16 Year Old Wins Record $3 Million Fortnite World Cup Prize

NEW YORK, July 30, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- This past weekend, 16-year old teenager Kyle "Bugha" Giersdorf dominated the Fortnite World Cup Solo Finals and took home the USD 3 Million grand prize. The Fortnite World Cup took place at the Arthur Ashe Stadium in Queens, New York over a three-day period. The first day was the Creative Finals and the Celebrity Pro-Am. The second day hosted the World Cup Duos final, where Norway's Emil "Nyhrox" Bergquist Pedersen and Austria's David "aqua" Wang won the USD 3 Million prize pool. However, many gamers focused on the World Cup Solo Finals where popular names like Turner "Tfue" Tenney, Noah "Vivid' Wright, Danny "Dubs" Walsh, and Harrison "Psalm" Chang competed for the championship. Despite their efforts, Bugha prevailed and came out on top by a large margin. For the entirety of the tournament, Bugha kept a lead ahead of his competitors and dominated until the end, showcasing his aggressive and unique gamestyle. Throughout the weekend, an overall prize pool of USD 30 Million was split among over a hundred players, making it one of the largest payouts in eSports history. A decade ago, South Korea's Lee "Jaedong" Jae-Dong was the highest earner in eSports prize money, collecting USD 86,265 from StarCraft: Brood War over the entirety of the year, according to ESPN. Now, Bugha completely reshaped the eSports scene after winning USD 3 Million in just one day from the most competitive tournament. Times have drastically changed throughout the recent years, when back then most players would compete for a couple of thousands of dollars. Today, becoming a professional eSports player has become a viable career option and many teenagers and young adults are actively pursuing a career. Many chasing after an eSports career undergo tedious regiments in order to become top players in the industry. And as the eSports industry continues to develop, more and more people could potentially pursue a career for tournaments that could pay even more than the Fortnite World Cup years later. According to data compiled by Technavio, the global eSports market is projected to increase by USD 1.2 Billion between the forecast period from 2018 to 2022. Additionally, the market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 28% during the forecast period. UMG Media Ltd. ESPT, Intel Corporation INTC, Dell Technologies Inc. DELL, Electronic Arts Inc. EA, Sony Corporation SNE

Bugha's winnings place him at the Top 10 of the all-time highest overall earnings lists, according to esports earnings. The teenager was able to surpass hundreds of other professional players from Dota 2, Counter Strike, and League of Legends. To date, Bugha has accumulated USD 3.02 Million in earnings from tournaments. According to a Goldman Sachs eSports report, it is estimated that total prize pools will grow to USD 256 Million in 2019, increasing by 50% year-over-year. Although prize pool growth is expected to slow down in the shortcoming years, Goldman Sachs still estimates that 2022 will boast a massive overall prize pool of USD 413 Million. The majority of tournament prize pools stems from crowdfunding, which is typically from players purchasing in-game products, which are more commonly known as microtransactions. Henceforth, the larger the player base, the larger the prize pool is expected to be. Specifically, Fortnite owner Epic Games was able to hold the largest tournament because of its 125 million global player base, making it one of the largest monetized games in the world. According to the Wall Street Journal, Epic Games currently a valuation of approximately USD 15 Billion as of late 2018, thanking a large portion of its success to Fortnite. As audiences and player bases continue to grow each year, tournaments are starting payout more than sports such as football, baseball, or basketball. In some instances, industry experts believe that eSports will threaten the livelihood of traditional sports. International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach says that eSports can become a competitive threat to sports, but he also believes that eSports can complement it. "We don't have trending data so far back we can say there is a significant shift, but we have asked respondents that when you started watching eSports, has this dug in to traditional sports — and, yes, they watch less traditional sports, especially in the future because traditional sports are behind paywalls, so it's easier for younger kids browsing YouTube or Twitch to get in touch with eSports," Per Pieter van den Heuvel, head of eSports at Newzoo said. "It's definitely a threat for traditional sports – it takes time from those who watch sports and younger people have lower barrier of entry."

UMG Media Ltd. ESPT announced yesterday that, "Legends were made and champions were crowned this weekend in New York City at the Fortnite World Cup. With over $30,000,000USD awarded to players in the Solos, Duos, Creative and Pro/AM World Championships, countless lives were changed from a few flights on Fortnite's Battle Bus.

Out of the four world championship events, all four were won by players of UMG's Friday Fortnite. Bugha, a 16-year old reigning from Pennsylvania just won the most recent Friday Fortnite on July 19, 2019 and went on to win $3,000,000USD and claim the title of Fortnite World Champion. Aquaa took home $1,500,000USD in the duos championship. Friday Fortnite regulars, Cizzorz and Airwaks won the Creative World Championship and Pro/AM at the World Cup respectively. Countless other Friday Fortnite competitors finished top ten in the world taking home a combined $9,287,500.

