Epic Games announced today that it will give away $8 million in prize money for its first major Fortnite esports competition, the first of the $100 million kitty it has for competitions in the next year.
Participants will be made up of community creators and Fortnite players. The format and competitors may change from week-to-week, the company said. Invitations have already been sent.
I didn’t get mine yet. But last week on vacation, I was pleased to see my young nephew playing Fornite and getting down to No. 3 in a match while playing on his own $800 gaming laptop.
Yes, this game is everywhere, as Epic Games is generating a lot of money from it. The free-to-play game made $318 million across all platforms in May, up 7 percent from April, according to market researcher SuperData.
At the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) game trade show in June, Epic held a celebrity charity esports event, and it held a big part at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Clearly, Epic is taking advantage of the cultural boom around Fortnite, and it’s trying to make that awareness even bigger.