Fortnite North America Winter Royale: Prize Money, Twitch Live Stream and More

Ninja, TSM Myth, Ghost Aydan and Liquid Poach headline a star-studded field chasing the $75,000 first-place prize in the Fortnite Winter Royale finals for the North American region.

Just like the European tournament, which was won by LeStream Skite on Dec. 1, the NA event will take place across two days with the semifinals on Tuesday and the Grand Finals on Wednesday. The top 100 players from the semis advance to the final lobby of the Winter Royale.

Let's check out all of the important details for the latest lucrative Fortnite event. That's followed by a breakdown from the $1 million prize pool and a tournament preview.

Viewing Information

Semifinals: Tuesday, Dec. 11 at 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. ET

Grand Finals: Wednesday, Dec. 12 at 5 p.m. ET

Live Stream: Fortnite on Twitch

Prize Money

1st: $75,000

2nd: $60,000

3rd: $45,000

4th: $35,000

5th: $30,000

6th: $22,500

7th: $17,000

8th: $14,000

9th: $10,000

10th: $9,000

11th-15th: $6,000

16th-20th: $2,500

21st-100th: $1,500

Tournament Preview

The most notable absence from the Winter Royale is FaZe Tfue, the most dominant player in the competitive Fortnite scene throughout the smash-hit video game's brief history.

An open qualifying process, which was conducted over several days, made this event different than the Summer Skirmish and Fall Skirmish. Epic Games didn't invite pro players and top streamers, instead leaving the entire field to get determined by qualification placement.

Tfue fell short over the two days of North American qualifying and, amid rumors of hacking and various additional forms of cheating by other players, he ended one of his hugely popular Twitch streams by venting frustration, per Miles Yim of ESPN.com.

"I've never hated playing this game so much," he said. "I think that's why I have so many viewers today, bro. People like to see me f--king miserable."

While Tfue won't be able to defend his unofficial Best in the World crown, many of the game's most popular players will still be part of the semifinals.

They will compete under the Big Bonus format, a balanced scoring system with points awarded for both eliminations and placement.

Three points are awarded for a Victory Royale along with two points for finishing second or third and one point for placing elsewhere inside the top 10. For eliminations, it's three points for seven or more kills, two points for five or six kills and a point for three or four kills.

The Big Bonus is activated with one point for each elimination beyond seven, creating potential for some high scores with aggressive gameplay.

Players will compete in five games during the semifinals and those who advance to the Grand Finals will play six matches to determine the champion.

Although Ninja is by far the most popular gamer in the tournament, at least in terms of Twitch viewership, he's not the favorite merely because of his limited scrim experience.

More time spent playing against high-level opponents should give players like Myth, Poach, Liquid Vivid, Ghost Bizzle, Ghost Snood, Symfuhny, Liquid 72hrs, Liquid Chap, Ghost Thwifo and coL Hogman a sizable advantage in late-game situations.

That said, there's always the potential for an unheralded contender to break through and steal the spotlight in a tournament that began with open qualification.