A 15-year-old has become an overnight millionaire after participating in this weekend’s Fortnite World Cup . British teenager Jaden Ashman, who plays under the moniker Wolfiez, alongside his 21-year-old duo Dutch partner Dave Jong, known in-game as Rojo, stormed the duo finals yesterday to take home an eye-watering split prize of $2.25 million .
Before yesterday’s exploits, Ashman was a relatively unknown quantity within the competitive Fortnite scene, which makes his rise to stardom all the more unexpected.
Despite securing a bank balance most adults would be in envy of, Ashman’s tender age falls within the average among the roster of competitors at the event. Each of these players is guaranteed to walk away with a minimum payout of $50,000. Not bad for a day’s work.
Fortnite is a young person’s game and a very lucrative one at that.
The duo event held last night saw 49 teams of two players battle it out across six games accruing points based on their standing at the end of each match.
Wolfiez and Rojo were only just ousted from the top spot by duo Nyhrox and Aqua, 51 to 47 points, who head home with a shared $3 million dollars.
Rather than defining their appearance at the Fortnite World Cup with flashy plays, Wolfiez and Rojo remained consistent throughout nearly four hours of the competition despite not winning a single round.
The final match produced a hectic skirmish as all the remaining duos fought frantically to secure precious points to improve their place in the standings.
Forty million players from all over the globe took part in online qualifiers that spanned months with only 197 of the best players making it to the live finals held at the Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York.
With a total prize pool of $30 million fronted by publisher Epic Games – the largest of any eSports event ever – the Fortnite World Cup is the battle royale title’s biggest event to date.
Alongside the duo competition, several events pack out the World cups schedule. Solo players will duke it out later today for $3 million, while the Creative tournament offered a more playful take on Fortnite as competitors took on player made trials.
Additionally, Friday saw 50 pro players from the Fortnite community team up with 50 mainstream celebrities including athletes, musicians, and actors in the Pro-Am tournament to secure a charity prize pool of $3 million.
Among those featured were Fortnite’s unofficial figurehead Tyler “Ninja” Blevins and musician Marshmello, who failed to dent the progress of winning duo Airwaks and RL Grime.