What were you doing when you were 16 years old? Well, I bet you weren’t as happy as Kyle “Bugha” GIersdorf. The 16-year-old gamer was riding a high this weekend after bringing home the championship at the inaugural Fortnite World Cup on Sunday, July 28 at Arthur Ashe Stadium in Flushing, New York.
For his efforts, Bugha took home a whopping $3 million grand prize.
The tournament boasted more than $30 million in total prize money with Bugha earning the grand prize after topping the field of more than 100 players.
“Words can’t even explain it. I’m just so happy. Everything I’ve done, the grind, it’s all paid off,” Giersdorf said following his big win in the tournament, via CNBC.com. “It’s just insane.”
To show how dominant Bugha was with his performance, he finished 29 points ahead of the second-place finisher.
- Bugha – 59 points
- Psalm – 33 points
- Epikwhale
- Kreo
- KING – 30 points
- Crue – 27 points
- Skite – 26 points
- Nayte – 26 points
- Riversan – 24 points
- Fatch – 24 points
Don’t feel too bad for the runners-up, though.
Psalm, whose real name is Harrison Chang, earned a whopping $1.8 million for his second-place finish. Third-place went to Epikwhale who netted $1.2 million, while Nate “Kreo” Kou picked up fourth place and $1.05 million.
Fortnite has helped boost the eSports market, as CNBC explains:
Launched in 2017, Fortnite’s popularity has helped Epic Games reach a $15-billion-valuation last year. It competes with other games like Electronic Arts Inc’s Apex Legends and Tencent Holdings’ PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds. Overall, the global video and electronic games market, excluding revenues from esports, will generate $152.1 billion in 2019, up 9.6% over last year, according to a report by gaming analytics firm Newzoo.
It looks like parents may have to start thinking twice before scolding their kids for sitting around the television all day and rotting away their brains by spending countless hours on the sticks playing their favorite video game.
