Red Bull and Ninja's First Fortnite Tournament Was a Success

Not long ago, we heard about a Fortnite competition hosted by energy drink kingpin Red Bull and top-level livestreamer Tyler "Ninja" Blevins. Now the event has come to a close, and it's been considered a resounding success.

The event was sponsored by Red Bull, but Ninja and DrLup handled the hosting. It consisted of 200 of the best available Fortnite players gathering on the 99th floor of the Willis Tower in Chicago. The event would gather up to 100,000 concurrent viewers through their online stream. Given Ninja's following, this isn't too surprising.

Based on a point system, the event winners were from Team Exploit, consisting of Trevor Funkbomb Siegler and Nate Nateehill Hill. The announcement was even published on ESPN's Twitter. Hill had this to say:

This is our first big tournament and to win it is amazing. We knew we were good and now we just have more confidence, we're ready for the next one.

The prize pool was small compared to some other eSports events, with $1,125 being awarded to each of the winners. Though this was partly because of restrictions set by developer Epic Games on third-party tournaments.

Beyond the normal game, participants could go up against Ninja and DrLupo directly for a chance at scoring bonus points. While this was of a competitive nature, Ninja remarked that the chance to interact with fans was the highlight of the event:

I wouldn't have a career if it wasn't for the Fortnite Community. I had so much fun playing with one of my best friends [DrLupo] tonight and meeting all my fans. There was some top talent in this tournament.

I'm glad to hear that the event went off without any issue. Perhaps this will mean more interest and interaction with major organizations like Red Bull and ESPN in the future.

Fortnite is available now for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, PC and mobile devices.