A teen who frustrated his mom gaming 8 hours a day became a millionaire in the Fortnite World Cup
- A British teen won half of $2.25 million this weekend after coming second with his Dutch teammate in the Fortnite World Cup.
- The finals took place in New York City on Saturday and Sunday. 50 duos and 100 solos players competed for a share of the $30 million prize pool, the largest prize pool in the history of e-sports.
- 15-year-old Jaden Ashman told the BBC that he started playing Fortnite when it was first released in 2017 and has been practicing in his room for 8 hours a day ever since, much to his mother's annoyance.
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British teen Jaden Ashman won half of $2.25 million after coming second with his teammate at the Fortnite World Cup finals this weekend.
Ashman will split the $2.25 million prize with his Dutch teammate Dave Jong. The first prize of $3 million was won by 16-year-old American player Kyle Giersdorf.
More than 40 million players participated in the qualifying events for the final, which took place at the Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York City on Saturday and Sunday. 50 duos and 100 solos players made it through the final and were competing to take home a cut of $30 million prize pool, the largest prize pool in the history of e-sports.
Fortnite is the most popular video game in the world with more than 250 million registered players. The game is free-to-play and available on iPhone, Android, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, PC and Mac. It involves 100 players being dropped onto a virtual island, and then using the surrounding weaponry and materials to eliminate rivals until only one person is left.
Ashman told the BBC that he started playing when Fortnite was first released in 2017 and has been practicing in his room for eight hours a day ever since, much to his mother's annoyance.
"Me and my mum clash quite a lot," Ashman said in an interview with the BBC. "She didn't understand how it worked so she thought I was spending eight hours a day in my room just wasting my time."
His mother, Lisa Dallman, told the BBC that she had been pushing Ashman to do his schoolwork instead of gaming and admitted to throwing out his Xbox and snapping his headset at one point.
But Ashman doesn't have any grand plans for spending the prize money just yet.
"Jaden is not really materialistic," Dallman said, adding that he will have a lifetime supply of Uber Eats.
"Just sitting there playing video games and eating takeaways. Jaden would be in his element."