Fortnite World Cup: A Big-Ticket Event

The Fortnite World Cup, hosted this past weekend in New York City, was the biggest Fortnite -- and one of the biggest esports -- tournament to date. This multi-part event brought the best Fortnite players in the world together to compete at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

There were four competitions: The Creative competition featured wild and intricate Fortnite maps made by the players themselves, with eight teams of four players each facing-off for a grand prize of $3 million, ultimately won by Fish Fam. The Celebrity Pro-Am included YouTube mega-star Tyler “Ninja” Blevins and trap music artist RL Grime.

The biggest and most anticipated events of the weekend were the Duo and Solo competitions. The Duo competition included the 50 best pairs in Fortnite facing off in one battle royale match -- an intense and grueling qualifying process that went on for weeks. The prize for the winning pair of Nyhrox and Aqua was also $3 million. The Solo competition was the grand finale of the weekend; with Kyle “Bugha” Giersdorf, 16, taking home the $3 million prize after surviving qualifying matches and competing against the best players in the world.

There was $30 million in total prize money distributed throughout the Fortnite World Cup: $3 million went to the winner of each competition, and each of 332 qualifiers were guaranteed a $50,000 prize after surviving qualifying rounds that included 40 million players participating around the globe. When comparing this to the $2 million Tiger Woods received for winning the Masters a few months ago, could this level of winnings encourage parents around the world to let their kids have just a bit more time with their favorite virtual competition?