Five weeks ago, prominent Fortnite duo Xxif and Ronaldo were banned by Epic Games for being found guilty of cheating in the Fortnite World Cup qualifiers. While their actions brought shame and doubt to competitive esports as a whole, it seems that both Xxif and Ronaldo are back in the professional scene, and have even made it to the $30,000,000 Fortnite World Cup.
After their two-week ban, both Xxif and Ronaldo are back in the game, with both of them having qualified for the World Cup. Epic Games has yet to make any announcement regarding this matter, but the pro community around Fortnite Battle Royale has relentlessly expressed their dissatisfaction. Merely for qualifying for the World Cup, both Xxif and Ronaldo will be getting at least $50,000, while at the same time denying other professional players the two spots currently occupied by the dishonest duo.
A cheater qualifying for a $30,000,000 tournament is a kick in the junk to the integrity of the Fortnite competitive community. Love or hate the game, this should be unanimously agreed upon.
— DrLupo (@DrLupo) June 2, 2019
What's worse, both Xxif and Ronaldo are getting off scot-free. Not only are the cheaters back in the tournament, but both Xxif and Ronaldo are unapologetic for their performance, and are even aiming to win the World Cup. In an interview with Polygon, Ronaldo stated “Xxif and I felt it was unfair the first time we were banned. We served the sentence and came back to qualify. Everyone still wants to see us fall which is fine because in NYC we’re going to win the final event. Haters gonna hate.” (Thanks, Polygon!)
However, it seems the most questionable thing about this situation is Epic Games' stance on the whole thing. We understand that Epic Games isn't always portrayed in a good light, especially with their questionable marketing strategies and apparent disregard for consumers, but in the past, they had always taken cheating in competitive esports seriously. In some cases, Epic Games even pursued legal action against cheaters, like when they banned pro player Funkbomb for a whole season for talking about a game while it was on-going. The fact that Xxif and Ronaldo got two weeks and a slap on the wrist for blatantly cheating in a $30,000,000 Fortnite tournament with players from all around the world is questionable at best and corrupt at worst.
