Fortnite can make you a MILLIONAIRE – the money gamers like FaZe Jarvis and Ninja actually earn revealed
THINK you've got the skills to be a Fortnite Pro? You could earn millions like superstar Ninja or banned Brit cheater FaZe Jarvis.
Esports professionals who choose Fortnite as their go-to game can earn hundreds of thousands of pounds in prize winnings alone.
Gaming tournament tracker has revealed the highest-earning Fortnite players.
Top of the list is American Kyle Giersdorf who plays under the moniker "Bugha".
Giersdorf, who is known as the "best Fortnite player in the world", has amassed an incredible $3,062,966 / £2,377,183 in prize winnings.
That's not bad considering Fortnite's multiplayer mode has only been around for two years.
Next up is Harrison Chang, better known by his gamer tag "psalm", who has earned a whopping $1,868,800 / £1,450,385.
And in third place is David Wang – a.k.a "Aquav2" – who has a tidy $1,790,207 / £1,389,388 fortune thanks to Fortnite.
It's worth noting that four out of the top 10 Fortnite prize winners are American – far more than any other nation.
Top Fortnite players revealed
These are the players who have earned the most prize money from Fortnite...
- Kyle 'Bugha' Giersdorf (USA) – $3,062,966 / £2,377,259
- Harrison 'psalm' Chang (USA) – $1,868,800 / £1,450,431
- David 'Aquav2' Wang (Austria) – $1,790,207 / £1,389,433
- Emil 'Nyhrox' Pedersen (Norway) – $1,513,176 / £1,174,421
- Shane 'EpikWhale' Cotton (USA) – $1,297,366 / £1,006,924
- Dave 'Rojo' Jong (Netherlands) – $1,203,873 / £934,361
- Nate 'Kreo' Kou (Hong Kong) – $1,174,550 / £911,603
- Jaden 'Wolfiez' Ashman (UK) – $1,140,026 / £884,808
- Davis 'Ceice' McClellan (USA) – $1,098,550 / £852,617
- Williams 'Zayt' Aubin (Canada) – $1,090,225 / £846,156
Britain is represented in the top 10 by Jaden Ashman in eighth place.
Playing under the name "Wolfiez", Jaden has earned a staggering $1,140,026 / £884,779 from his gaming career.
The 15-year-old Brit's mum once chucked his Xbox out in a row over gaming, but he earn a huge chunk of prize money from this year's Fortnite World Cup.
The delighted schoolboy said: "I’m lost for words. My Twitter has been blowing up and I’ve had a load of messages from friends.
"I’m definitely going to buy a house but I haven’t got a clue where. And some Gucci shoes. I might buy a car for my mum too, as she drives a little Fiat 500."
Fortnite – how lucrative is it?
Fortnite isn't the top game for earnings. Here's how much each game has paid out in prizes so far, according to EsportsEarnings...
- Dota 2 – $217,430,656 / £168,747,932
- Counter-Strike: Global Offensive – $84,831,860 / £65,836,309
- Fortnite – $84,394,239 / £65,496,681
- League of Legends – $70,829,229 / £54,969,148
- StarCraft II – $32,021,885 / £24,851,544
- Overwatch – $21,197,382 / £16,450,864
- Hearthstone – $18,908,088 / £14,674,188
- Heroes of the Storm – $18,060,665 / £14,016,520
- PUBG – $14,986,713 / £11,630,888
- Counter-Strike – $13,483,673 / £10,464,408
Importantly, EsportsEarnings only tracks prize money from tournaments – and not other sources of income.
For instance, many professional gamers will have lucrative sponsorship deals and salaries, further topping up their coffers.
And famous video game live-streamers will make significant amounts of money from advertising and fan donations.
Fortnite streaming icon Ninja (real name Tyler Blevins) has only earned £122,628 from tournaments. He even hosted his own Ninja Vegas '18 tournament at the in Nevada, USA.
But the star is believed to have a net worth of around £4.5million thanks to Fortnite streaming.
And controversial British YouTube gaming star FaZe Jarvis has earned an estimated £2million from his online career.
The YouTube millionaire, 17, was caught using notorious "aimbot" software, which shoots and kills rival players automatically.
Surrey lad Jarvis sobbed on YouTube this week as he revealed he had been stopped from playing by maker Epic Games.
Fortnite's creators told The Sun that cheaters like FaZe Jarvis "ruin games" for other players – and vowed to uphold the Brit's lifetime ban.
What is Fortnite Battle Royale?
If you're new to the game, here's what you need to know
- Fortnite's Battle Royale is free-to-play
- It's available on the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PC, Mac, iPhone and most recently Nintendo Switch
- In the game, up to 100 players are dropped onto a fictional island
- Players are then forced to battle it out in a last-person-standing deathmatch
- To help, players can collect a range of weapons hidden all over the island
- You can also collect resources – like wood, bricks and metal – to build defensive structures
- The area you can play in on the island is constantly shrinking thanks to an encroaching storm
- This means players are forced together over time, until just one person survives
- The game also has a paid-for co-op story campaign
Fortnite isn't the only game you can get rich with, however.
The most lucrative video game is Dota 2, which has resulted in prizes worth nearly £169million being given out to players.
That's compared to Fortnite, which (so far) has generated just over £65million in total winnings.
MOST READ IN GAMING
In other news, we reveal the secret ways that Fortnite is getting kids hooked.
And Epic Games' boss revealed he tried to cancel the hit game before it was released.
Are you tempted to quit your job and become a Fortnite pro? Let us know in the comments!
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