Epic has settled with a dirty rotten cheater who made off with a chunk of cash from the 2023 Fortnite Championship Series, making them return the prize and post an apology video to their YoutTube channel. Sadly the player in question, who in a bout of nominative determinism goes by the handle Morgan 'RepulseGod' Bamford, didn't have the stones to deliver their apology in-person, choosing instead to post a 15-second video of text that reads:
"Hey everyone, this is RepulseGod. I shared my Epic Games Account with another user, Forbes, to qualify for the 2024 Fortnite Championship Series grand finals. My actions violated Epic's rules and I was disqualified from the tournament.
"Epic took legal action against me and now I'm banned from participating in Fortnite tournaments forever. I also have to pay a monetary settlement, which includes the prize money I received but did not win fairly, which Epic will donate to charity.
"Cheating in tournaments ruins the fun for the players who earned their spot in tournaments and I apologise to the Fortnite community for my actions. I won’t ever cheat in Fortnite again."
Yes, I imagine a lifetime ban would preclude someone from cheating in Fortnite ever again.
RepulseGod competed in the 2023 FNCS Major 3 alongside the player Jace as a duo. They won a spot in the Grand Finals, which had a $4 million total prize pool, but were disqualified one day before the event was due to kick off. Per FortniteTracker, the duo were awarded $10,000 thanks to this win.
RepulseGod had been competing in the Fortnite pro scene since 2019, and had several wins under his belt in Duo and Trio events in the Oceania region, including a second-place finish at 2020's FNCS Invitational Grand Finals in Oceania.
"Cheating is never a winning strat," begins a post on the official Fortnite Competitive X account. "We took legal action against a player who shared their account to unfairly qualify for FNCS. Now they’re banned from Fortnite tournaments forever and their undeserved prize money was donated to charity."
The schadenfreude here is delicious. Everyone hates a cheater, but it's unusual to see their behaviour so publicly exposed and admonished, alongside a forelock-tugging apology from the individual in question. It's a bit like Epic has taken on the role of RepulseGod's mom, made him apologise for his actions, confiscated his Xbox then sent him to his room.
Needless to say the community reaction to this can be summed-up as "lmfao." More seriously, esports pros and analysts reckon this kind of public shaming is a positive way to reinforce anti-cheating messages, and a warning to would-be miscreants of the potential consequences. "If every game developer sued and publicly shamed their cheaters we could get this industry cleaned up in 6 months," said Rod 'Slasher' Breslau. That may be a little optimistic: But it would be nice to put it to the test.
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