Epic Games Responds to Hacking Accusations Against Fortnite Tournament Winner

[dar0ck]

There is a mega online tournament currently taking place for Fortnite, dubbed the Summer Skirmish, that has Epic Games handing out $8 million in prize money over the coming weeks. Any competition that promises a payout with so many zeroes is always expected to attract the very best from the community but in this case, they were deemed to be a little too good.

When the second week of the event ended on Friday, “iDropz_Bodies” was declared as the winner for racking up the most number of kills in ten matches. He earned $130,000 for eliminating 129 opponents. However, there was little celebration because he was soon accused of cheating in various forms.

According to a lengthy post on Reddit over the weekend, the tournament leader colluded with other players for victory and also used a mouse and keyboard for added advantage. He allegedly also left servers if they were not full or if the fly-path was not in his favor, matches that were not taken into consideration.

Following the severe accusations, Epic Games began a full investigation on the matter. The developer surprisingly did not take long to produce a verdict.

The posted findings state that there was no collusion because each of the 129 eliminations was a different player. In addition, none of the accounts belonging to the eliminated players were created recently.

There is also no evidence to prove the use of a mouse and keyboard but Epic Games noted that it does not “restrict input devices in an effort to promote accessibility” in Fortnite. Finally, the in-game analytics confirm that the accused did not abandon any matches due to the aforementioned reasons.

 

With the investigation concluded, Epic Games reminded that such a lack of sportsmanship from the community will not be tolerated in future tournaments.

“We appreciate the community’s concern around the integrity of the competition,” stated Epic Games, “but questioning the results of an individual participant without evidence unfairly tears apart at what should be a crowning moment of achievement for an individual who earned their way there and performed when it counted.”

“Our primary goal is to support competition that is fun, inclusive, and in line with the overall spirit of Fortnite. Unsportsmanlike conduct from participants is not within that spirit, and will not be tolerated in Fortnite competition.”

For those still suspicious, iDropz_Bodies has uploaded all replays of his matches to be dissected if the need be.

The third week of the tournament is scheduled to commence on this Friday. Until then, Fortnite will be celebrating its first birthday with a special limited-time event that will run from July 24 to August 7.