New Fortnite esports circuit revealed and it’s not the battle royale mode

ESL and FACEIT have announced a new esports circuit that was developed in the Unreal Editor for Fortnite called “ESL Featuring Fortnite” that will feature game modes outside of Battle Royale.

ESL is coming back to Fortnite esports in a new way by collaborating with UEFN developer 404 Creative and building competitive game modes like Capture the Flag and Hardpoint.

The esports tournament organizer and 404 Creative will design team-based game modes across Fortnite’s custom islands and feature popular esports organizations like Karmine Corp, Team Heretics, ZETA Division, Dignitas, and a “mystery Brazilian team.”

The first map in the project, Capture the Flag, is already live and players can sign up to play it competitively in weekly events through FACEIT.

“ESL ft. Fortnite is a fresh take on competitive Fortnite, with an unprecedented team-based format. Utilizing the UEFN creator, this 4v4 experience will feature multiple game modes: Capture the Flag, Hardpoint, and Shrinking Zone. Pick from 6 unique specialist roles (limit one per team) to fit your playstyle,” it says on the Fortnite ESL website.

How this will potentially overlap with the Esports World Cup remains to be seen.

This new esports circuit is not endorsed by Epic Games, which chose BLAST over ESL and FACEIT to run its main competitive Rocket League and Fortnite circuits.

Esports insider Rod ‘Slasher’ Breslau claimed the ESL circuit launch was in response to Epic going with BLAST for its esports tournament needs instead of the Saudi-backed organization in a last-minute decision. Brian Krämer, Senior Director of Game Ecosystems and Growth Titles at ESL/ FACEIT Group, explained that the organizer has had the project in the pipeline for a while.

“We’ve actually been looking at UEFN for a long time as we see its potential. We wanted to start with something that players love to compete in across various shooter titles to make it easier to access. All these modes can deliver hype comp matches, esp with team rivalries on top,” Krämer said.

Whether this new esports circuit inside of a popular title will take off is still up in the air.