Shroud says playing competitive Fortnite is just free money

Jul 17, 2019

Reading time: 2 min

Twitch streamer Michael “shroud” Grzesiek might be well known for playing Counter-Strike: Global Offensive professionally or for streaming Apex Legends with a broken elbow, but he also has a very strong opinion about Fortnite.

According to shroud, Fortnite is the best battle royale to go pro in if you’re looking to make some quick cash.

“It’s just free money. Even if you lose, you win. Not many games are like that, but Fortnite is one of them,” shroud said.

Epic Games may not know how to make games, shroud continued, but they do know how to invest “piles of money” into tournaments.

He could be referring to the Fortnite World Cup, which has a staggering $30 million prize pool. This is one of the largest prize pools in esports history. While winners can see upwards of $3 million, and even players that don’t place in the World Cup will be guaranteed $50,000.

shroud’s game of choice, Apex Legends, has not seen similar tournament support. Respawn Entertainment has only hosted one larger-scale event for its free-to-play battle royale title. That was the FACEIT Pro League, which had a $50,000 prize pool.

While PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds has been around for quite a bit longer than Apex Legends, it also hasn’t received such an impressive tournament. The Nations Cup in August will have a $500,000 prize pool, still not close to Fortnite’s massive prizes.

Meanwhile, Epic has announced that additional Fortnite pros will be invited to the World Cup as alternatives. These are players that are close to qualifying in their region during the 10 weeks of open qualifiers.

“Should a player or duo be unable to compete, you will be asked to fill the spot based on regional availability. If there is no need for an alternate in the tournament, you will still be allowed to enjoy the event,” Epic said in an email.

The alternatives will receive free flights and hotel accomodations, courtesy of Epic, throwing around even more money. The list of alternative players have not been revealed yet.