After winning the FNCS Major, Fortnite pro Putrick has accused Epic Games of defrauding him, claiming he was scammed. In addition, the professional player asserted that he and his teammate were expelled from the FNCS Global Championship LAN finals, which will be conducted in Copenhagen in October 2023. Here’s the full story.
Fortnite, created by Epic Games, is more than just a global gaming phenomenon; it is also home to one of the most vibrant and competitive gaming communities. As players land on the island’s constantly shifting battlefield, they engage in high-stakes battles, build structures, and demonstrate their abilities in both solo and team modes.
However, things don’t always go as planned for pros after a competitive tournament, and that’s precisely what happened to one of them during FNCS Majors in 2023, prior to the Fortnite Champion Series LAN Finals in Copenhagen in October 2023.
After being disqualified from the FNCS LAN finals and denied the cash incentive for his FNCS Major victory, a professional player by the name of Putrick has taken aim at Epic Games by accusing them in public. He claims that Epic has “scammed” him and that he is the victim of a terrible misfortune. Here’s all the info you need to know about it.
Fortnite pro Putrick accuses Epic of “scamming” him
According to recent posts made on X by Putrick himself, he and his teammate were denied a $200,000 cash prize for winning the FNCS Major because they are Russian citizens. Putrick posted on X by saying, “Only in Fortnite you can win Major and getting scammed like this. I think it’s first time in cybersport history.”
Fortnite Pro Putrick has called out Fortnite after being disqualified from FNCS Copenhagen and being told he will not be receiving his $200,000 for winning an FNCS Major because he and his teammate are Russian pic.twitter.com/LfNxcpC74P
— Jake Lucky (@JakeSucky) September 25, 2023
As a result of the tensions between Russia and Ukraine, the United States imposed legal sanctions on Russia, and Epic Games subsequently decided not to hold any Fortnite tournaments there. In contrast, when he contacted Epic Games support, all they could confirm with him is that his nationality disqualified him from receiving the prize and competing, so his participation was invalid.
Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest updates on Esports, Gaming and more.
After conversing with Jake Lucky, Putrick informed him that he and his teammate have a bank account in Kazakhstan and competed in the FCNS out of Belarus, which falls within the eligible regions. This appeared to be a domicile issue, despite Putrick’s efforts to be eligible to compete.
Disqualed from CPH Lan, also not getting prizes I guess (200.000$), no one from support gets in touch, support responds once a day, support doesn’t read what I write and just write identical messages. 1/2 @FNCompetitive 😁 pic.twitter.com/9ANpscHbus
— Putrick (@Putrickk) September 14, 2023
Following a thread of tweets, Jake also said “I got real sympathy for a kid who played and earned life-changing money now being told he can’t have his check or go to a $4 million event all because of his country of origin, just sucks”.
Putrick in the last post on his thread went on to say, “Played this game from 2018, spent a lot of effort all my time to get this result and that’s it”.
While Epic hasn’t issued a public statement on the situation, it’ll be quite interesting to see what other pro players from the FNCS scene have to say about it in the coming weeks.