Ninja Breaks His Silence On Fortnite Pros' Cheating Scandal
The Fortnite community is in an uproar again, all thanks to a group of professional players who were accused of cheating during the Fortnite Champion Series. As reported by Blasting News, duo Slackes and Keys were ranked first place in the Fortnite Champion Series, with duo Kreo and Bucke ranked second. However, videos soon surfaced of the two teams allegedly colluding with one another to outlast the other teams, which put an end to the four players' involvement in the FCS.
Epic quickly handed out punishments. Not only were the players removed from the Fortnite Champion Series leaderboards almost immediately after the cheating allegations came to light, but they all received 60-day bans from Fortnite. This is where things get even more controversial, as some believe the ban wasn't nearly tough enough, especially considering the prize pool for the Fortnite Champion Series. Totaling a whopping $5 million this year, Slackes and Keys had already earned $4,500, with Kreo and Bucke pulling in $4,200.
Probably the biggest name to comment on this scandal is the one and only Ninja, who recently joined the FCS with his new partner, SypherPK. In true Ninja style, he didn't exactly mince words when it came to discussing the issue. "This competitive scene is purely ran by kids," said the streamer. "And then Epic's like, 'here's a Fortnite tournament.'"
Ninja also expressed his disappointment about the idea of these skilled players cheating when it's clearly not necessary. "I respect Mongraal and Benjyfishy and those guys, man. I don't think they, I don't think they would do this. They're too talented. They're too talented. They don't need to. Which is so weird, because so are these kids, and I'm disappointed, man."
Faced with the 60-bans handed out to Slackes, Keys, Kreo, and Bucke, Ninja pivoted to the topic of FaZe Jarvis controversy, a recent case of a pro Fortnite player caught cheating. Jarvis posted a video using an aimbot and received a lifetime ban from the game. At the time, Ninja came to Jarvis' defense, feeling that there must be some way for the young gamer to atone for his mistakes.
This may be why the vast difference in punishments bothered Ninja in particular. As he pointed out in the recent stream, "Jarvis cheats in a, uh, online, regular game for no money and gets a full-time ban. Players get caught cheating in a tournament for money and they get banned for 60 days."
Naturally, a cheating scandal of this scale means the Fortnite community has been pretty divided on the matter. Pro player Chap seemed to agree with Ninja that the punishment wasn't harsh enough. He tweeted, "I still think you should be banned for life when caught cheating in any tournament for money."
Meanwhile, one of Chap's followers suggested everyone should try to see it from the cheaters' perspective, as a full ban can be quite depressing. Another user asserted that cheating when money is on the line is pretty much stealing.
Speaking of FaZe Jarvis, he weighed in on the matter as well, tweeting, "Cheating/teaming is not okay, they got off lucky in my opinion lol." When one of the highest profile cheaters in Fortnite gets on your case, maybe you really have messed up? Granted, FaZe Jarvis is also the guy who dropped a rap song and accompanying video about how his cheating wasn't a big deal. You'll have to decide whether his perspective is worth noting.
Ninja and Jarvis weren't alone in their commentary. Tfue also offered his two cents, saying, "All the people that, uh, said that, like, 60 days was, like, too much? I agree with them ... if [the cheaters] only did it for one game." He goes on to assert (while using some choice language) that the accused players used a similar strategy across nine games. His choice of words may suggest he feels the ban should be even longer.
Regardless of where you stand on the issue, many players seem to think the punishments for cheating in Fortnite aren't exactly the most consistent. Whether this means more strict guidelines will be implemented after this is uncertain, but it definitely has people talking all about it.