Epic Games Sets $100 Million for Fortnite Esports Prize Pools

[KuroMadoshi]

According to the announcement from Epic Games, Fortnite will be entering the esports tournaments scene in the year 2018-19. This will be the first esports season for the game and to kick things off, the developers will be providing a total of $100,000,000 to fund prize pools for Fortnite [https://www.killping.com/blog/epic-games-100-million-esports-prize-pools/] competitions.

The official announcement reads;

Grab your gear, drop in and start training. Since the launch of Fortnite Battle Royale we?ve watched the passion for community competition grow and can?t wait to empower you to battle with the best. 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.

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

$100m!? WTActualF? I thought DotA2 with 5-10m for The International was bananas, but $100m is off the damn charts. Does Fortnite make that much money that Epic can give away that much?

Valve make money for TI by selling Compendiums and tickets, how is this funded? That is world-class sports league level money there.

 

[Mcgeezaks]

$100m!? WTActualF? I thought DotA2 with 5-10m for The International was bananas, but $100m is off the damn charts. Does Fortnite make that much money that Epic can give away that much?

Valve make money for TI by selling Compendiums and tickets, how is this funded? That is world-class sports league level money there.

EPIC made millions of dollars each day from the mobile version of Fortnite alone.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

And the plague spreads. Look forward to every IP going full battle royale mode.

 

[sXeth]

$100m!? WTActualF? I thought DotA2 with 5-10m for The International was bananas, but $100m is off the damn charts. Does Fortnite make that much money that Epic can give away that much?

Valve make money for TI by selling Compendiums and tickets, how is this funded? That is world-class sports league level money there.

EPIC made millions of dollars each day from the mobile version of Fortnite alone.

I'd assume Epic makes buckets of money in general. Every game you buy that has that Unreal Engine logo on it is funding Epic to some degree. And its not like they're churning out games en masse and burning through it all. Fortnite being more or less their only current project and a cash cow doesn't hurt.

 

[Elijin]

And the plague spreads. Look forward to every IP going full battle royale mode.

I feel like chasing this trend will be short lived. It wont take long to realise that you cant all just throw out a clone of the mode when the mode requires 100 players per round.

 

[McElroy]

The game itself is quite a terrible viewing experience.

 

[Blood Brain Barrier]

The game itself is quite a terrible viewing experience.

Says the guy who plays golf for a living...

 

[McElroy]

The game itself is quite a terrible viewing experience.

Says the guy who plays golf for a living...

I retired in 2006. From tennis.

 

[sXeth]

And the plague spreads. Look forward to every IP going full battle royale mode.

I feel like chasing this trend will be short lived. It wont take long to realise that you cant all just throw out a clone of the mode when the mode requires 100 players per round.

The 100 is really just PUBG and Fortnite's arbitrary number. You could probably replicate the idea with any number above 30 with corresponding map adjustment. The couple of others (that weren't complete shovelware) I've seen were 40 or 50.