Kyle "Bugha" Giersdorf, a 16-year-old player from the United States, was crowned the winner of the Fortnite World Cup finals.
The Fortnite champion took home $3 million as the winner of the solo finals, while players in other categories split up the rest of the whopping $30 million prize pool. It's the highest prize pool in e-sports, but it will be broken in August by a DotA 2 tournament The International, which is set to award winners a total of $100 million in prize money.
Bugha Triumphs To Win Solo Championship
Forty million players worldwide tried to qualify for the finals over more than 10 weeks of online gaming. The championships saw 100 solo finalists duke it out for the crown in the Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York on Sunday, July 28. Players came from all around the world with more than 30 countries represented at the World Cup finals.
Bugha, who is a member of the Sentinels team, dominated the championships with a total of 59 points over the six finals matches. It was such a commanding performance that he never relinquished his lead throughout the three-hour competition and started the sixth match with a lead of 15 points over his opponents.
"Words can't even explain [how I feel] right now," Bugha said during a post-match interview. "I'm just so happy. Everything I've done, the grind, it's all paid off. It's just insane."
Harrison "Psalm" Chang of Counter Logic Gaming came in at second place with 33 points, followed closely by EpikWhale who had a total of 32 points. Nate "Kreo" Kou and Bryan Eric "KING" finished at fourth place with 30 points each. All top four finishers went home with more than $1 million in prize money.
Underdogs From Europe Reign At The Duos Competition
The solo championships followed the duos tournament, which was held in the same arena the previous day.
Two teenagers from Europe, 17-year-old David "Aqua" Wang and 16-year-old Emil "Nyhrox" Bergquist Pedersen, beat out 49 other duos to win the $3 million championship. It was a surprise win with the pair defeating fan favorites from bigger, more funded organizations.
"I'll remember this moment for the rest of my life," Nyhrox told CNN, adding that he's planning to save and invest the prize money as well as purchase upgrades for his gaming setup.
"Everything is amazing and I can't really believe that this all really happened," Aqua added.
Fortnite World Cup Season 10
While the finals have only started to wind down, players can already look forward to the 10th season that was teased by game developer Epic during the solo finals.
The developer revealed that competitive play will continue with the Fortnite Championship Series, where "every result matters." The teaser image also indicated that Dusty Depot will make a comeback for the next season, despite being destroyed back in the fourth season.
