Epic Games disqualified Bugha, Kraez, and more than 20 players from FNCS Major 1 Grand Finals hours before competition due to suspected use of third-party applications.

Real-time drop calculators and overlays can read live game data, which distinguishes them from static tools and prompted a clarification in the rules.

The decision has potential implications for the FNCS ecosystem given the prize pool and the schedule of upcoming major events.

So far, the community reaction has been sharply critical, with fans and former champions rallying around the hashtag #RestartGrands.

Epic’s follow-up communications have suggested ongoing confusion about the use of real-time third-party tools in competitive play.

Affected players cannot rejoin the current tournament because lobbies are full, effectively ending their participation in FNCS Major 1.

Epic confirmed there will be no restart of FNCS Major 1, with full lobbies preventing reintegration.

Reaction from the competitive Fortnite community has been highly negative, questioning competitive integrity after the decision not to restart.

Epic later reversed the disqualifications tied to real-time drop calculators, removing those penalties from players’ records.

Initial disqualifications were tied to tools providing in-game information like storm surge and drops, viewed as giving an edge.

Epic issued warnings that third-party software can lead to disqualification, with some final spots rolling to other eligible players based on the consistency leaderboard.

Epic will update rules to explicitly ban tools with real-time game state access, including memory-reads or overlays, while allowing static tools that don’t access live state.