Fortnite Crowned Esports Game of the Year by Golden Joysticks
| Tags: Fortnite
| Author Matt Pryor
The Golden Joystick Award for Esports Game of the Year went to Fortnite. The battle royale faced – and defeated – other titans in the esports industry, like League of Legends and Overwatch.
Contents
Fortnite in 2019
It has been a long and exciting journey for Fortnite Battle Royale in the esports atmosphere this year. The Fortnite World Cup back in July grabbed headlines like no battle royale title before it. Fortnite developer, Epic Games, has continued producing unfathomable prize pools to keep the esports title alive and well. In 2019 alone, Epic committed to $100 million USD to all of its competitive competitions, including the the aforementioned mentioned Fortnite World Cup.
The World Cup was the pinnacle of Fortnite’s esports endeavor, with a reported 2.3 million viewers across YouTube and Twitch during the solos portion of the competition. The lead up to the Fortnite World Cup saw several upper-echelon players working hard to qualify for the $30 million USD tournament. The Fortnite World Cup was the esports story of the summer, especially thanks to 16-year-old Kyle “Bugha” Giersdorf winning $3 million USD when he took home the trophy.
Fortnite Beats Out Several Worthy Competitors
Next up is Esports Game of the Year sponsored by @corsair… And It's a Victory Royale for @FortniteGame as it takes the win. Do your best Fortnite dance in the general direction of @EpicGames #goldenjoysticks pic.twitter.com/OIl79Xscaa
— Golden Joysticks (@GoldenJoysticks) November 15, 2019
Epic Games’ transcendent accomplishment came full circle at the Golden Joysticks awards, where Fortnite picked up Esports Game of the Year. This victory is the first for Fortnite after Blizzard’s Overwatch won the previous two years. Epic Games’ Fortnite successfully beat out Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege, Super Smash Bros Ultimate, Overwatch, PUBG Mobile, League of Legends, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 for the award.
The Popularity of Fortnite
It’s no secret Fortnite has one of the most massive followings in the world. It's consistently at the top of the most-watched video games across Twitch, Mixer and YouTube. Fan voting determines the winners of the Golden Joystick Awards, which easily explains why Fortnite came out on top. In the last 30 days, Fortnite had over 59.4 million viewer hours, only beaten by League of Legends – most likely thanks to the World Championship. Despite this popularity, Fortnite was not taken seriously as an esport until 2019.
This award helped solidify Fortnite not only as a fun game to watch and play, but a competitive esport title to be respected within the industry. But what does Epic Games have in store for Fortnite in 2020? The Fortnite creators have not yet released any details for the future, but this award could lean them heavily in favor of producing similar prize pools for next year. We will ultimately have to wait and see what the future of competitive Fortnite will hold.
Matt is a graduate of Southern New Hampshire University. He appreciates all esports titles but primarily focuses on Fortnite and Call of Duty. Matt continuously analyzes gameplay and plays the games himself to better understand in-game decisions by the best players in the world.