The Fortnite hype train keeps on rolling. After successfully cashing in on the Battle Royale explosion and making its way to the top of the revenue charts, Fortnite has undeniably become the most popular game in the world. With live-stream mania, its own celebrity tournament at E3, and a ridiculously profitable mobile port, Epic Games has struck a gold mine that not even the company could have anticipated. After announcing $100 million prize pool for Esports, Epic is ready to deliver on its promise with the first ever Fortnite pro series, the Summer Skirmish.
According to Epic, the Summer Skirmish is an 8-week series of competitions where $8,000,000 in prize pool money will be awarded. The purpose of this pro series is meant to connect community members together, as the participants will “consist of community creators and Fortnite players who have demonstrated their competitive prowess.” The tournament will kick off this weekend with a Duos competition and $250,000 in prize money up for grabs.
To keep viewers engaged, Epic states that players and format of the series will differ week to week, so they must tune in to find out. Unfortunately, in order to quickly jumpstart the tournament, Epic has already sent out invitations for the inaugural matches. More information regarding how to qualify for subsequent weeks of the Summer Skirmish will be revealed later down the line.
The Fortnite developers’ ambitious goals of pushing the popularity of its golden goose further is looking quite promising with such a staggering prize pool for its initial tournament. At its Pro-Am tournament at E3, Epic also announced plans for a Fortnite World Cup Tournament with truly open qualification events for both single and duo players. No spots in the World Cup will be reserved for established franchises, so any player with competitive prowess will have a chance to attend. The company has not explicitly stated that the Summer Skirmish Series is connected in any way to the World Cup, but its 2018 esports plan is off to a great start.