First Fortnite World Cup planned for late 2019, will offer $100 million in prizes

Battle Royale-style games have taken the world by storm, and Fortnite is leading the pack. The online shooter is one of the most popular games on Steam, and hundreds of millions of players, and rakes in tons of cash month after month. Now Epic Games, the developer behind the wildly successful title, is offering players a chance at fame and riches with next year’s Fortnite World Cup, scheduled for late 2019.

The Fortnite World Cup is sure to be a big deal as Epic Games announced they’ll be offering USD $100,000,000 in prizes across “many events at different levels of competition around the globe” in a blog post. The best part? A chunk of that prize money could be yours. The competition is open to any and all players, no team or sponsor needed.

The World Cup is designed to for the players. Qualifications, which will begin this coming fall, will be “based on merit.” That makes Epic a bit unique in the eSports arena where competitive games are typically dominated by sponsored teams or franchises (think LoL or DotA).

There’s no question that eSports are becoming big business. Last quarter, an estimated USD $2 billion flowed into the eSports industry from various investment groups, and viewership is expected to eclipse 200 million this year. What makes the Fortnite World Cup so different is its accessibility. Epic Games seems to be making a concentrated effort at shaking the fledgling industry and ensuring that anyone can participate, either by watching a match or competing in one.

More details about the Fortnite World Cup will be coming soon via Epic Games’ site.

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