The event that competitive Fortnite players have been waiting for finally gets underway today at the Arthur Ashe Stadium in Queens, New York. Hundreds of pros will be present at the three-day Fortnite World Cup, and thousands or millions more will be watching. When all is said and done a few will end up a whole lot richer.
The event will begin with an opening ceremony at 12:30 p.m. ET. Nobody knows what Epic has planned for it. There could be dancers. A new mode might get announced. Maybe Lil Nas X will show up and perform a special new Fortnite remix of “Old Town Road.”
Epic Games announced it was spending $100 million on Fortnite esports back in February. There have been innovations in how esports are streamed, controversies over certain screen resolutions getting banned from competition, and no shortage of attempted cheating along the way. Some of those cheaters even eventually qualified for this weekend’s event. Now fans will get to see if the spectacle it’s all been building up to has been worth it.
Here’s the rest of the schedule for the Fortnite World Cup:
- The Creative Finals will take place at 1:00 p.m. showcasing the talents of Ninja, Faze Cizzorz, and other big names as try to overcome unique challenges in custom game modes.
- The Celebrity Pro-Am begins at 4:00 p.m. featuring teams made up of Fortnite celebrities alongside actual pro players competing for a share of the $3 million prize pool to be donated to the charity of their choosing. Big names involved in this portion of the World Cup include WWE star Xavier Woods and actor Dante Basco, best known for playing Rufio in the 1991 movie Hook.
- Saturday, July 27, is when the competitive side of the tournament begins, starting with the Duos Finals preshow at 12:30 p.m., followed by the main event at 1:00 p.m., capped off by the winners ceremony at 4:45 p.m. The best 50 teams from around the world will compete across six matches with the pair who get the best record being crowned the champs.
- Sunday follows a similar schedule for the solo matches. The preshow kicks off at 12:30 p.m. followed by the finals at 1:00 p.m. and the finals winners ceremony wrapping up the entire three-day event at 4:45 p.m. Only 100 players from the 40 million who tried to qualify over the last few months will be playing in the final battle royale.
You’ll be able to watch the entire event streaming live on the Fortnite Twitch channel.