A DUBLIN TEENAGER has won $50,000 (€44,900) in a US gaming competition for popular online game Fortnite. 

Joshua Juliano (17) – who plays under the username lolb0om – finished 58th out of 100 gamers competing in the Fortnite World Cup in New York.

Juliano was guaranteed to pick up at least $50,000 by making it to the final 100, out of about 40 million gamers who originally competed online. The top prize of $3 million (€2.7 million) was picked up by American Kyle Giersdorf, aka Bugha.

The competition took place this weekend in at the Arthur Ashe Stadium in Queens.

Speaking to RTÉ News following the win, Juliano said he “gave it my all for you guys and all those who supported me through this journey. I got unlucky with some of my games in which I feel I could’ve played better”.

Fortnite is a popular deathmatch style video game. In the game, users are dropped onto an island where they must search for weapons and other resources while eliminating other players – all while trying to stay alive.

Epic Games – Fortnite’s creators – spent a whopping $100 million (€89.9 million) on the inaugural event, including staging 10 weeks of qualifying culminating in this weekend’s tournament.

Over the three-day tournament, Epic Games gave out $30 million (€27 million) in prize money.

 With reporting from - © AFP 2019.