Epic is looking to stamp out collusion in competitive matches on Fortnite this year by looking for and punishing actions such as signaling and planned movement.

The competitive Fortnite scene is an active and ruthless arena. In 2019, the scene experienced its biggest event to date, the Fortnite World Cup. The tournament, which took place over an entire summer when including the qualifying rounds, was lauded as a huge success. However, despite Epic’s best efforts, there were still instances of cheating that needed to be stamped out.

Cheating during regular rounds of Fortnite is one thing. Doing so when there are literally millions of dollars on the line, however, is extremely not okay. That’s why Epic has issued a statement that in 2020, it will be going above and beyond to prevent a very specific type of cheating on Fortnite in 2020. Collusion between enemies during competitive matches.

Epic made an update to its competitive Fortnite rules earlier this week, reports Dot Esports. It states that there have been cases of players sending and receiving signals to each other during matches suggesting they team up, despite being on opposing teams, to whittle down the competition. Players do this in a number of ways including using emotes, swinging their pickaxe, tossing a toy, or even just jumping.

Since all of the above are things most players will be doing in each and every round, identifying something as a signal to collude is easier said than done. That hasn’t deterred Epic, though. The rule update highlights four things it will now be on the lookout for in tournaments and Arena. Enemies teaming together, opposing players planning movement together, sending or receiving signals, whether they be verbal or non-verbal, and dropping items for enemies to pick up.

Epic has been vague in explaining how exactly players caught colluding with one another will be punished. The rule update simply reads, “any cases of signaling like those listed above will now result in a teaming/collusion penalty.” What that penalty will be is currently unknown to anyone outside of Epic. Should players be caught colluding in competitive matches more than once, they will be subject to “increased penalties.”

Source: Dot Esports