Photo credit: Fortnite Game
Kyle “Bugha” Giersdorf, a 16-year-old professional gamer from Pennsylvania, took home $3-million by winning the Fortnite World Cup solo finals. He took the lead for good after the first of six games and never looked back. In the battle royale game, players are dropped onto an island where they must search for weapons and other resources while eliminating other players while trying to stay alive. “It’s insane,” said the young millionaire after the final.
Epic Games awarded competitors $30-million over the three-day tournament, and every competitor is guaranteed to leave with at least $50,000. On Saturday, gamers who go by “Nyhrox” and “Aqua” became the first Fortnite world champions in the duo division, taking home $1.5 million each. In Sunday’s final, three players in addition to Bugha also took home large prizes: “Psalm” ($1.8 million), “Epikwhale” ($1.2 million) and Kreo ($1.05 million).
It was also a dream come true for Argentinian player Thiago Lapp, better known as “King,” who took home a large prize at just 13 years old. He unfortunately just missed the million-dollar prize by finishing fifth with $900,000 by employing an ultra-aggressive style that helped him eliminate 21 competitors over six matches.