Epic Games is using some of the millions of dollars it's earned through Fortnite microtransactions to help seed its competitive esport scene. Over this Summer's Fortnite Summer Skimish series, it will offer up to $8 million in prizes to gamers who manage to come away with their own victory royales.
Epic has previously promised to invest as much as $100 million in competitive Fortnite play throughout the 2018-2019 season, making it the most funded competitive gaming scene ever. While games like League of Legends and DotA 2 have seen big prize pools over the years, none of them even come close to that sort of figure stretched across a handful of tournaments and events.
The $8 million Summer Skirmish will form just one part of that competitive scene and will feature "community creators and Fortnite players who have demonstrated their competitive prowess," -- so not just streamers and celebrity players. The first invites have reportedly already been sent out, so if you're in, you probably already know it.
The first game in the Skirmish series will begin this weekend, with $250,000 offered up to the top players in a duo competition. We don't know how the other $7.75 million will be doled out throughout the next eight weeks, but presumably, it will gradually ramp up to a major competition towards the end of it, with lots of money up for grabs.
If you're concerned that Epic won't be able to keep its promises or will run out of money funding such tournaments, don't fret. It recently earned Epic Games more than $300 million in just one month and has raked in well over a billion dollars already.
