Why some of Fortnite’s best players aren’t streaming their World Cup qualifiers

Fortnite’s World Cup qualifiers give players the chance to fight for the biggest spotlight the competitive scene has to offer. The qualifiers, which started last week, have already drawn in hundreds of thousands of viewers who are eager to see the game’s best players face-off. But most top players are opting not to stream their competition.

While it may seem strange not to stream when the number of viewers is at its highest, there are a few reasons for most pros to go offline.

Image: Epic Games

Stream snipers are even in competitive matches

Most Fortnite competitors prefer to land in one place every match. Because of this, it’s easy for stream snipers — players who try to get in the same game as streamers just to kill them and ruin their game — to throw a wrench in their plan. Because survival is the best way to gain points in competitive matches, having three or four extra players show up to your favorite landing area could mean trouble.

In a normal game, taking out stream snipers is just a regular part of streaming, but during qualifiers the stakes are higher. With so few spots available for the World Cup, and only 10 matches to get as many points as possible, players are desperate to make sure that everything is perfect for each drop. No streaming means no stream snipers.

Bigger channels are still streaming

There are a few streamers who have decided that the numbers they’ll pull in by streaming are well worth the snipers they’re sure to attract. Most prominent among these are Tfue and Ninja, two of Fortnite’s biggest streamers. While both players did have their fair share of snipers, they also pulled in some impressive viewer numbers. Tfue averaged nearly 150,000 viewers during the competition on Sunday, and even eclipsed the viewer count for Blizzard’s Overwatch League.

These two popular channels soaking up such a massive amount of viewership is another reason for pros not to stream. Not only could it result in a worse placement, but they’re likely to lose out on viewers to these two.

Epic Games via Ninja/Twitch

How to watch the players that aren’t streaming

If you still want to catch some of the World Cup qualifiers but don’t want to watch Tfue or Ninja, you do have a few other options available. The first is Epic’s official Fortnite stream, which is showing replays throughout the competition. Most of the replays will focus on the endgame of the matches, rather than the opening which tends to be a little more boring, so they’re almost constant action.

The other option available is to watch the replays yourself. Epic has compiled a massive spreadsheet with each of the first week’s games, and all you have to do is find the replay you want and download it to your Fortnite replay folder — Epic also has a nice tutorial on how to do it.

While none of these options are quite as exciting as watching your favorite streamer take on the World Cup qualifiers live, it’s nice that fans will still have the chance to see the games. It’s even possible that some streamers will download their own replays and watch them back during the week with extra commentary, but so far no streamer seems to have done that.

As the World Cup qualifiers continue, more streamers could join the likes of Tfue and Ninja, throwing caution to the wind and streaming their matches. Or maybe those two will bend to their desire to qualify and turn off the streams in hopes of better results for some of their later games.

Fortnite’s World Cup qualifiers will run for 10 straight weeks, switching off between solo and duo competitions from April 13 to June 16.