This past weekend saw players from around the globe compete in the first Fortnite World Cup, where there were huge prizes to be won by gamers who have mastered the art of …well, playing Fortnite.
In the duos competition, Jaden “Wolfiez” Ashmana, a 15-year old Essex boy, took second place alongside his Dutch pal Dave Jong, netting almost £1 million.
Jaden’s mum has been on BBC News talking about the rocky road to the World Cup, admitting she’s long disapproved of his focus on gaming while his schoolwork suffered.
“I’ve actually thrown an XBox out, snapped a headset – we’ve had a nightmare,” she said.
After relenting and signing off on Jaden taking part in the Fortnite competition, Jaden’s mum explained that it had almost seemed like the universe itself was against him actually showing up to play.
“Leading up to the games, getting his visa, we had problems with that so we had a week of a nightmare,” she said. “Then the dog ate his birth certificate, so – and this is not a joke – this actually really did happen. And then my work messed up my wages, so three things went wrong before we started heading here so I knew we were on an even keel and everything was going to go right.”
After Jaden won second place and scooped the huge cash prize, she predicted that it wouldn’t change his lifestyle much:
“Jaden’s not really a materialistic person. He will have a lifetime supply of Uber Eats, and I think that will do him to be fair. Just sitting there playing video games and eating takeaways – Jaden would be in his element.”
Forty million players tried to qualify for the Fortnite World Cup in the 10-week qualifying stage, and Jaden ended up being one of only 11 British players to make the cut.
In the solo championship on Sunday, 16-year-old Kyle “Bugha” Giersdorf won the $3 million first-place prize.
Meanwhile, my kid ate a pebble.
Wireframe #18 is out now
