Fortnite pro Breso is facing backlash after what should be one of the greatest moments of his career, after taking home the trophy at the Fortnite Australian Open LAN tournament.
Breso is a player that, prior to the Australian Open, had not made many waves on an international scale, despite putting up some decent performances in regional tournaments online.
However, when the Summer Smash event at the Australian Open rolled around, Breso was one of few controller players facing off against some of the international elite such as Benjy ‘benjyfishy’ Fish and TSM’s Anthony ‘ZexRow’ Colandro. With a title-winning performance under his belt, though, some fans weren’t too pleased to see a controller player come out on top.
The controller versus mouse and keyboard debate has raged on in Fortnite since cross-platform play was made available, with many mouse and keyboard players believing that aim assist on controller is overpowered and thus rendering the competitive landscape less equal.
However, you rarely see controller players winning tournaments, with Breso finally breaking the mold and beating his M&KB brethren to claim the top prize of $100,000. This, you would think, is cause for celebration, but it has turned into something much different for Breso.
Throughout and immediately following the tournament, the Aussie player inspired a torrent of controller-bashing comments from the Fortnite community.
Luminosity Gaming’s Hampus ‘beehive’ Johnsson said that controller players “build the same as PC but with 100% consistent aim and no bloom,” saying that it’s “not competitive.”
Ever since controller players got really good at building they have been winning everything. They build the same as PC but with 100% consistent aim and no bloom. Not competitive.
— beehive (@beehhive) February 2, 2020
Possibly tongue-in-cheek, Jonathan ‘yung calculator’ Weber said that controller players “should be banned from pro-level practice.”
https://twitter.com/yungcalc/status/1224082220375314437?s=20
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It wasn’t only his fellow pros who took the opportunity to question the legitimacy of Breso’s win, with StatsyFN saying that Breso is a “loser.”
Breso and his aim assist LOL kids a loser! Hate those controller scrimmas
— statsy (@statsy281) February 2, 2020
Team Liquid’s Evan ‘Cented’ Barron, though not throwing any shade Breso’s way, did tweet longingly for the times when Nick ‘NICKMERCS’ Kolcheff and Aydan ‘Aydan’ Conrad fighting for control of Tilted Towers would be peak controller play.
That said, he did later stick up for controller players, saying it must be hard having the top names in the community constantly bashing you.
Can we just go back to watching nickmercs and aydan fight at tilted
— Agent Cented 🇨🇦 (@Cented7) February 2, 2020
Waking up and being a controller player must suck seeing all pros bash on you for what you play on, still gonna keep doing it though
— Agent Cented 🇨🇦 (@Cented7) February 3, 2020
Of course, on the other hand, Breso also got a lot of love, particularly from controller players who were happy to see one of their peers do it and overcome the odds, beating some of the greatest players in the world on what is largely considered the inferior input.
While controller players will be delighted to see Breso taking gold, it’s fair to say that it has not much helped settle the debate over aim assist – but, really, the debate may never be settled anyway.