Fortnite — one of the world’s most popular video games — is now a high school and college sport, marking another growth moment for the battle royale game.
What happened: PlayVS, a startup from Los Angeles, has linked up with Epic Games to create a competitive Fortnite league for high school and college students, TechCrunch reports.
- The competitive league allows gamers from high school and college.
- This is the first time PlayVS has become involved at the college level.
Conferences: The high school division will have six conferences to fit with time zones, including Eastern, Central, Mountain, Pacific, Alaska and Hawaii, according to The Washington Post.
- The college level will have one conference.
- The conferences will all have one champion from an event.
The season: Interested gamers can sign up at the high school level on Feb. 17. The eight-week season begins on Feb. 26, according to The Washington Post.
- College registration begins Feb. 25. The season begins on March 4.
How the game works: Players will battle in the duos version of Fortnite against other duos in their conference, according to The Washington Post. The teams will play for two hours for a maximum of seven games. You earn points for the week.
- Victory Royale gives you 10 points.
- Second or third place gives you 7 points.
- Fourth through seventh places wins you five points.
- Eighth to 12th place gives you three points.
- Elimination gets you one point.
What is PlayVS?: The company brings esports to high school by creating leagues that look similar to ones you might see for baseball, basketball or football, according to TechCrunch.
- High schools partner with PlayVS by paying $64 per player and then compete against neighboring schools in the competition. It will be free for the first year for registered users.
- PlayVS is partnering with game publishers, making them an official league that might have more longevity. For example, Epic Games could shut down other competitive Fortnite leagues on a whim. But PlayVS would remain because it works exclusively with the publisher, TechCrunch reports.
- PlayVS already has a similar league for Rocket League, which is owned by Psyonix, which is owned by Epic Games, per VentureBeat.