"There's no hope for Fortnite": SypherPK explains how Bugha and other Fortnite pros are losing their contracts

The Fortnite competitive scene has been rather shaky of late. While the overall game has improved, pro players are unhappy with how things are proceeding. Truth be told, the competitive scene is in trouble, and for good reason. Here's what content creator Sypher PK (Ali Hassan) had to say about it in a recent video:

"Competitive Fortnite is in Trouble. There's been some recent news that has a lot of pro-players extremely worried about the future of their careers. This is challenging the current state of the pro-scene."

While this may seem like a biased opportunity put forth by someone who creates content for the game, there's a lot of truth behind it. Several professional players who signed with Esports teams to represent the organization in Fortnite have been released beforehand.

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Why did Sentinels and other Esports teams drop professional Fortnite players like Bugha?

Although this is not new, its frequency has risen recently and has even affected the Fortnite World Champion, Bugha (Kyle Giersdorf). Here's more on the matter with Sypher PK:

"Bugha, one of the most popular pro-players in the world, got dropped from his Esports team - Sentinels. What's interesting is that just last year, he signed a multi-year contract with them, and now they are ending it early. They didn't just drop him, they also dropped Zyfa and Aspect."

Why are Esports teams dropping 'good' professional players? Given that they are consistent in every match and Cash Cup in-game, why let go of them if they are performing with due diligence? Well, there's a lot at play at the moment, and most of it concerns how Fortnite functions as a Battle Royale game.

Based on information provided by the CEO of Sentinels and P1 Esports LLC, Rob Moore, Bugha was dropped due to Fortnite failing to 'up the ante' in the competitive scene. In a tweet dated December 29, 2022, he wrote:

Unlike other competitive games (Apex Legends, Rainbow Six Siege, COD) that offer the ability for Esports organizations to brand cosmetics in-game, Fortnite has nothing similar on offer. Without the ability to highlight their team's logo or branding, visibility is severely reduced.

To make matters worse, since most Fortnite competitive players fail to stream their games, sponsors cannot place their branding on-stream either. This lose-lose situation makes it difficult to sustain the player and the organization in the long run. Here's what SypherPK had to say about the same:

"Let's say a brand wants to pay TSM in exchange for some promotions. So they put the brand's logo on their jersey, they'll have it on their streams/video, and that is where the value comes from. In Fortnite, however, most tournaments in the past couple of years have been online and a lot of pro-players do not stream the tournament, let alone stream in general. So these sponsors don't really have the opportunity to be seen at all."

While this is bad in general, things get worse once the lack of in-game branding is considered. This further hampers the Esports organization/team's ability to earn revenue from the game itself. SypherPK explains:

"Other online competitive games will have Esport team skins and weapons wraps. These teams get a small percentage of the revenue and it becomes a revenue source for them. In Fortnite. that does not exist. The closest thing we have to it is content creators and 'icons' getting their own skins in-game."

Since Epic Games collaborates with major brands and celebrities, there is no need to collaborate with Esports teams for cosmetics. While this may not be the best long-term decision where competitiveness is concerned, it does wonders for revenue. Thus, the developers haven't had the need to let Esports teams produce branded content.

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So what happens next where the competitive scene is involved?

While there's not much that can be done to overcome the prevalent branding situation in-game, there are a few things that the players and Epic Games can collaboratively do to try and fix the situation. Here's SypherPK's take on things:

"The reality is that Epic Games and pro-players both have to play a part in breathing some life into the competitive scene. Coming to pro-players, not enough of them are streaming and/or creating content. I'm not asking everyone to stream, it's not meant for everybody, but there is content that can be made."

Certain short-format videos like Reels/Tik-Toks showcasing a major elimination or winning a tournament can serve as content. Even spoofs and bloopers of in-game footage can serve as basic content to keep the social media presence alive. SypherPK continued by saying:

"The second part is how professional players criticize the game. I understand that you're very invested, I understand that it means a lot to you, but it's very important when you're communicating your thoughts, that you do it in a constructive manner."

He went on to say:

"If the scene wants to be taken seriously, there has to be some sort of maturity and self-accountability on top of some commitment to creating content for your own sake. I'm not asking you guys to do fashion shows and become content creators, but doing something small can go a really long way."

Despite professional players doing their part, there is still an air of uncertainty looming like an ominous cloud above the competitive scene. This is something that Epic Games has to look into to ensure the continuation and longevity of the competitive side of Fortnite. SypherPK had this to say:

"What Epic Games needs to do is give the community a roadmap. If they give us something, it gives us something to look forward to, because right now there isn't a lot of hope and I think that would give us what we need. If both sides work together towards achieving this goal, we could be looking at a very exciting and completely new look at Fortnite’s competitive scene in 2023."

Given how large and successful the game has become in Chapter 4, Epic Games should use this momentum to keep things moving in a positive direction. Hopefully, the developers will take note of the prevalent issues and work towards overcoming them with the community side-by-side.