The winners of a recent Fortnite championship have been denied their prize money because they have Russian passports.
Professional gamers Putrick and SizzY surprised many when they won the FNCS (Fortnite Champion Series) Major in August. But the glory came without the bounty, as they were denied the advertised cash prize… because they’re Russian.
Putrick went on Twitter to expose what Epic Games, the Fortnite developer, has said to him and his teammate.
In a series of tweets Putrick explains that the duo will not receive their $200,000 (£165,000) prize money, and they’ve been disqualified from the upcoming Fortnite Championship in Copenhagen.
Epic Games’ reasoning comes from their policy, which states, ‘If you’re an individual residing in Turkey or Russia (each, a ‘prize-restricted country’) you acknowledge and agree (…) that you’re not eligible for nor entitled to win any prizes in connection with the event.’
Putrick continued his case on Twitter, saying, ‘We gonna get visas soon, spent a lot of money on it, time and just getting scammed like this. All because we have Russian passports, and we can’t do anything with it. Only in Fortnite you can win Major and getting scammed like this.’
It’s not clear how someone who’s Russian was allowed to compete in the competition in the first place, considering how Epic Games’ terms and conditions were already in place are pretty unambiguous.
Jake Lucky tweeted that Putrick told him that he played in Belarus, not Russia, at the time, and has a Kazakhstan bank account.
Epic Games has not made a public statement concerning the issue, and seem steadfast that the decision is final. You can read Putrick’s thread below.
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