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Fortnite World Cup kicks off in April with $30 million final in July

The solo champion will walk away with $3 million.

Marrian Zhou Staff Reporter
Marrian Zhou is a Beijing-born Californian living in New York City. She joined CNET as a staff reporter upon graduation from Columbia Journalism School. When Marrian is not reporting, she is probably binge watching, playing saxophone or eating hot pot.
Marrian Zhou
2 min read
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Fortnite World Cup will kick off in April. 

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Fortnite's first World Cup will officially start in April.

Developer Epic Games on Friday released more details on its upcoming Fortnite World Cup, which begins with ten weekly online qualifiers that'll run from April 13 to June 16. Epic will give out $1 million each week to eligible players (you have to be at least 13), and payouts will be distributed broadly, the company said.

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The top 100 solo players and the top 50 duos teams worldwide will come to New York for the Fortnite World Cup finals from July 26-28 with a prize pool of $30 million. Each player will be guaranteed at least $50,000 and the solo champion will be awarded $3 million.

Epic Games announced its World Cup in June, while also boasting the battle royale game had reached 125 million users (it reportedly topped 200 million in November). Qualifications for the World Cup will be based on merit, Epic said in June, and it won't be "selling teams or franchises, and won't allow third-party leagues to do so either."

Epic plans to award $100 million this year via competitive prize pools, and the World Cup isn't the only way to win. Epic said it'll continue to give out $1 million in weekly tournaments that feature a variety of modes through the end of this year. 

Fortnite: Battle Royale is free to play on on PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PCs, iPhones and Android devices. The rules in Battle Royale are simple -- one hundred people jump out of Fortnite's battle bus and parachute down to an island, search for weapons and gear, then battle it out until only one person is left standing. 

While the game is free to download, players pay for alternative looks for their characters, as well as optional celebratory moves and dances known as emotes. Fortnite reportedly notched $3 billion in profit in 2018.

First published on Feb. 22, 8:34 a.m. PT.
Update, 12:58 p.m. PT: Adds more background information on Fortnite.