The then 15-year-old Brit Benjy “Benjyfishy” Fish left school in May 2019 to become a professional e-sports player in Fortnite . Two years later, he sees little future in Fortnite. The prize money is drying up. He believes e-sports will die if it continues like this. It is becoming increasingly difficult for unknown players to make a living from Fortnite.
This is how Benjyfishy became known: In May 2019, British media reported about 15-year-old Benjy Fish. He had already earned £25,000 (about €28,000) with Fortnite and participated in the highly lucrative Fortnite World Championship. At that time, Fortnite seemed like it would be the next big e-sport with high prize money.
The case caused a stir back then because the mother of the boy had offered to take him out of school so he would have more time to play Fortnite with his friends in the USA at night.
The 15-year-old actually left school and has since been taught at home by private tutors. His mother became his manager. The young boy’s stated goal was to buy his mom a house.
His colleague Wolfiez actually accomplished this. The 15-year-old came second at the World Championship and became a millionaire. He bought his mom a house. Things did not go as well for Benjy Fish at the World Championship. He received “only” $50,000 twice for 25th place in Solo and 14th place in Duo.
But the good times are over.
“The prize money is getting smaller”
This is what he says now: In 2021, the situation with Fortnite changed. After Epic had pumped in high prize money into e-sports in 2019, the developer studio turned off the money supply in 2020. In 2021, the prize money has become even lower.
Benjyfishy is now 16 and critically assesses the current state of Fortnite. He says (via twitter):
- In the past, in the old days, he could grind the game all day. It was fun and worth it
- Now the prize money is getting smaller, it is increasingly difficult for unknown players to make a living from Fortnite, and the competitive scene will die if it continues like this
- There are fewer and fewer tournaments with less and less prize money, and Fortnite is no longer fun
Is he alone in his opinion? No, it is currently the case that many who saw a future in Fortnite in 2019 and collected high prize money are turning away from Fortnite, ending their careers, or becoming streamers. For example, the second place finisher at the Fortnite World Championship Psalm left Fortnite in April 2020 and switched to Valorant.
The pros who still play Fortnite are lamenting the dwindling prize money:
- The pro Wolfiez, who bought his mom a house, says: In 2019 there was $30 million in prize money, in 2020 only $3 million, and in 2021 only the name is mentioned (via twitter)
- The controversial pro Khanada is upset that the prize money has fallen from $3000 to $600
- Even world champion Bugha says it’s already weird when some of the best Fortnite players are now quitting, like Zayt. If nothing happens, he expects more pros to follow and also quit Fortnite.
Also, content creator SypherPk says: The prize money is “extremely low” compared to the level they used to have. Fortnite actually needs LAN events to function. Without these events, something is missing in the game.
Although SypherPK doesn’t believe that Fortnite’s e-sports is dying, he says it has lost its momentum (via dexerto).
Hype around Fortnite: Quick rise, quick fall
What’s behind it: The most successful e-sports titles have grown over years or decades. They started modestly about 10 years ago and became bigger. That was the case with CS:GO, League of Legends, or Dota 2.
The e-sports for Fortnite was kicked off when the game was so successful in 2018.
However, Fortnite was never designed as an e-sport title, unlike games like Valorant or Overwatch, which have had e-sports in mind from the start. Fortnite: Battle Royale was created in just two months in 2017, as a reaction to the massive success of PUBG and because the original Fortnite: Save the World had already virtually failed.
In 2018 and 2019, Epic pumped high prize money into e-sports in a short period of time, with the 2019 World Championship being the highlight. After that, interest in Fortnite and e-sports rapidly declined.
Already after the World Championship, it became clear that Epic was working on another concept to establish e-sports in Fortnite. But in 2020, the pandemic struck. The Fortnite hype faded. Now Epic seems to have turned off the money supply that was wide open in 2019.
For young e-sports pros who bet everything on Fortnite, this is bitter. For people like Benjyfish, who earned well in 2018 and 2019 and got a taste of what life is like with high prize money, it will now be difficult to motivate themselves.
The best players have the opportunity to continue as streamers and have built up a financial cushion, but many will have to look for something else.
How tough the business can be, Fortnite pro Vivid realized. He signed a professional contract but was let go by his e-sports team after just a few months. This is also a sign of the Fortnite crisis:
Fortnite: 21-year-old signs pro contract, gets released, ends career
