$100,000 Up For Grabs In Fortnite Tournament Hosted By Australian Football League

The AFL is teaming up with Epic to host a charity Duos tournament in Fortnite. The charity event will be called the "AFL Stream King featuring Fortnite" and will run on Thursday, May 21 2AM PT and Friday, May 22 7PM AEST on the AFL Gamers Network YouTube channel.

The event will consist of 40 professional AFL players and 40 of Australia’s best Fortnite players will team up to battle it out for the ultimate crown and $50,000 AUD for the charity of the winner’s choice. Second place will earn $30,000 AUD for their chosen charity, with third earning $15,000 AUD, and fourth getting $5,000 AUD for their charities. The winners will also be crowned as the AFL Stream King(s).

"We are proud to partner with global giant Epic Games to put on this charity tournament, harnessing the strengths of both organisations, and providing what should be an amazing product for footy fans and gamers alike. Bringing together some of the biggest names in footy with the biggest names in Fortnite - we can’t wait to see who takes out the title," said Ben Sellenger, AFL Head of Commercial Growth.

The AFL has become more involved in the gaming industry over the past few years, with AFL teams owning and sponsoring their own esports teams respectively. Back in 2017, the AFL became interested in esports after the Adelaide Crows purchased a local League of Legends team. Following that decision, the league began purchasing esports teams across the country, although many teams have ceased their partnerships over the past three years. Since then, the AFL has streamed over 6,500 hours of content that has been viewed by over 75,000 fans.

"The AFL has been involved in gaming for a number of years in various ways, and the AFL Gamers Network now allows us to deliver a product which gives our players who game a platform to unite under and grow their own fan base," said Sellenger.

Currently, Fortnite is remaining a strong contender as one of the most lucrative multiplayer games, with the game generating $1 billion from microtransactions on mobile alone. Epic is pushing for the franchise to continue smashing records on the next generation of consoles, with both the PS5 and Xbox Series X editions of Fortnite will support cross-progression and cross-play on release.