Who is Kyle Giersdorf, 16, winner of Fortnite World Cup?
For a few days at least,
Kyle Giersdorf isn’t going to be hassled for spending so much time playing video games.
The 16- year- old known as “Bugha” to gamers, came away with $ 3 million
Sunday in the Fortnite
World Cup solo competition, beating 99 other players culled from some 40 million who hoped to qualify for the event in Arthur
Ashe Stadium in Flushing
Meadows, N. Y.
Giersdorf, who lives in
Pottsgrove, Pa., laughed and shook his head as his name was announced after his dominant performance in the finale. Like all champions Games. It awarded $ 30 million in the home of tennis’s to players over the U. S. Open, he gleefully weekend, which also featured hoisted the giant trophy a Pro- Am and duos over his head and competition. In duos, teenagers hugged members of his Nyhrox and Aqua family. “All I want,” he won $ 1.5 million each said ( via the BBC), “is a Saturday. Aqua’s plan? new desk and maybe a Shopping for Gucci shoes. desk for my trophy.” In Fortnite, the multiplayer
The rest he plans to phenomenon that save. has 200 million registered
In the final round, his users competing under often championship was “pretty inscrutable names much sealed” after he worldwide, 100 players are found a safe spot to look for dropped onto an island and enemies and amassed a ton must eliminate each other, of money for ammunition. seeking weapons and “Words can’t really explain building structures along it. I’m so happy,” he the way, until one is left. told CNN Business. “Everything Competitors in the game, I’ve done in the which is free to download, grind has all paid off, and can play alone, in a four- or it’s just insane.” 20- person team, with
Harrison “Psalm” friends or with other players Chang, one of the oldest they don’t know. competitors Sunday at 24, The Battle Royale version won $ 1.8 million. “It’s great of the game brought in representing the old dudes: about $ 2.4 billion in revenue Experience and composure for Epic in 2018, according trump everything,” Chang, to SuperData Research. a former professional Heroes of the Storm player, As with electronic devices said. “Fortnite is a young of all types, the game man’s game, though.” can be addictive, as Britain’s
He said he plans to either Prince Harry noted. “gamble it all or invest” “That game shouldn’t be allowed. his money but hasn’t Where is the benefit decided yet. of having it in your household?”
More than 30 nations he said in April. He were represented in the added, “It’s created to addict, tournament, sponsored by an addiction to keep Fortnite’s parent Epic you in front of a computer for as long as possible. It’s so irresponsible.”
Like it or not, there’s a ton of money moving in and out. A 2018 Goldman Sachs report stated that esports have landed venture capital investment totaling $ 3.3 billion since 2013, and $ 1.4 billion as of the middle of last year. “We [ the esports industry] look like the NBA did in late ’ 60s, early ’ 70s,” Canaan Partners’ Maha Ibrahim, who has led the firm’s investment in Gen. G, said in April.
Tyler “Ninja” Blevins, the 28- year- old who is one of the best- known Fortnite players in the world, described in an ABC interview the commitment required and estimated that he plays at least 10- 12 hours a day. “One hour is not enough,” he said, adding, “So many people underestimate and undervalue time in [ the game]. If you’re playing like an hour a day, you’re not gonna ever be at a level that you want to be at.”
To get good at the game takes two to five hours a day, according to Blevins, who also thinks it’s smart for parents to hire tutors to help their kids.
“There are people who are making hundreds of thousands of dollars at the age of 16, 18 playing that game,” he said. “Would you ever insult a parent or question a parent for hiring a coach? Like a specific coach to help them get better at soccer or football? No one’s gonna be like, ‘ Why would you do that?‘ It’s the same with Fortnite. There’s money in it.”
And Giersdorf’s haul puts him on another level.
“He’s such a good player, it’s impossible to not know who he is,” Perri Cox, a 17- year- old spectator, told CNN. “I don’t think casual players knew of him, but if you were following the competitive side of things, you definitely were aware of him.”