2019 Fortnite World Cup By the Numbers…

2 Fortnite launched just two years ago and has already become one of the most popular video games of all-time

3 The Fortnite World Cup spans a total of three days, beginning with a Creative event and a Pro-Am face-off, culminating with the championship

10 There are ten weeks of qualifying matches leading up to the World Cup finals

13 Competitors face a minimum age limit of thirteen to compete in the Fortnite World Cup

$80 Like any other sports or entertainment event, merchandise is popular at the Fortnite World Cup. The cost of a jersey from the esports team Faze Clan, which had several representatives at the World Cup, was $80.

100 The tournament field in the individual competition (a “duo” competition was also included in the tournament) featured one hundred different players

1,221 Over 1,221 player accounts were banned in the first week of qualifiers. Reasons included account sharing and teaming up with a competitor; one was for using cheating software.

23,771 Capacity at the legendary tennis venue, Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York, is nearly 24,000 (the venue is bigger than the Madison Square Garden in Manhattan). The event was sold out throughout the weekend.

$50,000 Every player who qualified for the 2019 Fortnite World Cup was guaranteed at least $50,000 in prize money.

Winners of the qualifying rounds each week were awarded $1 million

1.5 million Viewership for last year’s Pro-Am tournament reached 1.5 million (it was the first major Fortnite tournament from Epic Games)

2.3 million This year, more than 2.3 million esports fans streamed the Fortnite World Cup via Twitch and YouTube

$3 million The prize for first place in both the solo and duo competitions in the 2019 World Cup finals was $3 million

$2 million By comparison, the winners of the Wimbledon tennis tournament earn less than $3 million while Tiger Woods earned $2 million for winning the 2019 Masters golf tournament (both are arguably the most prestigious tournaments in their respective sports)

$3 million For more perspective, consider that in 2010, the total esports prize pool across all events was about $3 million

$156 million Compare that to last year when the total for prize pools for esports competitions amounted to nearly $156 million

22 million Tyler “Ninja” Blevins, the most popular Fortnite player in the world, has over 22 million followers. However, despite his prestige, he failed to qualify for either the solo or duo World Cup.

$30 million The total prize pool for the 2019 Fortnite World Cup was $30 million. It represented the largest prize pool in esports history until last month when Dota 2’s “The International 19” (which crowdfunds large portions of its pool from fans) announced a total prize pool of $57 million.

40 million Over forty million players participated in qualifiers this year hoping to make it to New York for the 2019 Fortnite World Cup

$100 million In 2019, Epic Games plans to distribute more than $100 million in prize money through various tournaments and competitions

Today, more than 250 million people play Fortnite globally

$1 billion According to marketing firm Newzoo, the esports industry is expected to generate more than $1 billion in revenue this year (setting another new industry record)

$3 billion According to TechCrunch, Epic Games generated $3 billion in profits last year (thanks, in large part, to the success of Fortnite)

Questions for Classroom Discussion 2019 Fortnite World Cup Questions for Classroom Discussion

Do you consider esports to be a traditional “sport”. Why or why not Do you consider esports to be a traditional “sport”? Why or why not? Does it matter? Why do you think esports have grown so much in the past few years? Do you think there is room for even more growth? Why or why not?

What is event management? Event marketing? Are they the same thing? Why do you think Epic Games created the Fortnite World Cup event? Why would Epic Games distribute so much in prize money?

Why do you think they held the tournament in New York? Why do you think they held the event at Arthur Ashe Stadium instead of another venue? How does attendance at esports events help the industry to grow?

What is revenue? How do esports teams generate revenue? What is sponsorship? What is advertising? Do you think sponsorship represents a growth opportunity for esports teams? How so?

Sources: techcrunch.com esportsobserver.com medium.com pcgamer.com wikipedia.com cnbc.com forbes.com