Sixteen-year-old Sudbury resident Jordan Herzog has already made a name for himself in the e-sports world. They call him “Crimz,” and when he plays video games live on the streaming platform Twitch, his fans flock to watch.

“When I stream on Twitch, I'm streaming to anywhere from like 30 people to 100, or even more,” Herzog said. “I have a pretty big audience — pretty decent audience on Twitch.”

Herzog is one of the up-and-coming players in the world of e-sports. E-sports are essentially video games with all the trappings of professional sports: big tournaments with worldwide audiences, and big money for the top players.

This month, Fortnite, one of the hottest games, is having its biggest tournament ever: The Fortnite World Cup. Professional e-sport athletes from around the world will be facing off in Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York, with 30 million dollars in prize money at stake.

Herzog will be competing, along with his gaming partner, 18-year-old Zach Gifford from Texas, who goes by the online name Spadz.

Crimz and Spadz have been playing together for about five months, and they’ve developed a sense of teamwork that keeps putting them on the leader boards of online tournaments. Once Herzog tasted victory, he became determined to keep winning.

Jordan’s father, David Herzog, is a lifelong gamer himself. David said he recognized something special when Jordan first won the biggest prize at a gaming convention — at the age of 13.

“He won some extra stuff for being the MVP, and they interviewed him after, and it was pretty amazing,” David said. “[It] made me really feel that he had a future, because they called him a prodigy.”

The “prodigy” told his father he needed professional gear, so David bought Jordan a dedicated gaming computer and accessories, and he let Jordan follow his passion from there.

Jordan Herzog now makes serious money playing Fortnite. He’ll earn around $50,000 by qualifying for the World Cup finals, even if he and Gifford lose their first game.

But training for competition at this level makes a normal 16-year-old’s life impossible.

“I haven't really had a day where I've done normal kid stuff,” Herzog said. “I basically just hop [online] after eating lunch and play throughout the day and the rest of the night. Probably around 9 to 10 hours. So it is a lot of time but in, but it’s well worth it.”

Jordan doesn’t go to his local high school. Instead, he attends school online, and will need to finish up schoolwork over the summer. But David is not worried about his son’s future. He said Jordan is getting good grades, and colleges are already interested in him.

“College? College is guaranteed,” David said. “Not only would he get, at minimum, a partial scholarship, but now that he is in the World Cup and he's a pro athlete, he could get a full scholarship to colleges. No, I'm not worried at all about college.”

His son will attend college, David said, but he may not take the typical path.

“Now here's the thing — it could be an opportunity that he may not be able to take right away, because if his career is booming and he's doing really well in e-sports and the gaming career, he may have to put college on the on the back burner, depending on where he is at that time.”

Whether or not he goes to college sooner or later, Herzog said e-sports is his future.

“I think I see my whole career right now as e-sports, just purely e-sports, whether it be another game, whether it be this game,” he said. “I just want to be a part of this."

The Fortnite World Cup Finals open July 26 in the Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York. It’s already sold out, but fans can watch the live stream on YouTube, and the streaming platform Twitch.