Epic Games reveal Fortnite World Cup’s “record-setting” success
Epic GamesFortnite World Cup with new data showing just how “record-setting” the event truly was.
The ramp up to Epic Games’ New York City tournament saw a ton of big names miss out on the chance of becoming the first Fortnite World Cup Champion. But that didn’t stop 19,000 fans from showing up to the Arthur Ashe Stadium throughout the three-day event.
Even though not everyone might be a fan of Fortnite or its competitive formats, the success of the World Cup is a great sign for the growth of esports as a whole and is a humble reminder of its current state.
The World Cup was filled with incredible games, matched only by an incredible prize pool.In a July 31 announcement, the Fortnite team gave insights to the huge numbers generated over the weekend that saw a peak of over 2.3 million concurrent viewers tuning in to watch the Solo Finals.
“On Sunday during the Solo Finals,” the announcement reads. “Concurrent viewers peaked at over 2.3 million across YouTube and Twitch, making the Fortnite World Cup the most-watched competitive gaming event (excluding China) of all time.”
While that’s an impressive feat on its own, the company did note that those “numbers do not include fans watching in-game and on other streaming and social media platforms.”
Even though not all went well for every competitor at the Fortnite World Cup, the event produced a legendary sum that propelled 16-year-old winner Kyle ‘Bugha’ Giersdorf to the higher echelons of esports winnings.
Competitive Fortnite is evolving
Following the events of the wildly successful World Cup Finals, it looks like Epic Games have bigger ideas in store for the progression of the competitive Fortnite scene.
The company has announced the Fortnite Champion Series that will debut amid Season X of the popular battle royale. The tournament will be played “weekly with the goal of becoming Fortnite Season X Champions.”
The Fortnite competitive scene seems to only get bigger from here on.With millions of dollars on the line, players will be able to use a leaderboard to see where they are compared to their competition in the race to become the Season Champs.
The first Fortnite World Cup is certainly one for the record books, and it looks like that’s only the beginning for the scene’s future potential.