As PC Gamer's Fortnite guy, I've written many a guide to Epic's various tournaments, cash cups, and special events, but few have ever been as weird as this one. On Thursday evening, Epic announced the #FreeFortnite Cup, a new tournament seemingly designed to continue Epic's campaign against Apple and Google. Barring a legal miracle, it's effectively your last chance to cross-play with friends on iOS and Android devices for a long while.
"All of your friends. Awesome prizes. And one bad apple," Epic writes.
The prizes available? Well, that's where things get a little... silly.
Participants who score ten or more points during the tournament (details below) will earn the 'Tart Tycoon' skin. You'll recognize it as the apple man from Epic's parody of Apple's famous 1984 ad that made the rounds last week. Here he is in all his subtle glory.
It's pretty much a guarantee that anyone who plays a couple matches during the tournament window will earn the skin, as you get points just for surviving every minute.
Epic could have stopped there and called it a day, but no. For some reason, they're offering the top 20,000 players a #FreeFortnite hat. A dad hat. A dad hat with the Fortnite llama colored like Apple's old rainbow logo.
God have mercy on us all.
Epic is also giving 1,200 players (of undetermined criteria) some free gaming gear, like Alienware gaming laptops, Samsung Galaxy Tabs, and some good old-fashioned consoles. Not sure if that's going to stem the tide of millions of mobile players from calling up customer support, but it's a start?
Either way, Epic is clearly rolling full steam ahead with its campaign against Apple and Google. Whether or not they can win against the tech giants in a court of law remains to be seen, but Epic is certainly investing in the court of public opinion.
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Free Fortnite cup date: All the key details
The Free Fortnite Cup starts on August 23 at an as yet unspecified time, and will presumably be accessible from the 'Compete' tab on the main menu. Epic says the event will run for four hours. Despite the announcement's emphasis on cross-playing with friends who are on mobile, the tournament is apparently for solo players only, and is limited to 12 matches. Here are the full details.
Points are broken down as such:
- Active time: 1 point for every three minutes on the battle royale island.
- Eliminations: 1 point each.
- Victory Royale: 10 points for winning a match.
So are you playing in the Free Fortnite Cup, or is this an easy pass? Thankfully, us PC players will be coasting into Fortnite season 4 whatever happens.
