Fortnite 'Winter Royale' scoring glitch and how it ruined the tournament

A bug was discovered by players during the 'Winter Royale' event which allowed players to compete with players that were on lower ranks.

Fortnite's 'Winter Royale' is an event with a gigantic prize pool for $23 million has come to an end a few days ago. Players from around the world could compete to claim their stake of the prize money on their desired device. It goes without saying that with such a massive amount of money on the line, Fortnite players in the competitive scene did not hold back. We saw some of the best performances of PC players, console players and Mobile from all around the world.

However, a tragedy did strike the paradise in the form of a glitch that went around as 'Point bug'.

Missing 34 points 🙃

— Liquid Cented (@Cented7) December 22, 2019

missing 74 points on na would be first ggs

— Ditrxx (@Ditrxx) December 22, 2019

The issue did not happen at random or on a particular day but had seemingly begun on the very first day of the tournament itself. Participants who took part in the tournament from all over the world complained that they did no get points at all for playing or were 'missing' a certain amount of points when they returned back to the lobby from a game.

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How did the glitch work?

This tournament was different than any other since Epic Games had allowed cross-region participation, meaning that players regardless of which region they fall in would be allowed to play in any region that they desire. This had players from Asia in NA-West, ME players in Europe and so on.

However, people soon realized that after they play and match of 'Winter Royale' and switch their region they would have 0 points the next game and this allowed them to match with other players who also had low points, making the game much easier for competitive and pro players.

The current "point" system is ELO based which meansHigher points you get matched with better playersLower points you get bot lobby'sThe glitch is your points won't add on until 24 hoursSo you always get a bot lobby (From CroeFN)

— Mark Seet (@mark_yeeet) December 23, 2019

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While many were unaware of how this worked, a horde of players after discovering the glitch used it to their advantage to farm 'easy' points and cash in on them.

This, as one can imagine, had many pro players and the rest of the community furious since this was essentially 'stealing' money from someone else who would have deserved it and worked their way up the tournament legitimately.

Epic will be patching the issue as they move forward to tournaments in the future hoping to create a fair and even playing field for everyone in the community.