Austrian became world champion and millionaire at 17 – retires at 21

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21-year-old Austrian David “aqua” Wang was already at the pinnacle of success at 17: he won $1.5 million at the Fortnite World Cup when he became world duo champion. In recent years, a few hundred thousand euros have been added. Now, at the age of 21, he announces succinctly that he is done with e-sports in Fortnite.

That was David Wang’s big moment:

  • The then only 17-year-old David Wang won the duo competition at the Fortnite World Cup in New York in 2019 with his Norwegian partner Emil “Nyrhoxx” Bergqqusit: He received $ 1.5 million. Shortly thereafter, he separated from his partner in a dispute.
  • In an interview with heute.at he said he didn’t even know what he was going to do with all that money: First he wanted to get his driver’s license and buy a car.
  • About his victory he said: He wanted to shut out the whole atmosphere and hustle and bustle in the stadium and concentrate fully on the win.

    • Benijfishy had so much success with Fortnite that his mother took him out of school at an early age:

    Mom Takes 15-Year-Old Son Out Of School So He Can Play Fortnite – Here’s How It Worked For Him

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    After the World Cup, there were still a few victories, then the prize money dried up

    What happened after that? After 2019, Fortnite has never hosted a major “live event” like the World Cup. As a result and during the corona pandemic, Epic continued to shut down e-sports, relying on online tournaments in the individual regions and for the various platforms instead of a big spectacle in New York.

    But Wang was also at the forefront of these online tournaments:

  • In 2019 he won $160,000 at the FNCS: Season X Finals
  • In 2022 he picked up another $150,000 in the FNCS: Chapter 3 Season 2 Finale

    • Revenue drops from $1.8 million to $940 a year

    But so far in 2023, he’s only earned $941 in prize money. That’s nothing compared to the $1.8 million he raked in in 2019 alone.

    As of May 2022, aqua has only had minor successes in tournaments, finishing somewhere in 26th place and taking home $300 (via esportearnings).

    Aqua also wrote negative headlines in his career: he was once banned from a tournament.

    So he now announces the end of his career: It was over with a short Twitter post on September 3rd: He stopped playing Fortnite, he wrote, without further information.

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    Many Fortnite cracks switch to Valorant

    That’s behind it: Much like Aqua, many once “big names” have retired from Fortnite in recent years. There are definitely several factors involved:

  • Fortnite just doesn’t earn as much as it did at the 2019 wedding. Players like Benjifishy complained about that early on
  • Fortnite is also extremely dynamic, the conditions are constantly changing. It’s difficult to “stay at the top”, especially since there are many young talents chasing after them
  • Ultimately, Fortnite was never a recognized e-sports title like CS:GO, LoL or Valorant. It was never designed as an e-sports title with its free-for-all format. In retrospect, there were even some doubts about the integrity of the World Cup: there are rumors that the winners had made arrangements about running routes via a joint coach in order to increase their chances of winning.
  • Many are attracted to “real” e-sports titles like Valorant

    • As early as 2020, one of the really big winners of the Fortnite World Cup had already switched from Fortnite to the new cool competition:

    Pro makes $1.8m from Fortnite but is now moving to ‘the next gaming titan’

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