An Irish teenager is competing for a $3 million prize at a US gaming competition.

17-year-old Dubliner Joshua Juliano has reached the final of the Fortnite World Cup, which is being hosted in New York this weekend.

Forty million players competed online to have a chance to play in the cup, but only 100 made the cut and will take to the stage at the Arthur Ashe Stadium in Queens this weekend.

Joshua Juliano has only been playing Fortnite for a year but will return from New York this weekend at least €50 thousand richer, but could stand to scoop the top prize of $3 million.

On reaching the final, he said: "It feels pretty good right now, I feel nothing but excitement"

He said that he hopes he does well and that the competition is "life changing for all of us here".

He said he so far has no plans for the prize money, adding that his family might go on holidays.

The game is a "battle royale" in which players are dropped onto an island, where they have to find weapons, build things and eliminate fellow gamers until one is left victorious.

Joshua says once on the island, players have to gather loot, position themselves well, figure out the best rotations and use their mechanics wisely to win the game.

But he says having a strategy is key.

"There is a lot of mechanics involved, like building and aiming, but I think having a strategy and thinking well is more important than having good mechanics in the game.

"Because there's so many players around the world that have a very high skill gap but most of them would achieve more if they think smarter".

Thousands of Fortnite fans will watch the final in the stadium, while millions of other gamers will watch online.

However, this attention is not fazing Joshua.

"I'm just super excited to play and meet all the players in the stadium. I don't really feel much pressure.

"All I want to do is play my game and hopefully bring back the title as one of the best Fortnite players in the world."

The event will see a $30 million prize fund awarded to players across the weekend, and the huge prize pool could make this World Cup the biggest e-sports event in history.



