Could Fortnite's $100 Million Be Catalyst For Esports Pro League?

In a statement released earlier today, Epic Games revealed that they are planning to dish out some big bucks for Fortnite competitions, to the tune of $100 Million over the course of 2018-2019. The full statement reads as follows:

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!

Now, on the surface, this seems like a fairly straightforward statement, Epic Games will be providing funding to a bunch of competitions involving Fortnite. The problem comes when you stop to think about exactly what competitions they are talking about. Right now, the biggest draw in terms of viewership is the Friday Fortnite tournament, organized by Daniel “KEEMSTAR” Keem. Outside of this weekly event, the next biggest Fortnite event would have to be Tyler "Ninja" Belvins Vegas Fortnite event, which while a popular tournament style event, only occurred once as of now.

Right now, the numbers just don’t add up when you look at the facts. Last year, Dota 2 had the highest total prize money for a game, with a combined total of $38,053,795.20 over the course of 159 tournaments. Coming in second was CS: GO, which clocked in $19,252,556.11 for a whopping 894 tournaments. Third place belongs to League of Legends, which had a combined total of $12,060,788.82 over 153 tournaments. Now Epic Games comes in saying they’ll fund $100,000,000 over the next year for prize pools? Not a chance. Earlier this year we reported on the massive funding boost received by Vision Esports, L.P. to the tune of $38 Million, funding that not only helped support the existing teams already under its umbrella, but also provided much of the funding needed to create and run the H1Z1 Pro League, the first Battle Royale league of its kind.

A figure like $100,000,000 says much more than the intention to fund a few individual tournaments here and there, though it’s highly likely that Epic Games will be doing so anyway. A figure that big spells some major investment into the scene, and when a company is looking to outlay that kind of dough, it usually means the creation of a Pro League. Simply looking at the amount of money raised by Riot Games to franchise the NA LCS ($10 Million per team, at 10 teams total), or Blizzard Games to create and run the Overwatch League (reportedly $20 Million a team with 12 teams currently in the system), and you can see what kind of tournament system could require that kind of money. Whether or not Epic Games does create their own tournament, or outsources the creation of said tournaments to other companies such as ESL, or even if they just proceed to make it rain over smaller scale events such as the Friday Fortnite tournament, the end result is clear: Fortnite Battle Royale isn’t going anywhere in a hurry.