Despite 2020 dealing a major blow to all in-person esports tournaments, Fortnite seems to have something big up its sleeves for 2021.Â
A Fortnite leaker on Twitter discovered an interesting piece of evidence within the latest update through data mining. As it turns out the Live Broadcasting server was inserted and seemingly alerted during the Season 6 update. This points toward a big tournament on the horizon during this season.
This is significant because, as Fortnite Intel pointed out, the server was last updated in January 2020, just before DreamHack Anaheim. That tournament was one of the last live events to take place before COVID-19 locked down most of the world. However, it is currently unclear if this update suggests the return of Fornite LAN events. After all, Riot is bringing League of Legends and Valorant to Iceland in 2021.
While Epic Games hasn’t announced any real information, this event can’t be the already cancelled Fortnite World Cup. Unless they are planning something new, Fortnite could simply be returning to DreamHack, which has announced live events (pending health guidance) starting in November.
A return to almost normal?
While in-person events making a comeback could signal a huge boost to the esports community as a whole, strict safety measures will likely be in place. Riot Games announced no live audience for MSI and the first in-person Valorant event, and the recently restarted Pokémon TCG events in Australia and New Zealand have a long list of precautions to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Â
Only Epic can confirm the possibility of any competitive Fortnite news, so fans will have to wait for now. At least there are new character skins. to enjoy in the meantime
