By now we all know that the battle royale genre is an ever growing phenomenon, and it’s pretty clear that Fortnite reigns supreme as the most popular game in the genre. However, what is unclear is whether or not Fortnite, or any battle royale game for that matter, can successfully propel itself into the world of esports. To help determine if it’s even possible lets first look at Fortnite’s predecessor PUBG.

PUBG tossed their hat into the esports ring rather early with some pretty mixed results. Everyone was excited to see just how well a battle royale game could work as an esport and the Intel Extreme Masters Oakland Tournament with a pretty sizable $200,000 prize pool seemed like the perfect setting. In the end, the general consensus seemed to be that keeping track of 100 different players proved to be pretty hectic, not to mention that pro players tend to play more conservatively when $200,000 are on the line.

So after watching PUBG stumble with their debut into esports, Fortnite now has the distinct advantage of already having the pros and cons of a battle royale esports competition laid out before them. So where do they go from there? Well most people who watched PUBG tournaments learned that there are three striking problems holding back the battle royale genre from becoming a popular esport. The first is the pacing. The problem with watching a battle royale match even at the highest level is that all the hype occurs at two distinct points, the beginning and the end. What’s in between that is simply a whole lot of looting and wandering. Something has to be done to the speed and pace of the match that will cut down on the extended period of time watching pro players loot for the best possible loadout. The second problem is the scoring system. This one is tricky because it comes down to preference. Some people believe that those who rack up the most kills should be rewarded the most, while others believe that the name of the battle royal game is survival, and if that means biding your time until the best opportunity to strike so be it. The third problem is perhaps the trickiest of all, which of course are the RNG (random number generator) elements of the game. In just about every competitive game random generated elements are taken out, but for Fortnite, and any battle royale game, loot being randomly placed around the map is a huge part of how the game works and would take a massive overhaul to fix. So with those striking problems it seems tough to picture the success of Fortnite’s esports scene going forward.

Still, there is hope in the air, Ohio-based Ashland University announced a Fornite esports collegiate program, and Epic Games has acknowledged the fans cries for a competitive mode so I guess that means we can wait with bated breath.