UMG's CEO, Dave Antony had this to say regarding UMG series players performance at the World Cup:

'I want to congratulate everyone who participated in the Fortnite World Cup on their achievements and give a special shoutout to the four newly crowned world champions who participate in UMG's broadcast events, along with all other UMG players at the event. Everyone at UMG loves the game, the competitions and most importantly the players and community. We look forward to kicking off more Fortnite initiatives through the remainder of 2019 to give more players a platform to kickoff their competitive gaming careers.'

UMG has increased their Fortnite offerings in the recent months to meet the demand set forth by the competitive gaming community for their competitions. Since 2019 started, UMG has had over 110,000 Fortnite tournament signups. Between the gaming platform and their initiatives on the influencer side, UMG is in a unique situation to capture a large percent of the Fortnite market.

About UMG: UMG is a premier esports company in North America. UMG has operations involved in live tournaments, online esports contests, casino esports ‎operations, creation and distribution of original content and esports tournament operations through ‎its proprietary tournament management app. Readers can learn more about UMG and its esports ‎offerings at www.umggaming.com‎."

For our latest "Buzz on the Street" Show featuring UMG Media Ltd, recent corporate news, please head over to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPVbVPOc5vM

Intel Corporation INTC, a leader in the semiconductor industry, is shaping the data-centric future with computing and communications technology that is the foundation of the world's innovations. Intel® Extreme Masters (IEM) Sydney, Australia's biggest esports tournament, is now in the history books, with Team Liquid winning the tournament and taking home the lion's share of USD 250,000 in front of a packed Qudos Bank Arena. In an intense final lasting five maps, Team Liquid took the win over Fnatic to secure themselves a spot in esports history as champions at the tournament's third stop in Sydney, and 75th stop globally since its inception in 2006. This year's event, held across May 3-5, surpassed all previous viewership records for an esports tournament held in Australia, with over 20 million viewers tuning in across the duration of the event. Counter-Strike fans across the world watched almost 10 million hours of content over the course of the event, up 16% vs. 2018. On social media, users made over 36,000 tweets related to IEM Sydney 2019, while content surrounding the tournament was viewed over 55 million times across all platforms. "We owe the continued success of Intel Extreme Masters Sydney to the esports community in Australia and around the world, which continues to grow at an incredible pace," said John Bonini, Vice President and General Manager of VR, Gaming and Esports at Intel. "This community is why Intel keeps fueling this growth with more esports, more great content for PC gamers and more innovation when it comes to performance and power."

Dell Technologies Inc. DELL, with award-winning desktops, laptops, 2-in-1s and thin clients, powerful workstations and rugged devices made for specialized environments, monitors, endpoint security solutions and services, gives today's workforce what they need to securely connect, produce, and collaborate from anywhere at any time. Recently, at the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Dell and Alienware brought innovation front and center to satisfy the growing PC gaming market – high-end, thin and light and affordable machines for amateur and professional gamers, high-profile partnerships with esports brands like Team Liquid and Riot Games – to make the gaming experience more competitive, personalized and accessible. "We're excited to come to this year's CES with some truly groundbreaking products, next-gen software and strategic partnerships that will bring more people to experience PC gaming and advance the industry," said Frank Azor, Vice President and General Manager, Alienware, G Series and XPS. "The legend design answers the call for more and better from our gaming community, and the new G Series laptops will make PC gaming even more accessible to those looking for high-performance gaming at a cost they can appreciate."

Electronic Arts Inc. EA is a global leader in digital interactive entertainment. Recently, Electronic Arts Inc. and the National Football League (NFL) announced the launch of the EA SPORTS Madden NFL 20 Championship Series (MCS). This year's MCS enhances the connection to the sport as all four Madden NFLMajor tournaments occur during key NFL moments – the NFL Kickoff, the NFL playoffs push, the Super Bowl and the NFL Draft. Additionally, official NFL partners Pizza Hut and SNICKERS^© will serve as official MCS sponsors, heightening the connection to the League. The Madden NFL 20 Classic occurs just days before the NFL season kickoff from August 30-September 1st and is an open registration format featuring the largest competitor pool in the history of this event. Held at Esports Stadium Arlington, the largest esports-dedicated facility in North America, the Madden NFL 20 Classic will air on the Madden NFL Twitch and YouTube channels. "Last season was a monumental year for the Madden NFL Championship Series as millions competed and we achieved record viewership," said Matt Marcou, Madden NFL Competitive Gaming Commissioner. "In continued partnership with the NFL and its 32 clubs, we intend to accelerate player and spectator growth by aligning closely with the NFL calendar. Football fandom and Madden NFL engagement feed off each other and we're confident this connection will further inspire our players and spectators."

