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We gathered data on user hours played versus tournament earnings and the results were.. interesting
As the infamous April 1st (April Fools day) approached, the FortniteTracker team wanted to do something silly for the community, while still holding true to our roots: to accurately track user stats and create compelling data with it
The plan? Find out how much professional Fortnite players are making on an hourly basis (from tournament earnings exclusively) and turn it into some solid banter. So, as one does, we generated roughly 60,000 user profiles that have ever scored in the money in a Fortnite sponsored tournament
We found some interesting data, some of which will surprise you. But first, let’s step back a few paces and talk about how the April Fools joke unfolded
For April Fools, we’re going to let the numbers speak for themselves
— Fortnite Tracker (@FortniteTracker) April 1, 2020
To all self declared Fortnite “Pros” - comment your IGN and we’ll calculate how much you make per hour in Fortnite (total hours played ÷ tournament earnings)
We’re about to expose some burger flippers today ??
The bait was set. Now we wait
$74.65/hr
— Fortnite Tracker (@FortniteTracker) April 1, 2020
To infinity and beyond
Popular region’s top performers were clocking in at almost $100/hr
$97.79/hr and my heart <3
— Fortnite Tracker (@FortniteTracker) April 1, 2020
The most chiseled Fortnite player, Cented, also jumped in on the action. But that’s not where it ended - as the banter was just beginning to emerge. Envy player Bucke, who was just recently handed a 60 day ban attributed to his “storm tagging collusion,” also found interest
$77.19 + 200 storm surge tags
— Fortnite Tracker (@FortniteTracker) April 1, 2020
Checkmate, Bucke. You may be able to crank 90’s and qualify for the World Cup finals, but wordplay and banter is my domain. All in all, the experiment was a success. With thousands of engagements and hundreds of thousands of hits, I like to believe that we attributed to the high-effort April Fools gag that makes this day so special
Apart from the joking aspect, we also found out some valuable information about the economics of being a “pro Fortnite player.”
Out of the 60,000 individual tournament winners, 2,000 of those were able to sustain an hourly wage over $10. The top ~500 of those 2,000 have over 5 digit earnings, sending them at or well over $20 an hour in-game
Top players like Bugha, Tfue, Clix, UnknownArmy and many more are able to sustain an income solely from tournaments exceeding $100/hr. For a top World Cup performer like Bugha, his hourly “rate” from playing Fortnite is nearly $4,000. Obviously the variance with having most of your income reliant on a single event is scarily high, but the point still stands
In conclusion, if a decent player plays his cards right, he can sustain a living between Fortnite earnings, organization affiliation, and content creation (Twitch, YouTube, etc.)
Memes and data. My favorite combination. Did you appreciate our April Fools debacle? Let us know on Twitter!
