On May 21, 2018, Epic Games announced on the official Fortnite website that it would set aside US$ 100 million for the game’s championship prizes in the first competitive season, 2018-2019.
To give a sense of scale: until then, the biggest prize in an esports tournament was that of The International, Valve’s Dota 2 world championship, at about US$ 25 million. On its own, Epic’s investment exceeded the sum of the ten biggest esports tournaments of the time.
The company also made clear it wanted to do things differently. In the official statement, it wrote: “We’re going to strongly support competitive play, but our approach will be different: we plan to be more inclusive and focused on the joy of playing and watching the game.” In other words, the idea was not just to create an elite of professionals, but to open space for any player to try their luck.
The announcement had no details yet on format, platforms or the possibility of matches between players on different platforms. It made sense: Fortnite Battle Royale had come out in September 2017 and, within a few months, became one of the biggest phenomena in gaming, on PC, consoles and mobile. Few games grew so fast that they could fund, at once, the biggest prize in esports history.
What came next
The first test came less than a month later. On June 12, 2018, during E3, Epic held the Fortnite Celebrity Pro-Am, with 50 pairs of players and celebrities, playing for US$ 3 million for charities. Streamer Ninja and DJ Marshmello won, taking US$ 1 million for charity.
The high point was the Fortnite World Cup, in July 2019, in New York, with US$ 30 million in prizes. An estimated 40 million players competed for spots in the open online qualifiers. The solo final was won by American Kyle “Bugha” Giersdorf, 16, who took home US$ 3 million. The promise of inclusion, at least at the entry door, was kept.
Source: Epic Games.
Max Xavier
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