The Fortnite World Cup was an esports competition based on the video game Fortnite. It happened from July 26 to July 28, 2019, at the Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York City, United States. The total prize money available for all competitions was US$30 million.

Overview

The Fortnite World Cup uses two game modes from the video game Fortnite. The main World Cup event and the Pro-Am competition use Fortnite Battle Royale, a game where up to 100 players drop onto an island without weapons or armor, except for a pickaxe. After landing, players search for weapons, armor, and healing items. They also use their pickaxe to break structures and collect wood, stone, and metal. Players must avoid attacks from others and stay inside a shrinking circle on the map to avoid damage. They can build walls, floors, and ramps using collected resources for protection. The last player or team remaining wins.

The Fortnite World Cup had online events over 10 weeks from April to June 2019. Events alternated between solo players and teams of two. Each Saturday, players or teams competed by region, playing up to 10 matches to earn points based on eliminations and wins. The top 3,000 players or teams from each region then competed on Sundays, playing up to 10 matches to earn points. The top scorers from each region advanced to the World Cup, with about 20 players or teams qualifying each week. An estimated 40 million players competed for spots in the solo and duo World Cup. In the finals, competitors played six matches, earning points for their finishes. The solo player or duo with the highest total points after six matches won the grand prize. Other players received a portion of the prize money. All solo players who reached the finals received at least $50,000, with the top prize being $3 million. Each duo team in the finals received at least $100,000, with the winning team receiving $3 million.

The Fortnite Creative Cup used a similar online selection process for its finals, held over five two-week periods from April to June 2019. Each week, a new Creative challenge was available. Players created a Creative island and submitted a video of their work to Epic Games during the period. For each period, Epic selected three top entries based on judges’ scores. Each selected entry received $5,000 and a spot in the Creative Cup finals. From the 15 winning entries, five were chosen by Epic to be used in the finals. In the finals, eight teams of four players—those whose islands were selected and other notable Fortnite players—competed in five events to earn the highest overall score. The winners split a $3 million prize.

For the Fortnite Pro-Am, teams were chosen by Epic Games, with each team including a Fortnite streamer and a celebrity. Each team played five matches, with points awarded to winning teams. The team with the highest total score after five matches won the Pro-Am. Each team received at least $20,000, with the winning team receiving $2 million.

History

Epic Games first released Fortnite in its original form, now called Fortnite: Save the World, as an early access game in July 2017. This was around the same time that the first major battle royale game, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG), was released. Inspired by PUBG, Epic created a new version of Fortnite called Fortnite Battle Royale and released it in September 2017. The game was free to play but included small purchases for additional items. Fortnite Battle Royale quickly became popular. By June 2018, the game was available on computers, consoles, and mobile devices, and had 125 million players. In 2018, the game earned an estimated $2.4 billion. Epic used $100 million of this money to develop Fortnite Battle Royale as a competitive video game event.

The first Fortnite World Cup was announced in February 2019. Epic planned to hold the event in 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic caused the event to be canceled that year. Epic continued to host other Fortnite competitions called Fortnite Champion Series. The World Cup was also not held in 2021 because of the pandemic. Even after the pandemic ended, the event did not return in 2022 or later years.

2019 events

The Fortnite World Cup was divided into two separate events: one for individual players and another for two-player teams, called duos. Both the solo and duo events had six matches.

Final Results for Solo and Duo Events:
The 2019 solo event happened on July 28, 2019. The winner was Kyle "Bugha" Giersdorf, a 16-year-old American player. He earned $3 million as the grand prize. In the solo format, players received one point for each elimination and non-cumulative placement points. Placement points for solos were as follows:

The 2019 duo event took place on July 27, 2019. The winners were Emil Bergquist Pedersen ("Nyhrox") and David Wang ("Aqua"). They shared the $3 million grand prize. In the duo format, players also received one point for each elimination and non-cumulative placement points. Placement points for duos were as follows:

The Creative Cup included eight teams, each led by a popular Fortnite icon. Team leaders held qualifiers where players completed challenges in creative mode. The top three performers in each challenge joined the leader’s team. The event featured three maps: a king of the hill map, a prop hunt map, and a death run map. Each map had three matches in one round, and the final round included one match on each map. The team "Fish Fam," led by Cizzorz from FaZe Clan, won the event.

Final Results for the Creative Cup:

The 2019 Fortnite Pro-Am paired 50 popular Fortnite streamers with celebrities. The event happened on July 26, 2019, at The Forum in Los Angeles, CA. The $1 million prize was split between the winning pair, who chose charities. Streamer Airwaks and music producer RL Grime won the event. This was their second win after a similar Pro-Am at E3 2019. They selected the World Wildlife Fund and the American Civil Liberties Union as their charities. Other teams shared the remaining $3 million prize, with each team receiving at least $20,000.

Final Results for the Pro-Am:

In addition to the games in the stadium, the area around the stadium in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park had fan events, such as contests, games, and a concert by Marshmello.

Viewership

Epic reported that all tickets for the stadium, which can hold 23,700 people, were sold out. About 2.3 million people watched the World Cup finales at the same time on Twitch and YouTube streaming services. Other viewers watched the final events inside the game Fortnite and in China.

Later developments

After winning the World Cup, Kyle "Bugha" Giersdorf was threatened while live-streaming from his home. One of the officers who arrived at the scene recognized Giersdorf from his victory and helped to calm the situation, discovering that the call was based on false information.

There were no additional World Cup events in 2020 and 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Even after the pandemic’s effects lessened in 2022, no World Cup competitions were held. Instead, the highest level of Fortnite competitive play moved to the Fortnite Championship Series (FNCS). This series began offering in-person events starting in 2022 with the FNCS Invitational, followed by the FNCS Majors and Global Championships beginning in 2023.