Epic Games, the company behind the mega hit game, Fortnite, announced on its blog the launch of its Fortnite World Cup open to all.
“We’re getting behind competitive play in a big way, but our approach will be different – we plan to be more inclusive, and focused on the joy of playing and watching the game.”, the company said.
“We’ll be supporting community organised events, online events, and major organised competitions all over the world, where anyone can participate, and anyone can win.”
“This is for you, the players. Qualifications for the Fortnite World Cup will be based on merit. Epic will not be selling teams or franchises, and won’t allow third-party leagues to do so either.”
And the $100m (£74m) prize pot – the largest in the highly lucrative world of e-sports – would be split between many events at different levels of competition around the world.
Launched in June 2017, the Fortnite games has had 125 million players as of April, and generated $300m in revenue.
The booming Lucrative e-sports entertainment industry
In February early this years, 2% of all live gaming streaming went to Fortnite. This number grew to 33% in May. This was largely thanks to its Battle Royal format which generated a pop culture following of streamers such as Ninja and Hip-Hop rapper like Drake.
Its most popular format, Battle Royale, pits 100 players against each other, some of whom are in small teams, to see who is the last person standing.
Fortnite celebrity Ninja and EDM DJ Marshmello were crowned champions of EpicGames’ first ever Fortnite ProAm tournament at E3 2018. After the win, Ninja donated $500,000 to Alzheimer’s association.
