The inaugural Fortnite World Cup took place last week, ending with 16-year-old Kyle “Bugha” Giersdorf becoming the champion and bringing home a whopping US$3 million. Despite being the first-ever tournament of that scale for the battle royale game, it managed to garner more than two million concurrent viewers online.

However, those numbers are not the most surprising numbers to come out of the massive esports competition. It’s actually the revelation that the average/median age of both Fortnite fans and players tend to be much younger compared to other sports like English Premier League (EPL) football/soccer, golf, or even its own esports counterparts.

According to statistics provided by the Financial Times, the average/median age is in the 60s and 40s for golf and EPL fans, respectively. That’s quite a lot older than the average/median age for esports fans/players in general, who are mostly in the mid-20s.

In comparison, the average/median age of Fortnite players who participated in the Fortnite World Cup is 16. That’s right, most of them are teenagers who are barely old enough for a driving license.

This was made even more apparent when Fortnite World Cup solo second-place winner Harrison Chang said that he represented “the old dudes” in the tournament. He is currently just 24 years old.

Esports athletes have always been relatively young, which also means that they peak at a younger age than most sports athletes. A footballer would probably be at his physical and career peak around the age of 30, but esports players would already be far past his/her own peak and will likely be in a managerial or coaching position by then.

This is why it’s essential for esports players to start young. In order to do that, more people, specifically those who raise children, should be more open and less restrictive to their loved one delving into gaming at a young and tender age.

Having younger esports players is a good thing for both the gaming and esports industries since it will spread the idea that the youth can play games and still be productive at the same time. Still, there’s nothing wrong with gaming non-competitively, which remains a healthy hobby (as it always has been) in moderate sessions.

In the meantime, check out a recap video of the Fortnite World Cup finals below to catch a glimpse of what all the hype is about.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVqdNWHM4wQ&w=560&h=315]