EU Fortnite players angry about North American bias in Secret Skirmish
Competitive Fortnite players residing outside of North America appear to be at a significant disadvantage compared to their counterparts across the Atlantic, as the first Secret Skirmish invitees are revealed.
The Secret Skirmish is Epic Games third ‘Skirmish’ series, boasting a $500,000 prize pool, as the final precursor tournament ahead of the Fortnite World Cup later in 2019.
Details about the tournament were first announced on January 18, stating that it will include “top players from each Open Fortnite competition held so far.”
The Secret Skirmish is a two day invitational tournament.Beginning on February 14, the tournament will last only two days, unlike the multiple-week series of the Summer and Fall Skirmishes.
Despite its short run time though, there is still a massive $500,000 in prize money up for grabs, but the list of invited players (so far) shows very little chance of any player outside of North America winning any of this prize money.
Swedish Fortnite pro Svenoss, of NRG Esports, is one player who has been vocal about the lack of non-NA representation at the Secret Skirmish, exclaiming “this right here, is the reason [you] HAVE to live in NA as a Fortnite player.”
This is for the secret skirmish btw, based off of placements of previous open qualifiers. where the invites / signups which are first come first serve were sent during the middle of the night in the EU.
— Svennoss (@Svenosss) January 22, 2019
He shows a list of invited players via Fortnite esports Gamepedia, which suggests of 95 players confirmed to be invited, only four are not U.S. or Canadian.
This is not the final list of all players taking part in the Secret Skirmish of course, as at least 100 players will be required at the minimum for a battle royale tournament, but it does not bode well for players from other regions regardless.
The use of only ‘Open Events’ for choosing invitees is also unfortunate for non-NA players, as all Open events thus far have been in the U.S.
We can expect to get more details regarding specifics of the Secret Skirmish in the lead up to the event.