Global sports management company IMG have been appointed to produce and distribute the inaugural Fortnite World Cup this weekend.

The announcement came after Epic Games, the company who developed and publicised the popular global Fortnite franchise, reached an agreement with IMG that will see it take overall responsibility for the competition’s media production and distribution.

The landmark tournament is set to take place at New York’s Arthur Ashe Tennis Stadium, marking the culmination of ten intense weeks of global online qualification rounds.

And the eSport has become particularly popular in the Middle East, with the industry as a whole being worth $1billion in the region and that figure expected to rise to $4.4billion over the next three years.

Oliver Boden, head of eSports for Europe, said: “We are delighted to be working with Epic Games to distribute The Fortnite World Cup 2019 media rights and tapping into new territories and markets worldwide.

“Fortnite has become one of the largest global gaming phenomenons with guaranteed entertainment and highly competitive fast-paced action.”

The rise of eSports have chimed with the Middle East’s largely youthful demographic, with the fact video games can be played in all climates making them versatile and assisting the growth of their popularity.

All content from the competition will be delivered from IMG’s studios via an innovative, digitally encoded stream – an RTMP Feed – while the company’s in-flight sports channel Sport 24 Extra will be broadcasting the World Cup on international flights on selected airlines.

The qualification period has seen around $10billion in prize money distributed to competitors, with the finals prize pot being worth a lucrative $30million and a further $3million being available for the Fortnite World Cup Creative mode.