Fortnite FNCS 2023 gets Call of Duty League-style Majors format

With the new year kicking off, major video game developers, including Epic Games for Fortnite, are announcing roadmaps for the upcoming 2023 professional season for their respective player bases. Similarly, a competitive roadmap for FNCS 2023 was released by Epic Games earlier this week and for the very first time, it will feature a Majors-style tournament format rather than divisional Cash Cups that were termed as qualifiers in the past.

Last year, Fortnite players participated in several online Cash Cups, out of which regional pros were invited to the first in-person LAN tournament, FNCS Invitational 2022, that took place after the 2019 World Cup. This event kicked off future prospects for more offline Fortnite competitions after the virtual shift during the pandemic.

In 2023, the FNCS Invitational has been rebranded as the Fortnite Champion Series Global Championship 2023 and will remove the qualifying divisional Cash Cups that have been a part of the game's competitive scene since 2019.

This year, a Call of Duty League-style Majors format will be implemented and will feature a $2,000,000 prize pool in each of the Majors 1, 2 and 3, adding up to a total prize pool of $6 million. The article below will go into greater detail about the revamped format.

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Fortnite FNCS 2023 to feature Majors-style tournament format inspired by CDL

The FNCS Global Championship 2023 qualifiers kick off on February 2, 2023, with an entirely new Majors format inspired by the popular Call of Duty League. The format consists of three micro-online tournaments named Major 1, Major 2, and Major 3, where the top placement duos of each event will have a chance to participate in the LAN finals taking place in Copenhagen, Denmark towards the end of the year.

Players who reach the Elite Division in Fortnite's Arena Mode will be eligible to participate in the FNCS Major qualifiers. This division can be reached when a player enters the final stage of Division 9, which is the Champion League.

Each Major will have five weeks of competition with a $2 million prize pool each, which participating players will share, resulting in a total prize pool of $6 million split across three Majors. The top qualifying teams will then compete at the in-person FNCS Global Championship 2023 event for a $4 million prize pool, with a similar format to that of the Invitational tournament back in 2022.

Additionally, those who are unsuccessful in being placed as one of the top qualifying teams in the Majors will have the opportunity to participate in the Last Chance Majors, where they will face each other to earn a spot in the LAN finals. It should be noted that this event won't feature any prize pool.

The Majors will feature three days of intense competition per week in Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, and a Surge Week, with the qualifying teams finally competing in the Grand Finals. The schedule for each Major is listed below:

• Major 1: February 2 - March 5
• Major 2: April 13 - May 14
• Major 3: July 20 - August 20
• Last Chance Major: August 24 - August 27

Additionally, FNCS Majors will be broadcast across multiple platforms in 2023, including the official Fortnite channels on YouTube and Twitch, as well as the Legends Landing Creative Competitive Island in-game. Viewers have a chance to claim free drops while watching the streams on affiliated channels as well.