Fortnite Battle Royale is a free-to-play battle royale game developed and published by Epic Games. Fortnite started holding tournaments in order to give more competition to higher tier players. These tournaments are held in large cities such as Las Vegas or Anaheim. They are usually held by an organization or company like UMG Gaming, or even MLG (Major League Gaming.) But the most recent competitive event was like nothing seen before.

This one was held by the largest YouTuber and Twitch streamer at the moment, Tyler “Ninja” Blevins.

Blevins structured this tournament just like any other tournament. It had vendors and what looked like enough computers to fill the pentagon. The style in which Blevins held this competition was the only difference. He gave himself a $2,500 bounty, and whoever killed him won the bounty for each game. He played a total of nine games, and despite his skill, he discovered that he was far from immortal. The tournament was streamed on Twitch to a record 667,000 concurrent viewers. With Blevins center stage, the tournament quickly turned into a game show based on the idea of watching a known streamer play under high pressure. Each match consisted of 75 maximum players, each with the chance at taking $2,500 for eliminating Blevins, and another $2,500 for winning each match. If Blevins won the match then his bounty carried over to the next match and could eventually reach a total of $30,000.

Seniors Carl Cortum and Trace Scordo, two students at Lafayette, pitched in on their opinions about how competitive Fortnite is different from other games. Carl said that Fortnite is different because a player can build, and that helps them to protect themself from enemies. Trace said, “You can play with your friends against both good and bad players, and it’s more of a long term victory.”

Dazed after an unexpected win to a record Twitch audience, Fortnite player 4DRStorm stumbled during his Q&A afterwards. You can’t blame the kid. $2,500 is a fortune for a 14 year old like him. But should 4DRStorm’s victory really be that much of a surprise? While he’s too young to play professionally, Fortnite itself is the intersection of what kids his age were raised on: Minecraft, Call of Duty, and H1Z1. Unless mom and dad say no, we’ll see him streaming and playing professionally in a few years. This is a problem and an advantage in Fortnite.

The EpicGames community has done a great job of recruiting teens into a cycle of asking their parents for money every time they want a new Fortnite skin. Skins are different characters that you can put on in order to “flex” on the enemy. Carl and Trace have spent a combined $230 on skins in Fortnite. When asked why players feel the need to spend large amounts of money on a game that is virtually free to play, Trace replied, “The more passionate or caring you are about something, the more willing you are to spend money on it.” With EpicGames raking in cash, and e-sports companies creating big new competitions, the Fortnite craze likely won’t slow down anytime soon.