An East Kilbride gamer flew home this week nearly £50,000 richer after competing in Fortnite’s ‘Creative World Cup’ in America.
Stuart Smith and his team ‘Sunshine Soldiers’ finished 7th on the first day of the mammoth three-day contest, which saw 100 players battling it out on giant computer screens for the chance to win a dream prize pot of $3 million (£2.4m).
Sixteen-year-old Kyle Giersdorf, from the US, won the solo event of the competition in New York’s Arthur Ashe Stadium, which hosts the US Open tennis tournament.
The teen was crowned Fortnite world champion, taking home the record-breaking prize fund.
Jaden Ashman, a 15-year-old from Essex, England, won almost £1m for coming second in the duos event.
Stuart, 20, known online as Code 0000, plays the cult computer game up to ten hours a day and has his own YouTube channel which boasts over 2000 subscribers.
He told the East Kilbride News he was “proud” of his achievement and will “100 per cent”try to qualify again next year.
He said: “I’m proud of the fact that I made it here and did what I did.
“I was disappointed with where we placed, but we had a disadvantage from the beginning as our team captain had little experience in Fortnite and was going up against pro players.
“My team won $235,000 which was split between four of us so we got $58,750 each (£48,292).
“I’m just going to hold onto the money for now and not do anything crazy just yet.”
This was the largest prize pool in the history of e-sports, with $30m shared amongst the winners.
Forty million players attempted to qualify over 10 weeks of online competition.
And more than 30 nations were represented, with 70 players coming from the US, 14 from France and 11 from the UK.
Fortnite involves 100 players being dropped onto an island where they have to find weapons, build structures and eliminate each other until one player comes out on top.
It has 200 million registered players worldwide.
Commenting on his first thrilling Transatlantic experience, ex-Duncanrig pupil Stuart, who starts an accountancy course at university next month, added: “Playing on stage was amazing.
“I met and talked to some huge gamers like Ninja and Faze Cizzorz, got pictures with them and had lunch at Ninja’s table.
“New York is incredible. I went up the Empire State Building and took a boat around the Statue of Liberty.
“I thought I would be scared of the crowds, the heights and going on a boat but I ended up loving all of them!”
Stuart added: “If there is a world cup next year I will 100 per cent try to qualify again.”
