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This year’s Australian Open will include an open entry Fortnite tournament, featuring a $357,000 prize pool. The Summer Smash will run Jan. 26 and 27, finals weekend of the Grand Slam tennis event.
Bringing the country’s esports fans together
The Fortnite event will welcome 500 Fortnite enthusiasts for first-come, first-serve online registration. Featuring solo and pro-am events, the tournament will be open to residents from Australia and New Zealand ages 16 or higher.
“Fortnite is a global phenomenon, and we’re excited to host the Grand Slam of competitive gaming events at the Australian Open in January,” said Australian Open Tournament Director Craig Tiley. “We’re proud of our reputation for delivering world-class events and are always looking at new opportunities to reach more people.”
With its $357,000 prize pool, the Summer Smash is the most lucrative esports tournament to take place in Australia. It trumps the previous record holder, the Intel Extreme Masters, which offered up $250,000 in Sydney in 2017.
Read Also: Esports betting sites Australia
Local esports personalities to drop in
The duos portion will be a ProAm event and will feature local streamers joining the action. Kathleen “Loserfruit” Belsten, Lannan “LazarBeam” Eacott, Elliott “Muselk” Watkins, and Harley “MrFreshAsian” Campbell will all enter the fray. Winners will donate purses to their chosen charities.
“Loserfruit is one of the most recognizable content creators from Australia with more than a million fans all over the world. It’s great to have players of her caliber taking part in the ProAm,” said event organizer Mark Riedy.
“I played heaps of tennis growing up, and the fact we get to play my favorite game now, Fortnite, at the home of my childhood favorite game is ridiculous, but I’m going with it,” Loserfruit added.
Editorial credit: Leonard Zhukovsky / Shutterstock.com
