The Fortnite World Cup was a video game competition held in July 2019. It occurred from July 26 to July 28 at the Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York City, United States. The event offered a total of US$30 million in prizes for players competing in different games.

Overview

The Fortnite World Cup uses two game modes from Fortnite: Fortnite Battle Royale and the Pro-Am. The main World Cup event and the Pro-Am 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. If they leave the circle, they risk taking damage. Players can build walls, floors, and ramps to hide from attacks. 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 from eliminations and wins. The top 3,000 players or teams from each region then competed on Sundays, playing up to 10 matches again. The top scorers from each region advanced to the World Cup, with about 20 players or teams each week. Around 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 won the grand prize, with others receiving part of the prize money. All solo players who reached the finals received at least $50,000, and the top solo player won $3 million. Each duo team in the finals received at least $100,000, with the winning duo winning $3 million.

The Fortnite Creative Cup used a similar online process to choose finalists, running over five two-week periods from April to June 2019. Each week, a new Creative challenge was available. Players completed their Creative island and submitted a video of it to Epic Games during that period. Epic selected three best entries each week by judges. Each selected entry received $5,000 and a spot in the Creative Cup finals. From the 15 winning entries, Epic chose five to use 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 consisting of a Fortnite streamer and a celebrity. Each team played five matches, with points awarded for wins. The team with the highest total score after five matches won the Pro-Am. Each team received at least $20,000, and the winning team received $2 million.

History

Epic Games launched Fortnite in its original version, now called Fortnite: Save the World, as an early access game in July 2017. This was around the same time that the first popular 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 used microtransactions to support its development. Fortnite Battle Royale became very popular, and by June 2018, it was available on computers, consoles, and mobile devices. At that time, the game had reached 125 million players. Total revenue for Fortnite Battle Royale in 2018 was estimated at $2.4 billion by SuperData Research. Epic used $100 million of these earnings to help develop Fortnite Battle Royale as an esport.

The first Fortnite World Cup was announced in February 2019. Epic planned to hold the event in 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic caused it to be canceled that year. However, Epic continued to hold other events called Fortnite Champion Series. The Fortnite World Cup was also canceled in 2021 because of the pandemic. The event did not return in 2022, even after the pandemic effects lessened.

2019 events

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

Final results for the solo and duo events:
The 2019 solo event finals took place on July 28, 2019. The winner was Kyle "Bugha" Giersdorf, a 16-year-old from the United States. He received a grand prize of US$3 million. In the solo format, players earned one point for each elimination and points based on their final position. These position points were not added together.

The 2019 duo event finals happened on July 27, 2019. The winners were Emil Bergquist Pedersen ("Nyhrox") and David Wang ("Aqua"). They shared a grand prize of US$3 million. In the duo format, players also earned one point for each elimination and points based on their final position. These position points were not added together.

The Creative Cup included eight teams, each led by a well-known Fortnite character. Each leader held a qualifier where players participated in challenges in the game's creative mode. The top three players from 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 one round with three matches, and the final round included one match on each map. The team led by FaZe Clan's Cizzorz, called “Fish Fam,” won the event.

Final results for the Creative Cup:

The 2019 Fortnite Pro-Am event matched 50 popular Fortnite streamers with celebrities. It took place on July 26, 2019, at The Forum in Los Angeles, California. The prize money of US$1 million was split between the winning pair, who chose charities to support. Streamer Airwaks and music producer RL Grime won the event, which was their second victory after a similar Pro-Am event at E3 2019. They selected the World Wildlife Fund and the American Civil Liberties Union as their charities. Other teams shared the remaining US$3 million prize, with each team guaranteed at least US$20,000.

Final results for the Pro-Am event:

In addition to the games played 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. An estimated 2.3 million people watched the World Cup finals at the same time on Twitch and YouTube streaming services. Other viewers watched the final events inside the game Fortnite, and many people in China also watched the event.

Later developments

Shortly after winning the World Cup, Kyle “Bugha” Giersdorf was swatted while streaming from his home. However, one of the officers who arrived at the scene recognized Giersdorf from his World Cup victory and quickly resolved the situation, confirming that the call was false.

There were no more World Cup events in 2020 and 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Even after the pandemic’s effects had lessened by 2022, the World Cup did not return. Instead, the highest level of Fortnite competitive play moved to the Fortnite Championship Series (FNCS). This series began using a LAN format in the years after the World Cup, starting with the FNCS Invitational in 2022. Later, the FNCS Majors and Global Championships were held starting in 2023.