The eSport industry is growing at a rapid pace. Once stood as a subset of the sports sector, eSport now has grown into a full-grown industry with a huge market around the world. ?Its audiences are consistently growing because of different streaming platforms such as Twitch and YouTube Gaming. ?Betting websites such as Nowbet also contributed to the success of the industry by drawing a number of punters to bet on many eSports events.
The eSport tournaments happening around the world push the popularity of the industry to mainstream. There are countless both local and international tournaments happening every year. All of these tournaments have a high prize pool. But there are few that stand out because of its jaw-dropping rewards. The list below represents the top eSport games that offered the most prize money in one or two of its tournaments.?
Dota2
In terms of prize pool size in its tournament, no other game can beat DOTA 2 until today. Gamers often use a fast VPN for DOTA 2. In the most-awaited The International 10, the game has hit a record-breaking prize pool worth of $34.34 million. The tournament has broken its own record last year. The prize pool of The International 9 last year was $34.33M. The top prize worth of $15,609,362 was won by a back-to-back winner OG.
The Dota 2 tournament this year is having in delay and there is no update yet regarding the new date. There is no news also on whether The International 10 will be taking place this year. As the year continues to proceed without the event, it is expected that the prize pool will continue to grow. The prize pool for The International tournament is coming from the purchases of the players of the Dota 2 battle pass, which costs $9.99. Dota 2 has handed out an overall figure of more than $219 million in tournament money.
Counter Strike: Global Offensive
Counter Strike: Global Offensive or CS:GO is the first-person shooting game created by Valve. This game doesn’t only have a massive fan base, it also one of the most lucrative eSport with an $87.1 million overall prize pool handed out in different tournaments.
CS:GO is the second eSport game in terms of tournament payouts. Its highest prize pool was handed out in the World Electronic Sports Games 2016 and World Electronic Sports Games 2017 which was amounted to $1,500,000.00 Moreover, this year, the One: Rio 2020 CS: GO tournament is expected to have $2,000,000 prize pool because of the delay of the tournament. The tournament is scheduled to launch in November this year.
?League of Legends
League of Legends or popularly known as LOL is one of the most famous eSport games especially in South Korea. Last year, it sets the record for the highest number of viewers for an eSport event. The League of Legend is also a MOBA game like DOTA 2. In terms of the prize pool, their tournaments are not as high as some of the premier game, still, the game manages to rank 4th in terms of the highest payout in the world of Esport. LOL has handed out an overall prize money of more than $73 million.
League of Legends’ highest prize pool was given in the 2018 World Championship which amounted to? $6,450,000. That time, the Chinese national team Invictus Gaming won the tournament.
While the schedule of League of Legend World Championship for this year has been officially announced, there still no confirmation of the total prize pool as of this writing. The minimum prize pool should be $2.5 million. And Riot Games, the publisher of LOL, has to add a percentage of the revenue from in-game sales.
Fortnite
Fortnite took the eSport scene by storm. The game was released in 2017. ?With its unique gameplay, the game has attracted a huge number of players. While many consider Fortnite as a fresh entrant eSport game, the game handed out a huge amount of prize pool. The game’s tournament recorded an overall figure of $84.4 million.
In the 2019 Fortnite World Cup Finals (solo), the prize pool amounted to $15,287,500 and a 16-year-old American player Kyle Giersdorf, known as Bugha took home the top prize worth of $3 million. The Dou bracket of Fortnite World Cup Finals in the same year has also a huge prize pool which amounted to $15,000,000. The team Cooler eSport won the grand prize that year.
Starcraft II
While Starcraft doesn’t receive any content updates in years, this eSport game remains popular among players. There is still a number of Starcraft II tournaments happening around the globe. ?In terms of the size of the prize pool, Starcraft II ranks fifth in eSport scene. The game handed out an overall figure of more than $32.1 million in tournament money.
