I went to my first tournament,
So I think after that, they were good.
They gave me that year. A lot of parents,
don't give you that year.
- Hi, everyone. I'm Moose and recently
I sat down with members of Ghost Gaming's
professional Fortnite team on the eve of the
first ever Fortnite World Cup.
The esports industry is growing exponentially.
Highly competitive events for games like Fortnite,
Overwatch, Counter-Strike and tons more,
are drawing thousands of real life fans
and even more online eyeballs.
Some experts project that esports can bring in
over a billion dollars in revenue by the end of 2019,
and it's just getting started.
To get a boots on the ground perspective of the business
from the athletes who are living it every single day,
we asked the Ghost Gang about making the decision
to go pro and what the day-to-day life looks
like for some of the most elite gamers in the world.
First, I wanted to find out how they realized
that they might have what it takes to compete
at the highest level.
- The first game I probably, like, actually grided
was Call of Duty MW 2. Just coming home from school
playing that until dinner. After dinner, you get back on
the game and you play with your friends all day.
And that was my whole year basically.
- It just started by its own, like, I just
played a lot. Played, like, wagers, played for money
and then I started getting invited to scrimmages
from Epic Games and then I realized
I'm good enough to compete.
- When Fortnite first came out, I was playing,
I was like playing people for money,
and I ended up racking up like ten thousand dollars
just playing other people. And then I started
streaming and once the first like Fortnite tournament
came out, I did really well. I blew up
and then it exploded from there.
The way Ghost found me, I actually had a friend that,
like, he told the scout. He, like, recommended me.
They actually found me from the little, the way
when I was playing people for money.
They just took a risk on me and picked me up,
and it ended up working out.
- I worked on a golf course for four years.
So when I first got signed to Ghost I was
still working at the golf course
and going to school full-time too.
So I was trying to manage all of it
because when I first signed it wasn't like
the crazy contract. Before tournaments started
I was basically just signing just to help
get my name out and everything.
- Did you drive the cart to like pick up all the balls?
- Yeah.
- That's awesome.
(sound of swinging golf club hitting a golf ball)
(upbeat dance music)
It takes a lot of hours to make it on to an elite team
like Ghost, and once you're on board
gaming isn't just a hobby anymore, it's a job.
- So while my sleep schedule's good
I like to wake up, play around noon.
I'll start scrims around five.
After scrims are over, which honestly probably ends about
eleven sometimes depending how long we play
and then I'll probably stream after
throughout the night for a little bit
and then go, go to bed. I love doing this.
- I usually stream eight hours a day.
And, you know, I have a girlfriend now
in California so that takes a lot of time up too
but mainly all the Ghost stuff usually is like when we
go to events and like we all meet up
is mostly when they try to take a lot of my time.
- So my normal schedule, I'll basically just
wake up and hop right on my computer.
I don't really eat breakfast or anything,
so I just hop on and warm up.
What's going on guys? Bizzle here.
Six to eight hours a day. And after that trying
to watch people play Fortnite or even play it more.
But its basically an all day thing
with any esport I think it is.
There's not really any down time.
You have to be playing 24-7.
Oh my God.
- Getting paid to play video games and build
a massive streaming audience at the same time
sounds like a pretty sweet gig, but it's not without risks.
Just like traditional sports,
the chances of injury are very real.
- The wrists are really, really common.
I've had a little bit of wrist injuries.
Like, just, nothing major, but,
I know a lot of players have like tendonitis,
and they just develop stuff like that
because it's just constantly moving your mouse around.
- Are you a mouse and keyboard or are you a controller guy?
- Mouse and keyboard, yeah.
- I think the main issue among most players is
probably like carpal tunnel.
I use therapy putty for myself,
and that really helps me.
Basically I use different strengths of putty.
So you can constantly working up
and strengthening your hands.
- This is funny. So, the worst injury
that I've had that has affected my game play,
is me picking at my nails and my skin.
Yeah. It's just my fault.
I got to stop doing that. Bad habit.
I play like a weird way with the controller.
Basically I use my like pointer finger
on like the four buttons.
So basically if I like mess with my nail or my skin
then I have to press down, it starts to hurt.
But besides that, I've not really had any hand injuries
or anything. My girlfriend massages my hands at night,
so I got that going for me.
- Esports is still a young industry.
And for a lot of Ghost Gang, their parents took
some convincing to get on board.
- So at first they weren't supportive at all.
They were like, you got to get off your computer.
The first tournament that I went to, I got invited,
we were actually going on vacation that day.
So I had to convince them to stay back
which was actually really good
because that's what basically got me into Ghost.
So, yeah, after that, they were supportive.
After I was making money and stuff.
- Yeah. I notice that seems to be a theme with everybody,
it's like, my family was a little skeptical
and then I started making money.
- There are a lot of parents that don't
give you that year. They won't let you play the hours I did.
Just the fact, like I said, yeah, they're a gaming family.
They were more understanding than other people
so it was pretty easy for me.
- So your folks might be a little skeptical
at least until all that prize money starts rolling in.
In their short careers, Ghost Gang has already
racked up some serious dough.
And the pots just keep getting bigger.
- What's the biggest prize you've won so far?
- $37.5K. And that was my first event.
- $50K
- TwitchCon. Thirty seven thousand.
I ended up winning like another fifteen thousand off that.
And then like the thirty thousand from the kill bonus.
All together it was like $60, 70K.
- Not too shabby.
- Yeah that was a good day.
- PAX West, I made a little over two hundred thousand.
- Jesus. That's how much I spent on law school.
- My first tournament ever.
- With that kind of money on the line,
playing games for a living is certainly
a tantalizing prospect, so I asked the Ghost Gang
if they had any tips for aspiring pros.
- Play the game. Grind as much as you can.
Watch other pros, like the best, play.
Try to copy some strats.
- Make sure you use all social medias.
Use Instagram, YouTube, Twitter.
Definitely network. It's one thing I didn't do too much,
I still don't do too much now, which I should.
Make sure you try to play with people.
If you are good or you're funny or you have
some sort of characteristic that people like you for,
I mean those people will come to you.
- Right now Ghost Gang is living the dream,
and with Fortnite showing no signs of slowing,
it almost seems weird to think about the future.
Still, I closed out by asking these athletes
if they had any plans for their post esports careers.
- I'd love to stay in the scene. Like the esports scene,
whether that's working for an org or casting
or doing something coaching related or I could always
go back to school. I was a cybersecurity major before this,
so I would also love to finish school and do that.
- Cool. Where'd you go to college?
- A local college. I went to Penn State my first year
and then came home to change majors.
- Honestly, I used to do a lot of coding
so that'd be really cool to make games and stuff.
- That would be awesome.
- So my plan definitely is to like keep my brand going.
Keep growing. I just want to take the route
maybe just being able to like stream whatever games I want.
I know that my professional career will not be here forever,
so maybe just like chill and just play single player games.
Maybe an org one day, there's a lot of pro players
that are creating orgs. That's a big thing right now.
I just want to be able to live my life. Keep playing games.
That's my dream.
(rhythmic orchestral music)