.
The player — known as wubzi — dropped on top trio Rezon, Vadeal, and Noahreyli in the second game and eliminated the latter two without missing a single bullet. The accused’s Fortnite Tracker account sports a playtime of only eight days, mostly on keyboard and mouse. There’s no way of telling since Fortnite has anti-cheat software. However, professional players believe the accused cheater is guilty.
Professional Players React to Accused Hacker
can you imagine any other esport allowing a team of full blatant cheaters into a finals of a tournament
— benjyfishy (@benjyfishy) September 26, 2021
Pro Fortnite player Benjy “benjyfishy” Fish of NRG reacted to the evidence and controversy on Twitter. The multiple-time FNCS Finalist question, “can you imagine any other esport allowing a team of full blatant cheaters into a finals of a tournament?” His question certainly has merit, considering these three players made it through three rounds of a qualifier allegedly cheating the entire way.
NOT PLAYING AN EVENT WHEN EPIC GAMES REFUSE TO BAN CHEATERS #FIXYOURGAME pic.twitter.com/bEJW8fb8lY
— aqua (@aquaa) September 26, 2021
Fortnite Duo World Cup winner David “aqua” Wang joined the list of players who boycotted the remainder of the Warmup Finals. After game three, fewer and fewer finalists queued into the games. That list includes marquee names such as Martin “100T MrSavage” Foss Andersen and Dmitri “Liquid mitr0” Van de Vrie.
It was an unfortunate way to conclude the first Epic-sanctioned tournament of Chapter 2 – Season 8. However, it’s important to remember that cheaters and hackers have found their way into matches before. Epic’s anti-cheat software tends to be the target, but hackers are always searching for ways to circumvent the system.
We’ll have to wait and see what, if anything, Epic Games has to say in response to the boycott and outrage. Stay tuned and we will keep you updated with anything further developments.
Featured Image: Epic Games