Epic Games is lining up $100 million for Fortnite competitions during the 2018-19 season, with funding dedicated to esports prize pools. “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,” the company announced. “Stay tuned for more details about competitive structures and eligible platforms in the weeks ahead!” The company also detailed plans for a Fortnite Celebrity Pro-Am tournament that will take place during E3 this year. Fifty pros and celebrities with team up on June 12 to battle for $3 million in charity prize money. Among the participants will be Tyler “Ninja” Blevins/ music producer Marshmello and Ali “Myth” Kabbani/Paul George. Other names will include Pokimane, Mark “Markiplier” Fischbach, Corentin “Gotaga” Houssein, Desiigner, Joel McHale, and Demetrious Johnson.
Here’s a sampling of analyst and key executives on the prize news:
• OpTic’s Hector Rodriguez posted that “You either move when you need to, or you play catch-up. They’re just having fun tho, this is going to be SICK!!! Can’t wait to attend the first event.”
• Benchmark venture capitalist Bill Gurley tweeted that “This is big. And bold.”
• “To put this in some perspective, in 2017, the top 10 games COMBINED gave out $91.2mm in prize money.” tweeted esports personality Scott Smith.
• “It’s the biggest I’ve seen … This is pretty phenomenal. It also speaks to how much they are making from the game,” Wedbush gaming analyst Michael Pachter wrote in an email, per CNBC.
• “It is quite an impressive headline figure, but there is no detail on how the money is going to be divided, whether there will be a traditional tournament and a world champion player or lots of smaller tournaments.” said Piers Harding-Rolls, director of games research at IHS Markit., per the BBC.
