Sixteen year old Pennsylvania native Kyle Giersdorf has pocketed a cool AUD$4.3 million for winning the solo division of the Fortnite World Cup at the weekend in New York.
Despite being released only two years ago, the online shooter-survival game (think ‘Hunger Games’ meets ‘Lord of the Flies’) has developed a dedicated following.
The Fortnite World Cup attracted hundreds of competitors, filled out the Arthur Ashe Stadium 23,000-seat capacity and boasted a prize pool of more than $30 million.
Giersdorf, also known online as Bugha, beat out 100 other rivals in Sunday’s solo finals to take the top prize.
His competitors won’t be leaving empty handed though - 2nd through to 5th place all take home over $1 million.
Even those who came in dead last on zero points scored $72,000 for their troubles.
The prize pool for the Fortnite World Cup is one of the biggest in eSports history and rivals more mainstream sports as US journalist Darren Rovell pointed out.
“Words can’t even describe how I feel right now. The grind, everything I did, it all paid off,” said Giersdorf of his historic win.
He wasn’t the only teen to become an instant millionaire thanks to the World Cup.
Norwegian 16-year-old Emil Bergquist Pedersen and Austrian 17-year-old David Wang will share $4.3 million in prize money after winning the tournament’s doubles finals.
The team were underdogs from the start, beating out 49 other teams with much stronger commercial backing to win the cup.
Fortnite is the magnum opus of Epic Games and has quickly become the most profitable game in the world - boasting over 125 million players worldwide.
Last year Epic Games grossed $4.3 billion, pushing its overall evaluation to $22 billion.
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