Two Kiwi Fortnite players have come last in the game's World Cup tournament, but they'll still walk away with NZ$76,000 each.
Chris Hunt, 18, and Sam Pearson, 23, competed in the inaugural esport tournament which saw 100 players battle on giant computer screens in a New York stadium.
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Millions had attempted to qualify, but Hunt and Pearson (whose gamer monikers are CoverH and Twizz) were the only all-New Zealand duo. Three other Kiwis also participated in the tournament.
There was a US$30m prize pool (NZ$45m) up for grabs, the biggest in esports history.
Unfortunately, the Kiwi duo failed to come anywhere near first prize and were instead the first to be knocked out of the tournament.
Pearson expressed his disappointment on Twitter, saying they "sucked" and "weren't prepared".
"What I thought makes a good player was completely wrong," he wrote. "Nobody or nothing to blame but myself."
It's not all bad news, though - Hunt and Pearson won a whopping US$50,000 each in prize money, the equivalent of NZ$76,350.
A 16-year-old American who goes by the gamer name Bugha won the solo event, collecting an astonishing US$3 million (NZ$4.52m) for his victory.
Last week, Pearson told Newshub he grew up wanting to be an All Black, but when he realised he "wasn't that good at rugby", he got into esports instead.
His passion paid off this year when he and Hunt qualified for the Fortnite World Cup and enjoyed an all-expenses paid trip to New York.
"We are coming into it as underdogs - the other players have high expectations we don't have that kind of pressure," Pearson told Newshub before the trip.
"My biggest focus is for us to play with no regrets. I don't want us to hesitate or go back on our game plan, I want us to play the way we know how to play and take every opportunity we can."
Newshub.
