The Fortnite World Cup Online Open Tournament qualifiers began on April 13 and is slated to take place for 9 weeks. Since the start of it, Epic Games has been cracking down on any foul play they see during the matches. So far, Epic has banned more than 1,200 for cheating within just the first week of the World Cup Online Open. On top of that, more than 200 players had cash prizes revoked from them after the developer investigated a bit more into the incidences.

Players who were caught cheating or going against the rules of the tournament were either caught playing in multiple regions, sharing accounts, or teaming up with other players. Most of the players only received a two week ban as punishment, but there is one case where a player who used “cheating software” during the tournaments semifinals who was banned permanently. A total of 196 players had to forfeit their prizes after caught playing in several regions. Nine players lost their prizes due to sharing accounts, and another’s were forfeiting because of teaming up with other players cashing a competitive disadvantage.

Epic Games is not allowing for any such behavior during both tournament and non-tournament matches as they have added a  “real-time teaming detection algorithm” in order to combat this issue. These developments have caused quite an uproar within the community and a couple players were even accused of cheating after the first week of the solo play qualifiers. Epic replied to the accusations on their official website

“We appreciate the community’s concern around the integrity of the competition, but questioning the results of an individual participant without direct evidence unfairly tears apart what should be a crowning moment of achievement for an individual or team who earned their way there and performed when it counted.” They added that their main focus is promoting a fun and spirited competitive experience while eliminating any sources of unsportsmanlike activity.