Will there be a Fortnite World Cup in 2021?

Due to the global outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020, Epic Games was forced to cancel the Fortnite World Cup for 2020. Developments don't look any better for the 2021 rendition of the global esports spectacle either.

The most recent announcement made by Epic Games regarding the future of the Fortnite World Cup was back in December 2020. The official blog stated that Epic Games had no plans of conducting in-person tournaments, including the Fortnite World Cup, throughout the course of 2021.

The developers have also confirmed that despite the absence of physical events in 2021, Fortnite will witness a bunch of online tournaments. Epic Games added that everyone on the team is expecting the real events to return soon.

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What are the chances of having a Fortnite World Cup in 2021?

With the second wave of the pandemic ongoing, it's safe to say that there isn't going to be a Fortnite World Cup anytime soon. Although developers like Riot Games and Valve have chosen to go forward with physical events, quite a few adversities have been witnessed due to these events.

After multiple reports of players and team staff getting infected during the League of Legends World Championship in 2020, the recent OneEsports Singapore Major saw its fair share of victims.

T1’s player Kuku will drop from the ONE Esports Singapore Major in Dota 2 because of sudden health issues. Forev will play for the team in Kuku’s stead:https://t.co/FhVDPqytC0

— Esports Grizzly (@biteofesports) March 25, 2021

We wish @NigmaMC a speedy recovery!#StarsAlign pic.twitter.com/oH6fIqX18L

— Team Nigma (@TeamNigma) March 24, 2021

These incidents hint at what can potentially happen in physical events. Epic Games' decision to put the Fortnite World Cup on hold seems extremely sensible.

Ivan "MindControl" Ivanov had to sit out of a tournament owing to health concerns. The South American team, BeastCoast, had to withdraw their entire lineup from the Majors due to COVID-19 infections running rampant in its roster.

In regards to our participation in the Dota Pro Circuit 2021. If you have any further questions, please contact [email protected]. pic.twitter.com/qTvHrA2nln

— beastcoast (@beastcoast) March 25, 2021

Given how grave the entire situation is, putting the players, team staff, and spectators at risk will be foolish.

Epic Games is doing an incredible job in keeping the competitiveness alive with the online tournaments

The Fortnite World Cup 2019 was announced on March 25th, 2019, and Week 1 of online opens started April 13th. WOOOOOOOOOOOOOW pic.twitter.com/o9HLyo8q8h

— Xexif (@X3XIF) March 27, 2021

The Fortnite World Cup icon has been added with the last update in 7 different languages. We should expect a tab for it to show up in the compete tab soon 👀 pic.twitter.com/bTaVnReI5A

— SkullLeaks (@SkullLeaks) March 20, 2021

Having said that, the Fortnite World Cup is definitely not gone for good. Epic Games has massive plans for one of the great esports spectacles on the planet.

As far as the date of the next Fortnite World Cup is concerned, the Fortnite community will have to wait until the entire planet recovers from the pandemic.