Epic Games just made a massive announcement stating that they’ll be providing $100,000,000 in funding for Fortnite tournaments in the 2018-19 season. They also announced that they will have a “different approach” and that they plan to be more “inclusive”. The announcement shows just how big the Battle Royale has gotten over time.
Battle Royale has taken over the online multiplayer gaming scene and Fortnite is currently the most popular multiplayer game out there. The game has been gaining popularity at an alarming rate for a few months now, even overtaking PUBG in terms of the number of players that play it. It’s simplistic, yet fun approach alongside the fact that it’s totally free to play and doesn’t require an online subscription to play ticks many boxes for a lot of people.
Fortnite has evolved over time too, there’s a lot more the game has to offer now than it did a few months ago. The game follows a “season” system that introduces new content, new weekly challenges and character skins etc. This makes players want to keep coming back for more which is why the game is so popular, everyone can’t get enough of it! The popularity of Fortnite can be seen through many things happening right now. Only recently, the game launched an Infinity War event (coinciding with the movie’s release) that would let players become Thanos in-game and wreak havoc.
The game is also responsible for many YouTubers becoming successful, the best example is Ninja, who’s only 26 years old and he earns almost $500,000 a month thanks to Fortnite. Despite being free, the game itself earns a lot of money because it’s available on multiple platforms such as the Ps4, PC, mobile and Xbox One. Therefore, it’s no shocker as to how Fortnite is able to come up with such huge funding for eSports.
However, it’s worth noting that Fortnite is giving much more in funding despite being relatively “new” compared to other well-established names out there. Dota 2 is a familiar name that pops up whenever eSports and money are discussed at the same time. The game is responsible for making many teenagers rich by paying massive amounts of money to competition winners. In 2017, the game paid around $38 million across all competitive tournaments.
Dota’s massive prize pool looks like nothing when compared to Fortnite’s $100 million, even though Dota does pay a LOT of money. The biggest prize pool to date for Dota 2 is $25 million which was paid out last year at the International, a massive Dota 2 event. Similarly, Overwatch is also one of the most played competitive games out there. However, it doesn’t even come close to Fortnite or Dota as its first ever tournament will pay around $3.5 million.
Given that Fortnite makes around $1 million per day on just its mobile version, it’s likely that as Fortnite’s tournaments become more popular, the prize pool will also increase. Moreover, Epic Games said in their blog post that they want to do things differently, they want to be more “inclusive”.
“We’re getting behind competitive play in a big way, but our approach will be different,” Epic said. “We plan to be more inclusive, and focused on the joy of playing and watching the game.”
The announcement is great news for Fortnite fans who’ve acquired a lot of skill by putting in the hours necessary in the game. The game is also played competitively by many people and the 2018-19 season will provide a great platform for many Fortnite players to showcase their skills and be rewarded for them.
Given that Fortnite’s constantly growing without showing any signs of slowing down, the sky is the limit for the game. They’ve already announced the biggest prize pool in eSports, outdoing some of the most well-known games out there. It’ll be interesting to see what Fortnite does next.