UK teen becomes e-sports millionaire in the Fortnite World Cup

A UK teen has split a $2.25m prize in the Fortnite World Cup, which had a record-breaking total prize pool of $30m.

The global games industry is now worth more than music and movies combined in total annual revenue, and the rising popularity of e-sports has produced a global secondary enterainment industry estimated to be worth over a billion US dollars. The finals of the annual League of Legends World Championship or the Dota 2 International regularly fill massive stadiums, and Blizzard's Overwatch League is now shown on Disney XD and ESPN.

This week saw the largest tournament prize pool yet in the world of e-sports as the $30m US Fortnite World Cup kicked off at the Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York. Over 40 million players of the online game around the world attempted to qualify for the tournament, and the finalists took to the stage in New York to compete for the chance to win a slice of the largest prize pool in gaming history.

Jaden Ashman, a 15 year old player from the UK, made it all the way to the finals of the Duo category and finished second, splitting a $2.25m (around £1.8m) prize with another player. This makes Jaden one of very few UK e-sports competitors to break the $1m prize winnings mark.

The utimate winner was 16 year old US teenager Kyle Giersdorf, who walks away with a record-breaking prize of $3m (around £2.4m) and the title of Fortnite 2019 World Champion. The total prize pool for the event was the largest ever seen in an e-sports tournament at $30m, but will be beaten later this year by the Dota 2 International at $30.9m and rising.

Source: BBC News, BBC News