In 2018, parents now pay for video games coaches, thanks to Fortnite

Some coaches make up to $25 an hour

Parents will pay for tennis lessons, piano lessons and even SAT prep lessons -- but would you believe that parents are now paying for video game lessons for their children?

The viral video game, Fortnite, is quickly on its way to becoming the video game of the decade (Epic Sports says that 40 million people log on a month to play), and parents are starting to notice that Fortnite is more than just a game -- it's becoming just as competitive as any other hobby or sport. 

Fortnite has been described as a cross between Minecraft and Call of Duty, where gamers play in the Battle Royale mode because it's free. Around 100 players are dropped on a map and duel it out until one player is left standing. NPR reports that kids rack up wins and brag, which makes the game so competitive that parents feel the need to get their kid a coach.

“I want them to excel at what they enjoy,” Euan Robertson told the Wall Street Journal in an interview. He says that if his kids can keep their grades up, then they can have a Fortnite coach. Not a bad price for good grades, right?

Besides the competitiveness, a few universities are starting to offer scholarships to top Fortnite players and Epic Games (the company that makes Fortnite) plans to give out millions of dollars in game prizes in the next year, so it's not that crazy that parents are coughing up money for coaches. 

NPR says that a Fortnite coach can make anywhere between $10 to $25 an hour, with prices going up depending on how successful the coach is with trainees. Reports also say that one company has contracted around 1,400 coaches since March, so it's pretty clear that this Fortnite trend isn't going anywhere, anytime soon. 

Websites like GamerSensei assess players on their skills and assign them a coach so that they can win more and more games. The website Fortnite Coaching banks on teens feeling bad about themselves for underperforming to lure them into lessons. 

While it might be pretty mind-blowing to those unfamiliar with video games that universities are offering scholarships for playing Fortnite, the trend is far from new. Universities have been giving scholarships away and forming varsity gaming teams for the past few years with games like Overwatch and League of Legends. The only difference is that no other game has become as popular as Fortnite. 

So what do you think? If you had teens who wanted a Fortnite coach, would you pay for one? Let us know in the poll below. 

 


About the Author:

Jack is a Digital Content Editor with a degree in creative writing and French from Western Michigan University. He specializes in writing about movies, food and the latest TV shows.