How this 16-year-old just outdid Novak Djokovic and Tiger Woods
American teen Kyle ‘Bugha’ Giersdorf made history on Sunday when the 16-year-old won the Fortnite World Cup and as such took home the biggest prize money ever for an Esports tournament.
Giersdorf entered the tournament ranked world No.10 but demolished the competition by scoring 59 points, 26 more than his nearest competitor "psalm," according to the Fortnite World Cup Leaderboard.
This meant Bugha took home an astonishing $3 million ($AUD 4.35 million) as prize money for winning what is now the biggest World Cup in the Esports industry.
The $30 million prize money for the competitors was the largest in the history of an Esports competition.
The emergence of advertising, sponsors and media rights fuelling the billion dollar gaming industry has seen the individual prize money for the Fortnite champion eclipse the winners of some of the world’s major sporting competitions.
Bugha’s $4.35 million eclipsed that of Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic who won $4.32 million and it beat Tiger Woods’ haul of $2.87 million for claiming The Masters.
Esports (1/2)
The champion of the Fortnite (online video game) World Cup will bag a record-breaking $3 million prize.
The final will take place in NY, at the Arthur Ashe Stadium, the world’s largest tennis stadium.@StatistaCharts pic.twitter.com/OlK2QplM75— Daniel Haddad (@DanielNHaddad) July 22, 2019
To put this into perspective, the youngest winner of the Tour de France in 110 years, Egan Bernal, held onto the overall leader’s jacket in one of the most gruelling races in the world.
But while Bernal will claim a cool $840,000 for his historic win, this would have placed him seventh on the list of highest earners from the Fortnite World Cup.
Congratulations to @bugha for winning the Fortnite World Cup
$3,000,000 with a very convincing win pic.twitter.com/AC5GYw5gQi— Convict.exe (@ConvictEXE) July 28, 2019
Giersdorf elated after Fortnite championship
Giersdorf said all his hard work leading up to the tournament came to fruition.
"Words can't even explain it. I'm just so happy," Giersdorf said in an interview at the event at Arthur Ashe Stadium in Queens, New York, posted by organisers on Twitter. "Everything I've done, the grind, it's all paid off. It's just insane."
The commentators described the final game as a “ridiculous victory lap” as Bugha played with a smile on his face.
Launched in 2017, Fortnite's popularity has helped Epic Games reach a $15-billion-valuation last year.