Friday Fortnite made its triumphant return yesterday after an almost year-long hiatus. Hosted by UMG Gaming, KEEMSTAR, and FaZe Banks, the revival of Friday Fortnite was the biggest success imaginable.
Originally shut down by Epic Games, this style of tournament has been sorely missed in the community. While there are tons of high-profile streamers and players, the format of the event is what draws viewers in.
These viewer numbers are the reason we know Friday Fortnite succeeded. Easily beating out the Fortnite World Cup qualifiers, the tournament drew in over 800,000 concurrent views and 10.1 million unique views. This breaks the previous Friday Fortnite record of 9 million unique viewers.
Highest live concurrent stream numbers on all streams was 840k on Twitch & YouTube combined.
— KEEM 🍿 (@KEEMSTAR) June 1, 2019
Although KEEMSTAR and UMG will run this tournament for at least the next two weeks, it feels like Friday Fortnite will stick around longer than that.
Giving the community what they want
Ever since Friday Fortnite stopped, the community has asked for a reboot. Having an event every week that’s this exciting is a real treat for players and viewers alike. While the World Cup qualifiers are entertaining, they don’t compare to Friday Fortnite for one clear reason.
Since the competitive circuit started for Fortnite, placements have been prioritized over kills. Securing first place in a game will earn you more points than eliminating five enemies in official Fortnite tournaments.
However, in Friday Fortnite, kills are the only thing that matters. Two matches are played, and whichever team garners more kills combined in those matches is the winner. This format makes for riveting gameplay and strategy that is uber-entertaining to watch.
There’s nothing like seeing a team be down by a dozen kills after the first game, only to come all the way back in game two to win. Even though a situation like this could happen in the World Cup, it just isn’t the same.
It’s clear that the community prefers this style of tournament over any other. The numbers were record-breaking across Twitch and YouTube and stayed consistent the entire night. While we have at least two more weeks, it’s reported that KEEMSTAR and UMG will attempt to make this a weekly thing for months to come.
Supposedly, they have a mystery patron willing to put up prize money for more weeks. Hopefully, this means Friday Fortnite is here to stay – as long as Epic Games doesn’t force another shutdown.
So FaZe sponsored 3 weeks of #FridayFortnite & another person hit me up to sponsor even more weeks…
Can you guess who?
— KEEM 🍿 (@KEEMSTAR) May 31, 2019
What’s your opinion on Friday Fortnite? Is it good or bad for the community? Let us know in the comments below. Stay tuned to Daily Esports for all Fortnite news and updates.
