The 'who ruined Fortnite' debate rages on: Casual players blame pros and vice versa

Epic Games' Fortnite recently celebrated its third birthday amidst much fanfare.

Since its inception back in 2017, Fortnite has transcended expectations to effectively claim its spot atop the battle royale mountain. Featuring an absorbing environment replete with colorful POI's and endearing characters, the world of Fortnite is unlike anything we've ever seen before in a video game.

Moreover, with its recent concerts and elaborate crossover events, Epic certainly seems to be leaving no stone unturned in ensuring Fortnite's continued success over the years. While there appears to be many positive takeaways, the one glaring loophole that threatens to disrupt the balance of the Fortnite universe is that of Fortnite Competitive.

For months on end, pros have been complaining about the game's shambolic state, only to have Epic turn a deaf ear towards them. Their sentiments of frustration and disappointment were recently echoed by prominent esports insider Rod Slasher Breslau, who tweeted the following:

Fortnite esports doesn't need $100 Million in prize money for to be successful. Fortnite needs Epic Games to truly care about its competitive player community with a long term plan for the pros instead of treating esports as a nonsense marketing exercise to promote the game

— Rod Breslau (@Slasher) September 25, 2020

His recent Twitter thread triggered another debate, as to who or what exactly ruined Fortnite — the casuals or the pros?

No, competitive ruined fortnite

— 🏳️‍🌈🤧 Santiago 🤡🤠 (@rsantiagozj) September 6, 2020

Fortnite: Casuals vs pros

The age-old debate centers around a common trend that one can often spot in the comments section of any Fortnite-related post — the allegation that casuals or tryhards ruined Fortnite.

Addressing the ailing Fortnite esports scene, Slasher went on to supplement his tweet with the following:

despite this Fortnite esports is still in an okay spot, but given the size and impact of the game to the gaming community at large or even mainstream culture, it could be so much more

— Rod Breslau (@Slasher) September 25, 2020

His recent tweets opened up a Pandora's box related to what Fortnite is vis a vis what it could potentially be, as others chimed in and spoke out against the competitive scene and Fortnite pros:

Don't forget also a major issue. They don't have any consideration and relationship with esport orgs.

— Fabien 'Neo' Devide (@Vitality_Neo) September 25, 2020

and they wont fix bugs and server lag and frames lmao

— lewi (@YktvLewi) September 25, 2020

I've heard pro's say "I'm leaving and quitting Fortnite" over 50x times. Nothing really happened, they took a break for 1 week and came back to the same game they said they would quit. Lmao money is pretty much the driving factor for Fortnite Pro's.

— Perk Jai 👑 (@PerkJai) September 25, 2020

THIS. When looking at the health or any measure of success past the short run for esports scenes, people need to pay a lot less attention to prize pools and a lot MORE attention to how many players (and others) are able to secure stable income and a path to careers in the space.

— Nahaz (@NahazDota) September 25, 2020

Record breaking prize pools were the worst thing to happen to competitive Fortnite

— jcow77 (@jcow77) September 25, 2020

Casuals are dropping like flies we want fun goofy shit in the game, not serious skilled stuff. Fortnite should have never been a competitive game

— ᏰᏒᏗᎴᏝᎩ ፈᏗᎮᎮ (@BradGuy00) September 25, 2020

I am happy that they let the non pros continue to enjoy the game rather than have the entitled priviledged "Fortnite pros" tell Epic how to ruin it for the people who play for fun.

— Unggoy (@niaveaine) September 25, 2020

So sad seeing this game go to waste, most potential a game has had in years

— Tendy (@Tendyxo) September 25, 2020

Competitive & Pro players ruined Fortnite and that’s a fact #RIPFortnite

— Fortnite News (@FortniteBRFeed) April 12, 2020

Fortnite "pros" be saying casuals ruined fortnite, bitch we came before y'all

— Mrcheeseツ (@HMrcheese) September 20, 2020

Fortnite kind of ruined gaming for me. It taught me that there's no point in playing unless you're playing competitively to win something, and I don't have that skill set in any game. I can't enjoy stuff like Minecraft Bedwars anymore because I know I'll never actually "win".

— BattleDash (@BattleDashBR) September 28, 2020

While a large section of the community believes that competitive and pros ruined Fortnite, another group chooses to believe otherwise:

Casuals ruined fortnite:Improve Team RumbleRemove SBMMUnvault everythingOptimize StWSeperate loot poolsKeep HenchmanKeep MythicsAdd siphon to pubsFix Arena queue timesCan you all watch my newest video and subscribe https://t.co/ISFkyWePzK

— Robert is simping Emilia (@rdupton47) September 28, 2020

Casuals ruined this game

— fusion (@fusziion) September 26, 2020

How to fix Fortnite:Ban all Casuals Get rid of team rumbleRemove combatRemove all memes (Distracts my team mates to much)Vault crash pads Only bring out competitive LTMS Chapter 1 mapDon’t hate my opinion

— Rysicss (@Rysicsss) September 4, 2020

While the two continue to be at odds, one particular user's tweet is certainly worth mulling over:

"Competitive" Players: cAsUals rUniEd fOrtniTECasual players: sWeAtS rUinEd fOrtniTEPeople with a brain: The fortnite community ruined fortnite.

— MagnetFinest™ (@MagnetFinest) August 1, 2020

The Fortnite casuals vs pros debate doesn't seem to be showing any signs of slowing down. With hostilities simmering, it remains to be seen if Epic can ever bring about a much-needed consensus between the two.