Austrian wins 3 million at Fortnite World Cup

David “aqua” Wang is going home after this weekend as a millionaire. The 17-year-old Austrian won the World Champion title in doubles at the first Fortnite World Cup on Saturday. Prize money for the team: 3 million US dollars (equivalent to 2.7 million euros).

Together with his Norwegian teammate Emil “Nyhrox” Bergquist Pedersen, the player won six games against 49 other teams. “I don’t know what to say. That’s crazy,” said the 17-year-old, shortly after he had raised the trophy. Around him, thousands of fans cheered for him at the Arthur Ashe tennis stadium in New York, while millions of people followed the stream of the event on the Internet.

Teenagers are the main spectators in the stadium as well as the participants. The average age in the duo competition is 16 years, according to the commentators in the stream. According to organizer Epic Games, the age of the participants ranges from 13 to 24 years.

Among them is also Fabian “Derox” Real. The 15-year-old from Saarland and his Scottish teammate Calum “itemm” MacGillivray made it to eighth place – making him the best German in the team competition.

“We could have played better because we threw away two games,” said Derox in an interview with the “Deutsche Presse-Agentur”. Nevertheless, he was satisfied with eighth place. The World Cup was his first-ever offline tournament.

He wasn’t nervous about the huge stage that the organizers set up in the tennis stadium. “You didn’t really notice that when you played,” said the 15-year-old. The headsets that the players have to wear have blocked most of the noise from the stadium, which is about two-thirds full. Derox was then like in a tunnel during the competition.

Together, Derox and itemm share prize money of 375,000 US dollars. The tax authorities will retain part of the money. What does he do with the rest? “I don’t know.” Most of it will be saved, and maybe there will be a new computer.

There is a total of 30 million dollars to win at the Fortnite World Championship, and every qualified player goes home with at least 50,000 dollars. For Fortnite developer Epic Games, that’s not much money: According to Nielsen SuperData analysts, the company made an estimated $2.4 billion last year with the game. The money comes mainly from players’ in-game purchases – they can buy virtual currency for real money, and then items in the game such as outfits for the game characters.

Derox has also invested heavily. He has been playing since its release in July 2017 and has spent between 300 and 500 euros since then. He says – and his father listens carefully. Tobias Real accompanies his son on his journey and cheers him on in the stadium. At home, however, there are clear rules: “If school performance had deteriorated, the game would have been over,” he says. And Derox also says: “When it’s not summer holidays, school comes first.

For the Saarlander, the sporting part of the competition is over. Aqua, on the other hand, has also qualified for the solo competition, which is held on Sunday (from 19:00 CEST). Five Germans will also be taking part, including Lion “LYGHT” Krause, who at 13 is one of the youngest players at this World Cup.