Epic Games Will Provide $100,000,000 for Fornite: Battle Royale Esports Tournament Prize Pools In The First Year Of Competitive Play

The first year of esports tournaments in Fortnite: Battle Royale will feature a collective prize pool of $100,000,000.

Epic Games previously stated that they’d be supporting the competitive scene but remained scarce on details – until now, and to the tune of a sum that surely does justice to the potential of Fortnite’s esports community.

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Indeed, their announcement was packaged with a brief introduction rallying teams and players to start practicing for the 2018-2019 competitive season:

Players of the popular Battle Royale game have been forming teams in anticipation of a reveal of this magnitude, with major organizations including Team SoloMid and FaZe already treating the game as a competitive discipline.

Many of the games most popular streamers also have backgrounds in other esports – Ninja formerly played Halo at a professional level at Major League Gaming events, for example.

The announcement should be no surprise to anyone aware of Epic Games’ rich esports history, including the Unreal Tournament franchise and the Gears of War series.

Read More: Typical Gamer Makes Brilliant Gesture After Winning $10,000 KEEMSTAR Friday Fortnite Tournament

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$100M is a landmark figure in esports as a single announcement. For a point of reference, here are the total esport earnings from other top esport titles accumulated since their inception:

1. Dota 2: $141,237,712.53
2. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive: 53,393,783.49
3. League of Legends: 52,084,270.26

Figures according to E-Sports Earnings.

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If you consider that each of those have had hundreds, if not thousands of tournaments, you can appreciate just how staggering Fortnite’s first year prize pool is.

The Fortnite team also squeezed in a short statement on what fans might expect from the esport, stating: “our approach will be different – we plan to be more inclusive, and focused on the joy of playing and watching the game.”

More to come as the story develops…