E-sport game 'Fortnite' gets $100 mln prize pool

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Epic Games on May 21 announced it would fund its video game "Fortnite" with a 100 million prize pool, marking a milestone in the rising e-sports sector.

"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," the Fornite team wrote in an online post on Monday, bidding to attract and spur e-sport competitors.

A "Frontnite" figure with a special outfit. /Frontnite @ Twitter

The US-based game-maker released the sandbox survival game on online platforms such as Mac OS, PlayStation 4 and Xbox in July, 2017 and a standalone mode called Fortnite Battle Royal in September, allowing players to cooperate on various missions in order to protect survivors.

In specific, players can gain rewards through cooperative missions to improve their characters and sharpen weapons. They can fight the storm, construct weapons, and engage in combat with waves of zombie-like creatures that attempt to destroy the objectives on randomly-generated maps.

"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," the team wrote and promised to disclose more of this spectator sport in the weeks ahead about the competition.

As statistics from the team show, over 45 million people played "Fortnite" by January this year. Also, its relevant game videos and various variations are popular on YouTube and social media.

Source(s): AFP