Eight-year-old makes history by becoming the world’s youngest professional 'Fortnite' player

Joseph ‘Gosu’ Deen, an eight-year-old child from California, has become the world’s youngest professional gamer as he inks an exciting new deal with ‘Fortnite’ – earning him an impressive signing bonus of just under R500,000 and a high-end PC to play on.

Fortnite remains a massive game around the world and remains incredibly popular. "I felt amazing when I got offered the contract. I've thought about being a professional gamer a lot, but no-one took me seriously until Team 33 came along." Joseph says in an interview with the BBC.

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Joseph adds that he has been playing the game since he was four years old. "One of my scouts got in touch and said 'I've got to know this kid called Joseph and he is insanely good'," Tyler Gallagher, Team 33's chief executive and co-founder, says. "So they started playing one v one matches as much as they could every day. After a while my scout said 'you've got to sign this kid. If we don't, someone else will!'." After impressing the scouts, Team33 made the decision to sign the young player to their team – and made history in the process.

According to METRO, many have criticised the legality of the signing of an eight-year-old when it comes to child labour laws, as well as the fact the game has a PEGI rating of 12 in the UK and an ESRB rating of Teen in the United States of America.

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However, Joseph’s mother, Gigi, disagrees, saying: “I’ve looked at the game and I don’t think we’re doing anything wrong. He’s a balanced child and comes from a good family and he’s not affected by it.”

As for signing a contract to play the game professionally, Gigi explains: “He can pull out whenever he wants it’s totally flexible. It’s on his terms and my terms. It’s like a child actor really, they would do more work than he’s doing.”

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Despite being the youngest professional gamer in the world, Gosu will not be able to compete in 'Fortnite' tournaments until he is 13. His young age also prohibits him to appear on the world’s most popular gaming live streaming service, Twitch.

But, Team 33 has other plans to boost his profile – including a plan to ‘build up his online presence on YouTube’ and to ‘groom him to be a top-level player’ until he is able to compete’.

Image courtesy: Team33