Epic Games cancels Fortnite World Cup due to coronavirus pandemic

The inaugural Fortnite World Cup took place in New York last year and saw more than $40 million being handed out to top players

 Kyle Bugha Giersdorf celebrates after winning the Fortnite World Cup solo final at Arthur Ashe Stadium on July 28, 2019 in New York City.  Getty Images / AFP

The Fortnite World Cup is the latest event to be cancelled in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

Epic Games – the developer behind the hugely popular video game – cited health concerns as well as difficulties in running an event of this scale while employees were working from home.

The in-person tournament brings together some of the best players from around the world, and server distances do not let such a competition take place in an online setting. The 2020 Fortnite World Cup was slated to take place in July, and would’ve marked the second installment of the event.

“For the rest of 2020, all Fortnite competitions will be held online,” Epic Games said on Twitter. “Due to the limitations of cross region online competition, there will not be a Fortnite World Cup in 2020.”

"We don't know when a return to large, global, in-person events will be practical, but we're hopeful to be able to put on some form of Fortnite World Cup in 2021," the game developer said.

The inaugural Fortnite World Cup – which saw more than 2 million concurrent YouTube views – took place at Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York City last year. It saw a whopping $40 million prize pool being distributed to top players. This included the $3 million prize for the solo tournament champion, which was won by Kyle “Bugha” Giersdorf. The 16 year-old beat out a number of notable placer in attendance including members of the FaZe Clan, Ninja, and Dr Lupo.

However, Epic Games is continuing its online schedule as planned. Last week, it announced the launch of the Fortnite Champion Series Invitational, a solos competition with a prize pool of $2 million that is set to begin on Thursday, May 7.

A record-setting online concert series by US rapper Travis Scott was also held within Fortnite's game world last week. More than 12.3 million players logged on the first day of the concert on April 23, subsequent show times saw more than 28 million unique visitors participate in the 15-minute concert experience.