This weekend saw Fortnite hold one of its biggest tournaments to date with the FNCS Grand Royale. The Grand Royale is a unique end of year event for Fortnite. While the FNCS runs every season, the Grand Royalebrought the winners and other high-ranking players together. It gives a good measurement of where each of the best Fortnite players stands at the end of the year, and how the FNCS Grand Royale winners have progressed. However, it is also a good time to take stock on how competitive Fortnite has progressed. This is everything that went down at the event:

FNCS Grand Royale 2021 Winners

The FNCS Grand Royale ran over the last couple of days, bringing the top Fortnite players together to compete. There were quite a few great performances over the course of the weekend. However, with the event divided into quite a few regions, there were a few squads that walked away as champions. The winning team that seems to have grabbed the most attention is the trio of Bugha, Mero and Dukez, and the return of Bugha to the top spot in competitive Fortnite.

After Bugha shot to fame winning the Fortnite World Cup when it was last held, he had failed to keep following up in successive FNCS tournaments. The first signs of a turnaround here came with the Season 9 FNCS, where Bugha’s team came out ahead. Going into the FNCS Grand Royale, Bugha’s trio made one important adjustment. The previous trio was Bugha, Mero, and Muz. Muz was dropped from the squad before this event, replacing him with Dukez. Muz was a pretty important part of the squad’s previous win, so this decision didn’t exactly inspire hope from fans and those looking at Fortnite betting.

Despite the major change though, Bugha’s squad got off to a great start in the qualifying rounds. All teams in the region were competing in the Load Sessions round, with only players who got a Victory Royale moving into the Victory Path. This squad got that win in their very first game. This already set them aside from the crowd. Although at the end of Day One, the trio weren’t looking the strongest. They’d had an average placement of just 9 with only 23 eliminations.

The major change for this team came at the same time at it did in most regions, on day two. The second day of the event had double points allocated to players making it far more important for teams. Over the course of the second day Bugha’s trio rose back up the tables. Heading into a final game, Bugha’s team managed to beat out the competition and get the points needed to head to the Champions slot. This is a big achievement, and Bugha has definitely proved he’s still one of the best Fortnite players around.

Europe give out the biggest prize pool yet

Three players from our best player rankings also came close to a million in Fortnite earnings after winning the European Grand Royale.

Henrik “Hen” Mclean, Tai “TaySon” Starčič and Moussa “Chapix” Faour took home first place and shared $600,000 in first place winnings. Each player is now a step closer to earning close to a million dollars from competitive Fortnite  They took home fifth place in the Load Round, so this was a strong build for them over the weekend. While this achievement is no less impressive, from any of the other region, the sheer prize pool for Europe can raise eyebrows.

Millions before turning 20? No problem.

With over $5 million in prize pools for Grand Royale alone, Fortnite is well on its way to being the premier title for creating young millionaires before they even come of age. While many thought the initial Fortnite World Cup was fluke with its insane prize fund, it seems Epic continues the tradition of making big money events and fueling the dream that everyone can become a millionaire by simply grinding Fortnite.

With change coming to the competitive system in 2022, competitive moving to Duos instead of Trios, and third-party LAN events making a return, we can expect even more winnings handed out to the best competitors next year.

Who said competitive Fortnite is going down?

The FNCS Grand Royale showed that Fortnite is still very stable and exciting for esports. These events are a fun way to assess players outside of the FNCS for each season. If the future finally sees the return of a Fortnite World Cup, these winners will be the new players to watch out for at that event.