A 16-year-old kid, still a solid coupla years off being able to legally cross the threshold of a pub in Australia, just took home a pay packet that exceeds the one taken home by the winners of Wimbledon, thanks to a victory at the Fortnite World Cup in the US overnight.
[jwplayer zIMLNJIX]
American teen Kyle Giersdorf, who competes under the screen name Bugha, took out the solo finals of the inaugural Fortnite World Cup in New York yesterday, pocketing an extremely casual prize packet of USD$3million (AUD$4.3million) in the process.
To put that in some perspective, Novak Djokovic and Simona Halep each pocketed USD$2.98million for winning their Wimbledon singles draws just a few short weeks ago. So a teen flossing on fools won more money than tennis players who took out actual Wimbledon. Which is bloody unreal if you think about it.
The inaugural Fortnite World Cup was announced in June of last year, and qualifying for the tournament began in earnest this past April. Competitors were funnelled through 10 weeks of qualifying rounds, with a large handful of notable players failing to qualify for the finals.
Just 100 players out of a reported 40 million progressed through to the final stages of the tournament, which were held across three days at a very sold out 23,771-seat Arthur Ashe Stadium in Queens; a stadium that is ordinarily most famous for hosting the US Open.
Each of the 100 participants in the World Cup finals pocketed a minimum of $50,000 in prize money. Giersdorf, however, won his way to millionaire teen status by taking out the first of six tournament games, and placing high enough in the remaining five to maintain a commanding table lead in the points-based round robin tourney.
The best Fortnite player in the world 👑
16-year-old @bugha takes the Fortnite World Cup Solos title and wins $3M 🙌 pic.twitter.com/hgDFNZYpJu
— B/R Gaming (@BRGaming) July 28, 2019
Congratulations @bugha! pic.twitter.com/nchRlL3wUC
— Fortnite Competitive (@FNCompetitive) July 28, 2019
So there you go. USD$3million for winning the Fortnite World Cup. Hell of an achievement, and a hell of a payday.
Now then. Givvus a loan, son.
Go on then.
We’re good for it.
Honest.
