The Milk Cup: A Shining Beacon for All-Women LANs

While women’s esports is on the rise, there’s still a lot of work to be done to ensure that women competitors are given the support to compete at their best. This doesn’t just mean holding a competition, but ensuring that the production, organization, and coverage is reaching the same standards as traditionally all-male tournaments. 

This is what GonnaNeedMilk has set out to achieve with The Milk Cup, an all-women’s Fortnite LAN that offers the biggest NA women’s esports prize pool in history. For many of its 99 competitors, this tournament marks their first LAN, setting them on the path to a promising esports career. Its significance hasn’t been taken for granted, as for these women The Milk Cup marks an overdue moment where their skills and value has been recognised wholeheartedly. 

“I think it's very important to have a space just for girls to really shine,” said Marii, a player who competed as part of Team Smylie. “So, I think it's really awesome that [GonnaNeedMilk] created this safe space for us to do whatever we want.” Marii played alongside Smylie and Sophiaa, with the team securing the very last Victory Royale of the final and an overall fifth place finish. 

• Read more: ThePeachCobbler — “The Milk Cup Isn’t Just a Tournament, It’s Where Change Starts”

The sentiment was one shared across the competing teams. “I think it is a huge step in women's gaming. I've always been a big advocate of supporting women in gaming, ever since I started playing comp a really long time ago,” said Sommerset. “So, having an event like this and seeing it all unfold over the years is honestly a surreal experience.” 

“Yeah, me too,” said Yqzmin. “ Initially I never thought we would have an all-women's LAN, but then once it got announced, I was like, ‘There's no way!’ And it's just super cool how [GonnaNeedMilk] were able to organize it all and give us the chance to all play.” Sommerset and Yqzmin were joined by XSET’s Fraanticc, with the team coming in third place in the finals.

The Milk Cup Final took place at L.A. Comic Con where players were competing for their share of the $250,000 prize pool, as well as being the first to lift The Milk Cup trophy. Through six games, 33 teams battled it out for their place in history and a strong push in their promising competitive careers. But one team was an unmissable standout, securing three of the six Victory Royales and walking away the winners of the first-ever Milk Cup — Team Moxie. Consisting of Mexican players Moxie, Regsita, and Dieyuhs, the trio had continued their dominating performance from Qualifier 1. It was this performance that saw each player sign with American org XSET, competing in the org jersey during the final. 

“The Milk Cup brought us a big opportunity out here in the esports community. It was amazing. So exciting,” said Moxie.

With the first ever Milk Cup wrapped up, and Team Moxie crowned, it’s time to look to the road ahead for women’s esports in Fortnite and beyond. For the players, specifically, the future has never looked so bright. With so many eyes on The Milk Cup Finals, the hope is that this was just the start of something much greater. 

“Hopefully there's more LANs,” said Moxie. “More tourneys, more opportunities for us,” Regsita continued.

The first-ever Milk Cup is certainly just the beginning. Judging from the viewership turn-out, both online and in-person, there’s a vicious hunger for more women’s esports — something GonnaNeedMilk are dedicated to fulfill. The company has already teased a new tournament for 2024, giving even more competitive hopefuls the space to showcase their talents. The upcoming Milk Cup Winter Split will allow women players to compete across three online events. This time, we’ll be seeing Duos duke it out in Zero Build in an online tournament for a share of the $50,000 prize pool.