Fnatic CEO calls out Epic after majority of Fortnite players leave Fnatic \/ Epic GamesFnatic\u2019s CEO Sam Mathews saw most of his Fortnite roster depart the legendary esports organization on February 14. After wishing the players well, he turned his sights toward Epic Games and how they\u2019ve handled the competitive scene. It may be Valentine\u2019s Day, but that doesn\u2019t mean that love has to be a given. But depending on how you view them, the statements from one of Fnatic\u2019s founders could be viewed as a form of \u201ctough love.\u201d After saying goodbye to three members of the organization\u2019s active Fortnite roster, Fnatic CEO Sam Mathews addressed the team\u2019s commitment to the game, but indicated his belief that Epic\u2019s commitment to the competitive scene is lacking. Guys we still massively believe in the potential of Fortnite competitive. But I’m not sure Epic always feels the same way. We speak with all publishers, work with them on driving esports. Epic doesnt feel it needs us. We’re here, open, & ready to help drive @FortniteGame. Use us. \u2014 Sam Mathews (@sammathews) February 14, 2020 Mathews touts Fnatic\u2019s commitment to competitive Fortnite, but argues that Epic doesn\u2019t \u201calways feel the same way.\u201d He also implies that there\u2019s a lack of communication between even top teams and the developer, arguing that they speak with other publishers to help them drive esports forward. Just hours before, Mathews and Fnatic said goodbye to Derman \u201cMOTOR\u201d \u00d6zdemir, Theo \u201cPr0vokd\u201d Guillemenot, and Jacob \u201cverox\u201d Gilbert. All three Fortnite players had decided to let their contracts run out and not re-sign. Pr0vokd indicated on his announcement tweet that he is looking to now represent and organization that is \u201csupportive, and wants to take the next step with me.\u201d MOTOR\u2019s initial tweet appeared like he was taking shots at FNATIC, but he clarified in a follow-up that the team\u2019s vision for the game differed from reality. Fnatic didn’t kick us because there was no “”money””. That message was for orgs paying people and kicking them as soon as they see no value in them. Fnatic had a different vision for Fortnite in 2018\/2019. I loved a lot of people there but bussiness is bussiness. \u2014 MOTOR\ud83d\udc3b (@MotorFN) February 14, 2020 In a reply to verox\u2019s tweet, Mathews revealed that the \u201cteam\u2019s plans around Fortnite are toned down.\u201d After the departures, Fnatic only have two active Fortnite players on their roster. Like many other organizations, the team is likely adjusting to Epic\u2019s focus on individual and personality rather than the competitive scene. With the exception of perhaps the World Cup, few competitive events get the focus that other Fortnite content receives. The first World Cup was a bit of a blow for organizations fielding Fortnite teams, as only Solos, Duos, and Creative events were announced. Many participants for each event weren\u2019t even representing any sports organizations. While viewership and gross revenue numbers are certainly doing well, excitement for competitive Fortnite isn\u2019t. Most attention on events is focused more on the personalities attending, whether they be celebrities or streaming stars. If Mathews is right in saying that Epic feels like it doesn\u2019t need to work with esports organizations, then other teams focused more on competing than content may not be able to hold onto their players either.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Fnatic CEO calls out Epic after majority of Fortnite players leave Fnatic \/ Epic GamesFnatic\u2019s CEO Sam Mathews saw most of his Fortnite roster depart the legendary esports organization on February 14. After wishing the players well, he turned his sights toward Epic Games and how they\u2019ve handled the competitive scene. It may be Valentine\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-72456","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72456","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72456"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72456\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}