The $43 Million Fortnite World Cup Kicked Off Today

The event that competitive Fortnite players have been waiting for finally got underway today at the Arthur Ashe Stadium in Queens, New York. Hundreds of pros will be present at the three-day Fortnite World Cup, and thousands or millions more will be watching. When all is said and done a few will end up a whole lot richer.

The event began with an opening ceremony at 2:30AM AEST.

Epic Games announced it was spending $US100 million ($145 million) on Fortnite esports back in February. There have been innovations in how esports are streamed, controversies over certain screen resolutions getting banned from competition, and no shortage of attempted cheating along the way. Some of those cheaters even eventually qualified for this weekend’s event.

Now fans will get to see if the spectacle it’s all been building up to has been worth it.

Here’s the rest of the schedule for the Fortnite World Cup:

• The Creative Finals took place at 3:00AM AEST showcasing the talents of Ninja, Faze Cizzorz and other big names as they tried to overcome unique challenges in custom game modes. The win eventually went to team Fish Fam.
• The Celebrity Pro-Am began at 8:00AM AEST featuring teams made up of Fortnite celebrities alongside actual pro players competing for a share of the $US3 million ($4 million) prize pool to be donated to the charity of their choosing. Big names involved in this portion of the World Cup included WWE star Xavier Woods and actor Dante Basco, best known for playing Rufio in the 1991 movie Hook.
• Sunday, July 28, is when the competitive side of the tournament begins, starting with the Duos Finals preshow at 2:30AM AEST, followed by the main event at 3:00AM AEST, capped off by the winners ceremony at 6:45AM AEST. The best 50 teams from around the world will compete across six matches with the pair who get the best record being crowned the champs.
• Monday follows a similar schedule for the solo matches. The preshow kicks off at 2:30AM AEST followed by the finals at 3:00AM AEST and the finals winners ceremony wrapping up the entire three-day event at 6:45AM AEST. Only 100 players from the 40 million who tried to qualify over the last few months will be playing in the final battle royale.

You’ll be able to watch the entire event streaming live on the Fortnite Twitch channel.