Cuban Thinks Fortnite’s Impact Is Unquestionable
Mark Cuban, the owner of NBA franchise Dallas Mavricks, recently made some statements about the effect of Fornite’s popularity on some of the tops esports titles like Overwatch league.
Cuban is involved in esports through ventures such as Mavs Gaming and his investment in the esports betting website Unikrn, on top of his role in traditional sports.
Mavs Gaming currently runs an NBA 2K roster that plays in the NBA 2K League, which just started its inaugural season. Thus far, the Mavs have won their first two opening matches.
But the biggest focus of conversation in the esports community lately has been Fortnite, including developer Epic Games’ pledge of $100 million to the esports prize pool for the popular battle royal game.
When speaking at the State of College Athletics Forum hosted by Big 12 Conference on May 23rd, Cuban expressed his belief that the Overwatch League is on the decline, suggesting that it could be due to the explosive popularity of Fortnite and its plans to expand into esports.
“Now, every major team is trying to start a Fortnite team,” he said.
When questioned about popularity, Cuban focused on the big picture.
“Well, it has a good head start, and it’s not even so much how long is Fortnite going to be popular—it’s what is happening to other games, particularly in the United States.”
“I think Overwatch has gone [plummeting motion],” he continued. “You know, what happens to OWL?”
Just today, the Lightning Pandas esports organization signed three of the best Fortnite players in the world, making their roster one of the best teams out there.
“As Fortnite continues to take the industry by storm, we’re excited to join the forefront of the competitive community, as we welcome one of Europe’s most promising rosters to their new home,” said Rahul Uppal, esports manager at Kairos Media, the parent company of the Lightning Pandas. “I’m extremely excited to work with ItsZaxi, TheRealMerti and Tranq96, who at the time of writing, are ranked 13th, 23rd and 52nd in the world respectively.”