Fortnite: U.S. leads competitive scene with most prize money, but Austria has highest average

As the Fortnite competitive scene continues to grow let’s take a look at which countries have the biggest Fortnite competitive scenes and where most of the prize money ends up.

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Which countries have taken the most Fortnite prize money?

THIS MAN JUST WON THREE MILLION DOLLARS.@BUGHA #FORTNITEWORLDCUP pic.twitter.com/LB43UGGV9h

— Sentinels (@Sentinels) July 28, 2019

The list I used only tracks those competitive Fortnite players which have managed to earn a prize of some degree, so the numbers will only include earners and not all Fortnite competitors.

The United States stands as the country with the highest amount of prize money taken in by its Fortnite competitive scene, but it’s worth pointing out that this country also has the highest number of competitive players in Fortnite that have managed to earn a prize. Therefore, although Americans have taken in a combined $31,015,588.12, they also have the most players counted at 1656 competitive players. This means that the U.S. average for its competitive scene is $18,729.22 per player, which looks a lot more reasonable.

After the United States is Canada, France, the United Kingdom, and many more members of the European competitive community until Australia comes in at number 11. Argentina leads in South America at number 12 with $1,341,777.03 with just 69 players. Hong Kong comes in at the 14th place with a single tracked player taking in $1,175,550.00.

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Which countries have earned the most prize money on average?

wait thats me

— COOLER aqua (@aquaa) July 8, 2020

If we only account for those countries which have over 10 tracked players, the country with the highest winnings per player is Austria with $182,759.15 taken home per player on average, almost ten times the U.S. average. Following Austria is Norway with $45,445.47, the Netherlands with $40,227.23 per competitive earner, and then Canada which has taken $37,423.85 on average, almost twice the U.S. average.

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What does this say about the Fortnite competitive scene?

In 2019 16-year-old Kyle “Bugha” Giersdorf dominated the Fortnite World Cup Solo Finals to take home the whopping US$3 million grand prize. pic.twitter.com/f4lT5G3bGT

— Flawless Gamings (@flawlessgamings) July 13, 2020

Fortnite is wildly popular throughout the world, but what stands out to me is where the game seems to have caught on competitively compared to where it has not. After the United States, France has the highest number of Fortnite players who have managed to earn winnings. Austria also stands out as only having 15 winners who have managed to take back $2,741,387.34 despite having so few players tracked.

It is noteworthy that the countries with the highest numbers of competitive earners in Fortnite seem to be predominantly English speaking, with the U.S. leading followed by Australia with 252 players, the U.K. with 136, Canada with 117, and Ireland with 7. This suggests that Fortnite’s competitive scene has grown more in English speaking countries than it has in others, although this could simply be the result of the fact that news and awareness of the competitive scene tends to be handled largely in English.