Epic to provide $100 million prize pool for first year of Fortnite esports tournaments

Epic Games will provide $100 million to fund prize pools in Fortnite's first year of competitive play.

Announced via this short blog post, the developer promises a "different" approach to esports competition that promotes inclusiveness and focuses on "the joy of playing and watching the game."

Epic will share more details on tournament structure and eligible platforms in the coming weeks, and encourages players to "drop in and start training" in the meantime. 

As reported by Fortune, The International 7—Dota 2's annual esports championship—boasted a then world record-breaking prize pool of $24.6 million.

Here's Epic's announcement in full: 

Fortnite Competitors!

Grab your gear, drop in and start training. Since the launch of Fortnite Battle Royale we’ve watched the passion for community competition grow and can’t wait to empower you to battle with the best.

In the 2018—2019 season, Epic Games will provide $100,000,000 to fund prize pools for Fortnite competitions. We’re getting behind competitive play in a big way, but our approach will be different—we plan to be more inclusive, and focused on the joy of playing and watching the game.

Stay tuned for more details about competitive structures and eligible platforms in the weeks ahead!