Esports production company and tournament organiser BLAST has secured a partnership with Fortnite to produce and deliver all Fortnite Championship Series (FNCS) events in 2022.
BLAST will be tasked with operating the entire FNCS broadcast schedule, starting with Season 1 of FNCS Chapter 3. The tournament, set to be played in February and March of 2022, has a prize pool of over $3m (~£2.21m) and is the first in the Fortnite competitive chapter that will be played throughout 2022.
RELATED: BLAST to produce season-ending Fortnite FNCS event
The FNCS is the biggest competitive series in Fortnite. The competitive landscape is divided into Chapters, with the second edition lasting from October 2019 to December 2021. Chapters are then split into seasons (Chapter 2 had around 40 separate events, ranging from $80,000 to $1.3m).
BLAST noted in a release that the cooperation with the battle royale game is the company’s biggest project since the creation of BLAST Premier in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. This partnership is an expansion of a previous deal that saw BLAST produce the FNCS All-Star Showdown and FNCS Grand Royale events in 2021.
Leo Matlock, MD for Development at BLAST, commented: “We are delighted to be able to establish this year-long partnership with Fortnite. BLAST has been able to build trust and a fantastic working relationship with the Fortnite Competitive team to create incredible experiences for the community.
“We loved every minute of FNCS All-Star Showdown and FNCS Grand Royale and have amazing plans for FNCS Chapter 3, which kicks off with Season 1 on February 17th where we have a record amount of content for fans to enjoy alongside our world-class production as the best in the world battle it out for over $3M in the prize pool.”
RELATED: BLAST enters FIFA esports to produce 2021/22 ePremier League
The announcement comes shortly after BLAST announced that it’ll be producing the ePremier League in 2022, thus entering the FIFA esports scene for the first time ever. This year, the company has also secured a number of high-profile partnerships with the likes of Betway, Shikenso, GRID Esports, Coinbase and CS.MONEY.
Esports Insider says: BLAST is starting 2022 strong. The company entered FIFA esports in early February and is now securing a foothold in Fortnite esports. It seems like 2022 will be the year BLAST starts to fully diversify its revenue streams and stops focusing largely on CS:GO. A move that could pay off, if executed correctly.
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