Sony Corporation SNE is to fill the world with emotion, through the power of creativity and technology. Sony Interactive Entertainment recently announced a new sales milestone for PlayStation®4 (PS4™). PS4 has now cumulatively sold through more than 91.6 million units globally as of December 31st, 2018. Within the above number, PS4 has sold through more than 5.6 million units globally during the 2018 holiday season. "Thanks to the continued support from our fans during the holiday season, we are pleased to announce that PS4 has reached 91.6 million units globally. We are also happy to announce that the monthly active users of PlayStation Network continues to show strong growth, and has surpassed 90 million as of end of November 2018," said John Kodera, President and Chief Executive Officer of Sony Interactive Entertainment. "I would like to express my deepest gratitude to our passionate community around the globe, and our partners, for helping us achieve these milestones. This year, we will bring more enhanced experiences to our fans along with a highly anticipated lineup of games that are only possible on PS4. As we look toward the next PS4 milestone, SIE will continue to evolve, and we will further expand the platform to deliver the best interactive entertainment experiences to the world."

Subscribe Now! Watch us report LIVE https://www.youtube.com/FinancialBuzzMedia

Follow us on Twitter for real time Financial News Updates: https://twitter.com/financialbuzz

Follow and talk to us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/financialbuzz

Facebook Like Us to receive live feeds: https://www.facebook.com/Financialbuzz/

About FinancialBuzz.com  

FinancialBuzz.com, a leading financial news informational web portal designed to provide the latest trends in Market News, Investing News, Personal Finance, Politics, Entertainment, in-depth broadcasts on Stock News, Market Analysis and Company Interviews. A pioneer in the financially driven digital space, video production and integration of social media, FinancialBuzz.com creates 100% unique original content. FinancialBuzz.com also provides financial news PR dissemination, branding, marketing and advertising for third parties for corporate news and original content through our unique media platform that includes Newswire Delivery, Digital Advertising, Social Media Relations, Video Production, Broadcasting, and Financial Publications.

Please Note: FinancialBuzz.com is not a financial advisory or advisor, investment advisor or broker-dealer and do not undertake any activities that would require such registration. The information provided on http://www.FinancialBuzz.com (the 'Site') is either original financial news or paid advertisements provided [exclusively] by our affiliates (sponsored content), FinancialBuzz.com, a financial news media and marketing firm enters into media buys or service agreements with the companies which are the subject to the articles posted on the Site or other editorials for advertising such companies. We are not an independent news media provider and therefore do not represent or warrant that the information posted on the Site is accurate, unbiased or complete. FinancialBuzz.com receives fees for producing and presenting high quality and sophisticated content on FinancialBuzz.com along with other financial news PR media services. FinancialBuzz.com does not offer any personal opinions, recommendations or bias commentary as we purely incorporate public market information along with financial and corporate news. FinancialBuzz.com only aggregates or regurgitates financial or corporate news through our unique financial newswire and media platform. For umg media ltd. financial and corporate news dissemination, FinancialBuzz.com has been compensated five thousand dollars by the company. Our fees may be either a flat cash sum or negotiated number of securities of the companies featured on this editorial or site, or a combination thereof. The securities are commonly paid in segments, of which a portion is received upon engagement and the balance is paid on or near the conclusion of the engagement. FinancialBuzz.com will always disclose any compensation in securities or cash payments for financial news PR advertising. FinancialBuzz.com does not undertake to update any of the information on the editorial or Site or continue to post information about any companies the information contained herein is not intended to be used as the basis for investment decisions and should not be considered as investment advice or a recommendation. The information contained herein is not an offer or solicitation to buy, hold or sell any security. FinancialBuzz.com, members and affiliates are not responsible for any gains or losses that result from the opinions expressed on this editorial or Site, company profiles, quotations or in other materials or presentations that it publishes electronically or in print. Investors accept full responsibility for any and all of their investment decisions based on their own independent research and evaluation of their own investment goals, risk tolerance, and financial condition. FinancialBuzz.com. By accessing this editorial and website and any pages thereof, you agree to be bound by the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, as may be amended from time to time. None of the content issued by FinancialBuzz.com constitutes a recommendation for any investor to purchase, hold or sell any particular security, pursue a particular investment strategy or that any security is suitable for any investor. This publication is provided by FinancialBuzz.com. Each investor is solely responsible for determining whether a particular security or investment strategy is suitable based on their objectives, other securities holdings, financial situation needs, and tax status. You agree to consult with your investment advisor, tax and legal consultant before making any investment decisions. We make no representations as to the completeness, accuracy or timeless of the material provided. All materials are subject to change without notice. Information is obtained from sources believed to be reliable, but its accuracy and completeness are not guaranteed. For our full disclaimer, disclosure and Terms of Use, please visit: http://www.financialbuzz.com.

Media Contact:
info@financialbuzz.com
+1-877-601-1879

Url: www.FinancialBuzz.com

SOURCE FinancialBuzz.com