It’s a no-brainer that eSports has cemented itself into its very own phenomenon over the last decade, but there is one reason for it all – technology. We have evolved into a new era of tech, that’s forced sporting to move online, and enabled viewers and players to indulge in sport from the comfort of their house. The global eSports market had a whopping market share of over 1.38 billion dollars in 2022 alone, with it expected to grow a humongous amount by 2030. There are games constantly being launched, new versions of tournaments, and streamers being born every day; therefore, we can see why this new era of online gaming isn’t going anywhere.
In the past, if you were to say that you were seeking a career by playing on your PC at home, most would think you were crazy; however, in today’s world, that’s part of the norm. The Twitch streaming platform has some of their biggest gamers being paid out in the thousands every week, from people tuning in at home. In this article, we’re taking a look at not just those players, but the overall prize pools in some of the biggest tournaments in eSports.
The International
If we look at the biggest prize pools across the globe, it is quite evident that Dota 2’s tournaments called ‘The International’ take the crown for every prize pool in history. The year 2021, when we all came out of lockdown and were thriving in the world of eSports, sat at the top spot, with a share prize pool of over $40 million. Not far behind, The International 2019 had a prize pool of just over $34 million, and 2018 had a prize pool of just over $25 million. Dota 2 is one of the biggest games in eSports, and every year the tournaments churn out millions of pounds for their winners.
The game consists of you choosing your ‘hero’ out of a selection of avatars, to beat the opposing team of five. The teams all consist of five, therefore the prize pools are only split into small amounts – Dota 2 certainly is one of those games that it’s worth putting the time in, as you’re guaranteed a big payout.
PGL Major Stockholm 2021
In 2021, CS:GO teams came together to play against each other in the PGL Majors in Stockholm. The prize pool for grabs was the biggest in Counter-Strike history, with a win of $2 million shared between the winning teams. The world of Counter-Strike and its tournaments is only going to get bigger, as the new launch of Counter-Strike 2 has ripped away everyone’s beloved CS:GO. There is expected to be one of the largest CS2 tournaments to ever hit the screens next year in the Gamer8 competition, with millions up for grabs in this first-person shooting game. Head over to one of the best eSports betting platforms to start hatching your bets, https://thunderpick.io/en/esports/cs2-betting – because if the players are winning this big, you can only imagine what joy you’ll get as a viewer!
Fortnite World Cup Finals 2019
Fortnite is one of the newest games in eSports, but that doesn’t mean it falls behind in the realm of tournament prize pools. The World Cup finals in 2019 had a huge prize pool of over $15 million, where 16-year-old American, Kyle “Bugha” Giersdorf took a solo prize of $3 million. The game consists of over 100 players airdropping onto an island and fighting till the end to win their battle royale; you can either join as a team or solo, but tournaments are usually all about their individual player’s ability. Fortnite celebrated its sixth anniversary this year, and they are continuously holding million-dollar events created by Epic Games.
LoL 2018 World Championship
Almost 130 million active users are playing League of Legends monthly, so it’s no wonder that it does so well. The 2018 World Championships had a prize pool of almost $7 million, where 4 teams competed till the end to win their prize money. To play, you must select your ‘champion’ avatar, and work alongside your 4 teammates, to out-strategize the other team. It’s a game of intelligence, strategy, and plenty of thought, so these tournaments are worth their prize winnings in our opinion.
To this day, League of Legends (LoL), Counter-Strike, and Dota 2 all hold the records for being the biggest names in history to make their players the most amount of money; and they’re the most popular eSports games of all time. Editions like Counter-Strike all have changed, but they will never be replaced as some of the greats that made eSports what it is today. They are now part of history, and if the prize pools are like this already, just imagine what it will be like when technology evolves even more!
