Twitch and Epic Games announced a Twitch Rivals Fortnite Tournament being held on January 30th, 2020 at 5:00 PM Eastern Time on the Twitch Platform. 16 duos made up of Twitch streamers paired with NFL football players will be competing for a $500,000 donation to a charity of the winning team's choice.
Twitch Rivals was created in order to organize more tournaments and events for streamers and celebrities. The Twitch Rivals Streamer Bowl, the official name for the tournament, alludes to the NFL Super Bowl that will be played three days later on February 2nd. The Super Bowl is the most viewed single broadcast every year. The Streamer Bowl will hope to attract some of those NFL fans with notable players participating in the Fortnite tournament.
The team lineups are listed below:
Bugha and JuJu Smith-Schuster
LosPollosTV and Jamal Adams
Symfuhny and D.K. Metcalf
Dr. Lupo and Keenan Allen
Tfue and Kyler Murray
Nick Mercs and Mike Evans
TimTheTatman and Johnathan Abram
Chapand Kyle Van Noy
Clix and Tarik Cohen
NickEh30 and David Morgan
Reverse2K and Baker Mayfield
Elded and Kenyan Drake
Ayden and Kurt Benkert
UnknownxArmy and Avonte Maddox
NateHill and Eddie Vanderdoes
BrookeAB and Eric Ebron
Some of the most notable Twitch streamers are Dr. Lupo, Tfue, Nick Mercs, and TimTheTatman. All four streamers focus mostly on Fortnite streaming and play together on occasion. They have over 15 million followers on Twitch combined. Some of the most notable NFL players include Cleveland Browns quarterback, Baker Mayfield, and rookie stars, Kyler Murray and D.K. Metcalf. However, the most known NFL player in the video game community is Pittsburgh Steelers player, JuJu Smith-Schuster, who was part of the record breaking Fortnite broadcast when he played with Ninja, Drake and Travis Scott. Smith-Schuster is known for streaming on Twitch after practices or games.
The NFL has previously partnered with Epic Games to release Fortnite skins for all 32 teams, which helped associate professional football with video game players. Many sports athletes have brought Fortnite's influence into their own sports. During this current NFL season, many players have celebrated using Fortnite emotes such as the "L dance." NBA player, Josh Hart, celebrates scoring by mimicking the wrapping bandages animation to regain health in Fortnite. The popular video game continues to have influence in big market sports. The Streamer Bowl will bring even more influence as NFL fans experience video games watching their favorite players.
Previous Twitch Rivals Fortnite tournaments have mixed reviews from players involved. Patches to Fortnite are released constantly, which changes gameplay most of the time. Famous streamer, CouRageJD, became fed up with one of the additions to the game during a previous Fortnite tournament. Hopefully all players will be happy with the current state of the game during the tournament.
Some avid viewers may be upset that the skill level for a tournament is not at the level of professionals, however, the prize being a charitable donation makes the tournament competitive for a good cause. Many of the NFL players are skilled video game players, hence why they chose to play in the Twitch Rivals Streamer Bowl. However, the biggest reason may be their age. Most of the NFL players are very young, which could attract younger fans to become lifetime Twitch viewers.
Fortnite is available now on Nintendo Switch, PC, PS4, Xbox One, and mobile devices.
Source: GoNintendo