Fortnite’s meteoric rise to the top of the gaming scene has been turning heads since before Epic Games even announced it would allot $100M in prize money over the next year or unveiled plans for its World Cup event.

Esports franchises have had their eyes on the title since its battle royale mode came out and started stealing viewers from PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) on Twitch, and it didn’t take long for teams to start nabbing the game’s top prospects and signing its most entertaining personalities.

[perfectpullquote align=”left” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]“Fortnite has never taken itself too seriously.”[/perfectpullquote]

Despite maintaining a whimsical identity and Epic’s lighthearted approach, Fortnite immediately had esports execs speculating on the game’s potential as an esport.

“Fortnite has never taken itself too seriously and it focuses on both the competitive and influencer aspects of the game instead of strictly being competitive like a normal esport,” said Frank Villarreal, CEO & co-founder of esports organization Rogue .

“The game doesn’t have to take itself too seriously to be the largest esport. … It’s where the esports market is headed right now.”

Team Liquid Co-CEO Steve Arhancet tried the game himself when it came out and was confident enough in its staying power enough that he signed a roster of players before Epic had even committed $100M to prizes.

Even though the game complemented Twitch’s influencer-based atmosphere, Arhancet knew he wanted Team Liquid to have the most competitive Fortnite team possible ready in the wings for whenever Epic announced its esports strategy.

“Team Liquid is a very competitive first organization, and results are paramount,” he said. “While there could have been a strategy to sign players that were more content creators or streamers, we decided to take the approach of identifying some of the best players in the game.”

While teams like Rogue have approached Fortnite esports by using influencers like Ben “Dr. Lupo” Lupo as catalysts for building its roster, Arhancet wants his team to develop the most skilled team possible and let the popularity portion of the equation take care of itself.

“Epic’s strategy on incorporating esports in a casual and influencer-focused way, I think, is innovative and distinctive,” Arhancet said. “For us, how we interact with that is that we just develop athletes to compete at the highest level.”

Villarreal took the inverse approach. Instead of watching hours of pro scrims as Arhancet has, Villarreal went to Twitch streams in search of talented players who also knew how to engage an audience.

Rogue added Lupo to its team originally as a Destiny II player, but when that game’s potential as an esport faded, Villarreal decided to keep Lupo as a streamer. Once Fortnite’s battle royale took Twitch by storm, Lupo’s stream took off, and Villarreal used that as an opportunity to dip his team’s toes in the influencer pool while molding a team around him.

“We took into consideration what Epic was looking to with the esports scene,” he said. “What they seem to be doing with the esports scene is making one that balances popularity and influencers with skill. In the best scenario, they want highly-skilled influencers that are entertaining and can engage an audience to be the ones playing competitive games.

“The best way to make sure that they’re in every tournament is by turning them into influencers that can get invited into every tournament.”

On the other hand, Team Liquid doesn’t care as much if its players are streaming. After assembling his roster, Arhancet quickly made sure to equip the team with powerful computers and gather them for a Fortnite bootcamp.

“If we just give our athletes the absolute best resources to play at the highest level possible no matter what the respective event, we just feel like it will work itself out,” Arhancet said.

Credit: Team Liquid

He added that his players are allowed to create content on top of their training, but he had no qualms about his belief that winning trumped all.

Epic Games has remained nimble during Fornite’s youth as an esport. Instead of establishing a franchised league the way Activision Blizzard did for Overwatch , the developer has kept an open mind about what Fortnite can be as an esport.

[perfectpullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]“They are staying dynamic. I think their approach is to listen.”[/perfectpullquote]

During Fortnite’s Summer Skirmish, Epic continually flirted with different formats for the event to find one that could be appreciated by players and spectators alike. With the series’ sequel, the Fall Skirmish, the developer is looking to carry on that experimentation process.

Though that lack of definition could come across as potentially volatile to some, Arhancet seems to view it as comforting.

“They are staying dynamic. I think their approach is to listen. ‘Let’s read the forums. Let’s look at the Discord chat. Let’s read what people are saying about the game. Let’s get pro player feedback, and let’s keep things dynamic in the first year,’” Arhancet said.

Villarreal also agrees with Epic’s method of early experimentation and thinks it will help the developer find the best format that works for the game as an esport.

“They’re trying everything until they find the format that works best for the game that they publish,” he said.

In traditional sports, leagues frequently tweak rules from year to year in an attempt to either enhance the spectator experience or improve the game’s competitiveness. Arhancet compares what Epic is doing now with what the NBA does when it does something like move the three-point line.

“Some of those things may fly in the face of being the best basketball player,” he said. “Epic is saying, ‘hey, we don’t want it to be about proving who’s the best. We want it to be swayed a little bit in the other direction. We want the content to be really enjoyable to watch.”

Arhancet said that Fortnite’s frequent and significant format changes have made developing a team of high-performing players akin to training for a decathlon.