Fortnite Champion Series (FNCS) in Chapter 2 – Season 8 came to a close late Sunday night for European players, but it took much longer than expected. The tournament should have ended much sooner, but it didn’t. Before an accidental ban affected one of the 100 players involved, Polish players Kami, Setty, and teeq were well on their way to claiming the FNCS title, and queue issues affected the same player shortly after.
What should have been a victory lap for the Polish trio turned into something else, similar to what happened in the FNCS Season 7 Finals. Epic Games was forced to correct the erroneous ban and extend the European Season 8 Finals by more than an hour as a result of the situation.
To close out the Season 8 Finals, professional Fortnite player ‘Tripperrnn’ found himself in a situation he is all too familiar with. Prior to the FNCS final match, he received an account ban. In the interest of fairness, Epic Games corrected the erroneous discipline and rightfully nullified the results of the following games. In Season 8, history repeated itself when Tripperrnn received another in-game 24-hour ban for “exploiting.”
Last season, during the Season 7 Finals, Tripperrnn and 100 Thieves player MrSavage were also banned and upon closer inspection, it was discovered that several players had reported the two FNCS Finalists, prompting Fortnite’s in-game system to intervene.
After his most recent ban, Tripperrnn took to Twitter to show a screenshot of his in-game notification. Epic responded by restoring Trippernn’s account and erasing the game 12 results.
Trippernn and the other 99 players appeared to be out of danger, but this was not the case. Another issue prevented the unbanned player from entering match 12: he was unable to queue. Epic Games had to restart the game for the third time after nullifying the results of game 12.
The same trio that initially failed to make it into match number 12 had the same result during the restart, according to the official livestream. The second match is set to start at 5:40 p.m. ET. The 33 finalists eventually finished the 12-game marathon, but not without controversy.
The last time Tripperrnn was wrongfully banned, players and viewers speculated that it was orchestrated by a Twitch streamer during a FNCS watch party. Despite the fact that this was never proven, Trippernn believes the cause is the same this time. It’s difficult to say whether or not the accusations are true. Nonetheless, if this is true, the potential for widespread reporting and ban is a major concern.
Despite Kami, Setty, and teeq’s dominance, the two restarts had a significant impact on the leaderboard. Some, including last season’s runners-up — Stompy, nebs, and pinq — lost thousands in prize money as a result of these minor leaderboard changes, while others benefited. Epic Games should hopefully address the problem and avoid similar situations in the future, especially given the consequences.
