Before now enterprising organizers had hosted their own Fortnite esports tournaments just using the default game. Friday Fortnite, a competition co-hosted by YouTuber Keemstar and UMG Gaming, required pairs to team up as a squad in the same lobby and enter a game. The two duos would then split off, attempting to rack up as many kills as possible. The team with the most kills at the end of the game would win the round (typically a best of three).

The Fortnite Pro-Am, however, wasn't like that at all. All 100 players dropped onto the island to battle against one another, not against a public lobby. It's the first time we've seen the format and Epic's desire to design an ultimate test of skill. With more on the line and a greater sense of danger, players understandably took a more cautious approach, landing in areas that they hoped would be free from other teams (although that wasn't always the case). In later stages, where the more skillful (or elusive) players were left alive, one wrong move could result in death.

While streamers continuously provide a first-person perspective of the action (you see what's on their screen), Epic had the unenviable job of capturing important battles among all 100 players. With competitors dotted across the map, that's almost impossible. It's a problem that isn't unique to Fortnite: When Blizzard debuted the Overwatch League, frantic team fights were hard to capture and streams often missed the deployment of game-changing ultimate abilities. However, the company worked hard to not only focus its coverage but also introduce a real-time replay system that showed important battles the main feed may otherwise have missed.

An excellent example of missing the action is a fight between Ninja and TSM's Myth. While the main feed focused on Loserfruit and Backpack Kid (the very person who inspired the in-game "Floss" dance), Ninja managed to eliminate Myth with a well-placed C4 detonation. The kill feed displayed Myth's death, but viewers didn't know how it had happened, leading Myth to clarify in a tweet:

I know y'all didn't see it but basically what happened was ninja threw c4 and I got gotted.



All in all I had a lovely time and can't wait for the future of comp play. That announcement was bonkers ✊🏽 — Myth @ #FortniteE3 (@TSM_Myth) June 13th, 2018

Make no mistake, the Fortnite esports-viewing platform is off to a solid start. Teams are given various-colored shaders to differentiate them from rival players, and the third-person camera provides excellent viewing angles for intense build battles. Epic has leaned on Fortnite's built-in replay system, clearly displaying player names, their health level and their current choice of weapon.

Epic should also be commended for choosing a Pro-Am tournament to kick off competitive play. It allowed the company to publicly test its esports tools for the first time without there being too much on the line if unexpected issues arose. As you can see from the stream, plenty of celebrities held their own, and it was refreshing to see PlayStation 4 users lining up alongside their PC-playing teammates.