Fortnite Australian Open players have never received winnings

Epic biggest Fortnite event is well under-way. Despite some problems with the tournament, such as pro player caught cheating, every weekend now has compelling Fortnite play taking place. With the amount of prize money already handed out by Epic increasing every week, it is worrying that a story about winners being unpaid is now coming to light. This week winners of prize money in the Australian Open Fortnite have gone public with the accusation that the organisers of the tournament did not pay out the prize money promised.

Epic made a commitment to award $100,000,000 in prize money for Fortnite competitions over the course of 2019, their second year running with such a big prize pool. Their current plans and tournaments have made that number seem quite achievable with a good portion already awarded or planned for the next few months. However, this news has cast a bit of doubt on that figure and who is actually awarding the money.

The player who came out on the top of the tournament was X2 Twins Jesse, who won $100,000 in the Solo event of the tournament. This player did receive their share of the prize pool. However, some others didn’t. A player who ranked further down the list of prize winners took to Reddit to make these accusations.

They claim to be one of the smaller prize winners and that they are yet to receive their prize money. This user claims to have a list of players who are all yet to receive their prize money. Allegedly, just under $200,000 has been left unpaid.

This list of unpaid players also includes Araki and Naapr, who came in second and third at the tournament. The list of players hasn’t currently been confirmed by the others mentioned. However, the detail of the missing payments for each makes it seem like a legitimate list. These players have spoken to the organisers of the tournament to try and locate the missing prize money, and that’s where the Australian Open event has begun to look even weirder.

Who is responsible for the Fortnite Australian Open?

The Australian Open event was billed as a tournament organised directly by Epic. The prize money was to be distributed by Epic, and some players have received payments from Epic. However, when players have reached out to Epic about the unpaid prize money, they have been told that Epic is not responsible for this particular tournament. An email sent to this player claimed that Epic only open tournament this year was the Fortnite World Cup. What this means for the Australian Open is currently unknown.

This issue has now been exposed on a wide scale. With the increased attention to unpaid prize money looming over an already controversial Fortnite World Cup, this should pressure Epic into resolving the situation. As it currently stands, players shouldn’t be too confident about getting their share of the prize pool outside of Epic’s major events.