Despite the dominance of ESL FACEIT Group in the industry, BLAST has expanded its influence, taking over commercial rights for competitive broadcasts and events for both games.

Initially partnering with Epic Games in 2021 for Fortnite events, BLAST has now renewed and expanded the collaboration, handling all operations for the Fortnite Championship Series (FNCS) and venturing into the Rocket League Championship Series (RLCS).

This move comes as a surprise to those who expected BLAST to contract following the ESL-FACEIT merger.

BLAST, known for its prominent role in Counter-Strike with BLAST Premier, has been strategic in its expansion, also overseeing leagues and events in Rainbow Six Siege and FNCS.

The company’s ability to operate within the margins, securing contracts for esports beyond traditional sports arenas, signals a positive outlook for diversified competition among tournament organizers.

While ESL’s vast resources could potentially dominate the market, BLAST’s flexibility and ability to secure contracts for esports with varying levels of popularity showcase a healthier competition landscape.

The expansion into RLCS marks a significant step for BLAST, taking charge of all league operations for the FNCS and RLCS, demonstrating its commitment to elevating and growing competitive properties in collaboration with major game publishers like Epic Games.

BLAST Epic Games

We have announced a multi-year deal & collaboration with Epic Games to run their prestigious competitive tournaments, the @FNCompetitive (FNCS) and @RLEsports (RLCS) starting in 2024.

Read more: https://t.co/dbo5FXzzBV pic.twitter.com/GQKNMnX6Ph

— BLAST (@BLASTEsports) January 4, 2024

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The FNCS Invitational will be held in Raleigh, North Carolina, and will see the return of Fortnite to in-person tournaments. The Epic Games Battle Royale previously hosted online events as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and its restrictions.

Around 50 of the top Fortnite duo players will participate in the tournament in a bid to win a share of the $1,000,000 (￡904,245) prize pool and gain global fame. The FNCS Invitational is Fortnite’s first LAN event since as far back as 2019.

According to BLAST’s announcement, the tournament organizer will produce and deliver the Battle Royale’s in-person tournament return. The development is in line with both organizations’ earlier partnership in February 2022. The agreement placed BLAST as the producer of all Fortnite Championship Series (FNCS) events slated for release in 2022.

The esports production company is also in charge of operating the FNCS broadcast’s schedule for the year, beginning with the FNCS Chapter 3 Season 1. The tournament was the first Fortnite competitive chapter in 2022 and was held between February and March with a prize pool of more than $3,000,000 (￡2,210,000).

In 2021, BLAST successfully delivered the FNCS All-Star Showdown as well as the Grand Royale tournaments and has continued to produce every FNCS-related event since then.

The Managing Director of BLAST, Leo Matlock, announced the collaboration and revealed that Fortnite’s return to in-person events has marked a crucial point for the FNCS community. He went on to say that BLAST was excited to give fans an opportunity to experience an in-person tournament experience at the November event.

“The return of in-person Fortnite events is a pivotal moment for the FNCS community, and BLAST is hugely proud to be able to support in making this happen,” Matlock said.
“Having the opportunity to deliver such a highly-anticipated event further strengthens our partnership with the Fortnite Competitive team.”

“This partnership between BLAST and Fortnite Competitive has been built on bringing together first-class technology, industry-leading production, and esports expertise. We’re excited at the prospect of thousands of fans being able to experience Fortnite in person again and can’t wait to deliver an unforgettable two-day tournament in Raleigh, North Carolina, in November.”

In September, BLAST revealed that it would produce the first CS:GO Major to ever occur in France. The tournament was known as the BLAST.tv Paris Major and is slated for May 2023.

The announcement is just one of the esports tournament organizer’s collaborations in the past months. BLAST notably collaborated with Riot Games for the third iteration of Spike Nations, Valorant’s charity tournament in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa region.

Twelve teams, including professional players, gaming personalities, and streamers, would compete against each other during the event. At the end of the event, the €60,000 (~$52,000) prize pool would be donated to charity.

Fortnite notably partnered with Team Liquid prior to its return to LAN. The collaboration will see the Battle Royale and the esports team come together to make artwork and apparel. Fortnite also hosted Rocket League World Championship’s interactive in-game experience.

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The event will take place on November 12 and 13 at the Raleigh Convention Center in North Carolina, and will feature selected gamers from around the world competing for a $1,000,000 prize money. As the event’s date approaches, Epic Games will provide more details.

Just the top Fortnite Championship Series (FNCS) Duos, out of each region would be selected to participate. They will probably want to get this done soon to give people time to get ready.

Even though Epic is undertaking this step to make Fortnite competitive again as an in-person event, they want to ensure that players’ health and safety will always come first. The FNCS Invitational 2022 could be delayed, moved, or canceled based on public health concerns and legal requirements.

Epic is also urging potential guests to begin preparing for their trip by obtaining any essential travel documentation, such as vaccination papers, passports, test plans, and other government-issued credentials. This they say will enable players to stay one step ahead of any issues and ensure that they can compete in the FNCS Invitational without any challenges.

Fortnite’s return to offline competitions is a positive indication for the esports community. Following the initial Fortnite World Cup in 2019, held in New York with a cash prize of $30 million, the game has had only online tournaments.

This insinuates it will require some time for Epic’s esports crew to get up to speed quickly. Although, the Invitational appears to be an excellent opportunity to evaluate Epic’s readiness.

As the tournament comes to a close, the fans expect additional information from the developers about FNCS 2022, as well as possible hints about the next Fortnite World Cup as worldwide bans are lifted.

Can the next Fortnite World Cup reach the heights of 2019?

In 2019, Epic Games’ first Fortnite World Cup Finals drew a live-streaming audience of over two million concurrent viewers. They watched a 16-year-old prodigy win the $3 million solo grand prize, the greatest cash reward for an individual esports champion.

Kyle Giersdorf, or “Bugha”, was declared the champion after easily defeating the competition. The game was hosted in Arthur Ashe Tennis Stadium in Queens, New York.

According to esports analyst Rod Breslau, who cites public data from the platforms, the live stream of the popular battle-royale finals had over two million simultaneous sessions on Twitch and YouTube alone.

The Fortnite World Cup Finals took place from July 26-28 and included the 100 best solo players and top 50 pair teams from all over the world competing for a total prize pool of $30 million. Each player was guaranteed at least $50,000 in prize money.

Harrison “Psalm” Chang took second place in the individual tournament, winning $1.8 million. He was followed by Epikwhale (an anonymous top Fortnite player) with $1.2 million and Nate “Kreo” Kou with $1.05 million.

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