Fortnite has become the biggest e-game in the world with more than 78.3 million players monthly according to Business Insider. While most people look at Fortnite as just a video game, you may not know that it is a way to earn some very real cash and junior Canyon Harvey is starting to cash in.

Sitting in his gaming chair, headphones on, fingers tapping quickly on the keyboard,  Harvey is fully immersed in a close game of Fortnite. The keyboard he uses and the collection of first-rate mice worth over $200 are all provided by Corsair, a major gaming equipment company.

Harvey joined the Fortnite team TQS, a small team who recruited him in July of this year.

“You can talk through chat, and they invited me,” said Harvey. “They answer their chat and, if you are active in the chat, the streamer will notice you. After I commented in the chat for a while, they invited me to a party and we started talking.”

Fortnite and eSports have gained a massive following. Players can earn money from these games by entering into tournaments and competing against some of the best players in the world.

“Fortnite eSports aren’t very polished right now. It’s mainly tournaments hosted by Fortnite and them giving away a hundred million dollars in prizes in the next year,” Harvey said. “Pros get invited to these tournaments and they get paid. I’ve been in a Mexican tournament and I’m trying to get into a skirmish right now.”

In a skirmish, the top Fortnite players and streamers fight each other under the auspices of Epic Games, vying for impressive cash prizes.

Through the streams, Harvey has gotten to meet other players like Turkey_Lips and C9 Zoof. He has also met Vivid and Poach, who are from one of the biggest Fortnite teams, Liquid. Not only has he gotten to meet some of the professional players, he has also competed against them in scrimmages.

“A scrimmage is when you get as many mats as you can in the beginning and most of the action is in the late game and it’s very strategic,” said Harvey. “You get noticed through those scrimmages because that’s what the pros play.”

Although Harvey is currently on a team, he is continuously trying to improve his skills to be able to join an even better team.

“There are many ways to get into a team: you could just send your stats from scrimmages, like your wins if you are winning all the time,” said Harvey. “There is a player league which anyone can join, and then there’s the pro discord which you get put into.”

A pro discord is a way for bigger teams to find players to recruit by watching them play. Since he has been playing with a team and taking the game a lot more seriously, he hasn’t been able to play as much with his friends against other teams.

“He grinds the game out a lot more than anyone else, he plays almost every day and he plays for a few hours at a time,” junior Johnathan Verbenec said. “The difference between me and him is that he’s grinding the game out with other players in scrimmages that are also really good and he’s got a lot more competition and that’s gonna take him to the next level.”

Since Harvey takes Fortnite so seriously, his school work could have taken a toll, but according to friend junior Jackson Esch, that is not the case.

“I think he for a little bit toward the beginning of the year, but not anymore, he’s been working on school a lot more,” Esch said. “He really only plays at night now. I think he doesn’t play when he doesn’t need to.”

Fortnite eSports is still huge and the best players are continuing to make a lot of money. Harvey is striving to perfect his game while trying to get noticed.

“He knows how to get a lot of kills,” Verbenec said.”He gets loot fast and knows how to make gangster plays.”