A player had a really great day in the tournament “Summer Skirmish” of week 4 at Fortnite. There was $86,000 prize money in just a few hours for the Underdog. The special thing was the emotional call from his father after the tournament.
What kind of tournament was it? The tournament “Summer Skirmish” is currently taking place at Fortnite. There is a total of $8 million prize money; the tournament runs over 8 weeks.
Friday and Saturday saw week 4 take place. The format was called “Hold the Throne.”
Format rewards victory, but also kills
This is how “Hold the Throne” works: 100 selected players compete against each other in several solo matches. The players should try to make it into the top 3 or to get more than “4 kills”. Because there is one point for that. For the “epic victory,” there are even 2 points.
Whoever has the most kills in a single game at the end of the tournament has conquered the throne, earns a point and a special bonus.
If a player reaches 8 points, the tournament is over.
On the first day, Friday, the player NotVivid won the day and thus $60,000 prize money. However, the actual winner was someone else: The streamer “Reverse2k” took the throne.
Streamer makes $86,000 through special bonus
Streamer Reverse2k earns $86,000: The streamer Reverse2k finished fifth in the event. That already earned him $36,000 prize money.
However, he was on Friday the player with the most kills in a match. Thus, he sat on the throne and scooped the hefty bonus of $50,000 on top. So Reverse2k earned $86,000 in just a few hours, which is about €74,000.
You need a damn tax advisor!
Live call with Dad: The highlight came after the tournament. His father, who had enthusiastically followed his son’s games, called him. Dad yelled: “$86,000 damn dollars? You need a damn tax advisor!”
The father knows his way around Fortnite and says: “You made more money than the winner! Vivid only got 60k! You made 26,000 more than the first. Are you crying right now?”
“Yes,” admits the streamer.
The father is apparently the biggest fan of his son and now wants to call himself “Papa2k”.
1000-follower streamer hits the jackpot
Who is Reverse2k? Reverse2k is a rather small streamer on Twitch. On July 23rd, he still had 1338 followers, as SocialBlade knows. However, the number has increased significantly in recent days. Now he has 9659 followers.
In comparison: Ninja, who also participated in the tournament, has 10 million.
Won $86,000 as an “Underdog”
Even without a larger Twitch channel or eSports team involved: For the tournament, Reverse2k qualified through the limited-time mode Solo-Showdown. While the “known names” in Fortnite are directly invited, this allows non-professionals and underdogs to enter the tournaments.
Fortnite wants to become an eSport for everyone. You can see that in the prize money:
- If a professional makes $86,000 in 3 hours, that is a lot, but somehow normal
- If an underdog like Reverse2k earns that much money with eSport, it is a reason for him and his father to be euphoric
Slowly, it’s working out with Fortnite and eSport
What does that mean for Fortnite? Fortnite currently has an $8 million tournament running, but is still searching for the right format. Here, they experiment with different ideas from week to week.
In the first weeks, the formats failed because players played too defensively. With “Hold the Throne,” the offensive play from kills has now been rewarded more strongly. This is more attractive for the fans.
The current format provided the best tournament so far for viewers and players. Thus, it is light years away from the major disaster of the first tournament in mid-July. That had to be even canceled.
