Fortnite’s Summer Skirmish event has an innovative format this week
Epic Games has been experimenting with the rules of its weekly Fortnite events, called Summer Skirmishes, since the first disastrous week. But the latest format, debuting tomorrow, may be the company’s best one yet.
The tournament type is called Kingpin, and this is how it works:
The team with the most points at the end of eight matches wins. Eliminations earn players points towards placement at the end of the event. Earning a Victory Royale will provide a team with a 3x Elimination bonus in the next match.
Teams get one point for each elimination, but earning a Victory Royale means that eliminations will be worth three points in the next round you play. Earning more than seven eliminations will make each elimination worth double the points in the next round. It’s a clever twist for the scoring system, due to how it changes the incentive structure for each team.Going for a Victory Royale in doubles when you have a high level of competition means that it doesn’t always pay to be aggressive; sometimes it can be better to let the other teams thin themselves out. But earning a Victory Royale gives you a massive incentive to be aggressive in the next round, because your eliminations are now worth more points. Getting over seven kills also gives you a good reason to go looking for virtual blood, since your eliminations are worth double in the second round.
One of the best things about non-competitive Fortnite is that so many different people have so many different goals; it often doesn’t even feel like you’re playing the same game. The players trying to finish their challenges are going by a different set of rules than those who are trying to maximize their experience points, and the same thing can be said of players who are just trying to win. The Kingpin format simulates that environment by varying the incentives and scoring rules on a per team, per rounds basis depending on how that team performed in the previous round.
This is going to be a fun one to watch. The first event with these rules takes place on Aug. 10 at 2 p.m. PT/5 p.m. ET, and the second event will take place on Aug. 11 at 10 a.m. PT/1 p.m. ET.
