16-year-old, Kyle “Bugha” Giersdorf wins Epic Games Fortnite World Cup for $3m, and Dota 2’s International prizepool is $31.8m and climbing.
There comes a time in every parent’s life when you have to march upstairs for the umpteenth time and tell your teenager to get outside for some much-needed Vitamin D.
It’s happened to me.
I am sure it happened to you.
I do not doubt that it happened to Kyle Giersdorf, only his parents would have been kicking themselves had they convinced him to work in a salt mine instead of continuing to play video games.
When Giersdorf was a baby, his grandfather used to tickle his chin and say, “Bugha! Bugha! Boo!”, and so when it came to his decision to create a video game avatar, he chose ‘Bugha’ as his nickname.
Fast-forward to the parents marching upstairs paragraph, and by the time Giersdorf had turned 16, his game of choice was Fortnite, and a few days ago, he entered the Fortnite World Cup and won it for $3m.
The Fortnite World Cup
The Fortnite World Cup took place July 26-28 in New York City at the Arthur Ashe Stadium, and the winning players shared $30m in prize money, with 10% going to the winner.
It seems that a 16-year-old banking $3m for winning a video game tournament is big news. Giersdorf appeared on the Jimmy Fallon show the day after his incredible performance.
On his win, Giersdorf said:
“I had no emotion, but it also felt unreal.”
Giersdorf plays professionally for the North American Fortnite team: Sentinels, and waded his way through more than 40m players to take down the Fortnite World Cup.
“Bugha” wasn’t the only winner.
The team of Emil “Nyhrox” Bergquist Pedersen and David “Aqua” W won the duos tournament for $3m.
According to a report in cnet.com, Twitch tracking site, Glyph estimated that 1.3m people watched the final on the streaming service, and half a million watched on YouTube.
Esports is the fastest growing sports betting market with experts expecting punters to wagers $8 billion by the end of the year, equating to $560m in revenue.
International Dota 2 prize continues to grow
Fortnite’s massive success means it currently holds the world record for an Esports prize pool.
It will be a short-lived reign.
Dota 2’s The International 2019 takes place August 15-25 at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Shanghai, and currently, the prizepool tops $31,802,277.
The most significant portion of the prize pool comes from the sale of Dota 2 Battle Packs ($30,203,266), and so that means as people buy more packs the coffers will swell even more.
The International 2018, created a total prizepool of $25,532,177, and the $11,234,158 first prize went to Team OG who beat PSG.LGD in the final.
Current International 2019 odds
Team Secret – 5/2
Vici Gaming – 10/3
Team Liquid – 5/1
Virtus Pro – 5/1
Evil Geniuses- 13/2
PSG.LGD – 15/2
OG – 14/1
