Sport
The biggest eSports prize pools in history
Once upon a time eSports wasn’t taken seriously by the wider sporting fraternity. However, in 2020 thanks to huge global audiences and gigantic tournament prize funds, that certainly is no longer the case. Here are the biggest eSports prize pools in history.
Crowdfunding is the name of the game
The payouts have become enormous, especially over the last five years, and are made possible primarily by crowdfunding. This is how Valve, the developers of Dota 2 and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, can fill the prize pot for their marquee Dota 2 event ‘The International’, which has a prize pool that has now passed $30 million. The base prize money is augmented by a portion of battle pass sales. Every time a fan buys a Dota 2 battle pass, the prize money increases.
Top biggest eSports prize pools in history
Top 10 eSports tournaments, ranked by overall prize money, as of March 2020.
While the overall size of a prize pool doesn’t determine the prestige of an event, it’s definitely an incentive for the top teams to participate.
10. PUBG Global Championship 2019 – $6 million (£4,81 million)
The final event of the 2019 PLAYERUNKNOWN’S BATTLEGROUNDS competitive season was played in November in the US. Gen.G Esports outlasted 15 of the best PUBG teams from around the world. The Korean team went on to win the grand finals at the Oakland Arena to take home the first prize of $2 million.
9. League of Legends 2018 World Championship – $6,450 million (£5,17 million)
24 teams and 130 players in total competed for the biggest League of Legends prize pool in history, after Riot Games allowed League of Legends fans to increase the prize pool through the purchase of in-game items. The victory of China’s Invictus Gaming over Europe’s Fnatic in the finals marked the first time in League of Legends history that a Chinese team won the World Championship. Korean teams had won the previous five editions of the tournament.
8. The International 2014 – $10,931 million (£8,76 million)
7. Fortnite World Cup Finals 2019 Duo – $15,100 million (£12,11 million)
In the duo tournament, David “Aqua” W and Emil “Nyhrox” Bergquist Pedersen split $3 million for their victory in the finals.
Since the 2019 Solo and Duo tournaments were the first Fortnite World Cup Finals for this relatively young video game, we can expect developer Epic Games to become a true contender to Valve’s Dota2 in terms of the biggest eSports prize pools.
6. Fortnite World Cup Finals 2019 Solo – $15,287 million (£12,26 million)
The first tournament on the list to truly compete with The International when it comes to prize money was last year’s Fortnite World Cup Finals, played at the Arthur Ashe Stadium in Flushing Meadows, New York. Kyle “Bugha” Giersdorf earned $3 million in the solo finals.
5. The International 2015 – $18,429 million (£14,78 million)
4. The International 2016 – $20,770 million (£16,65 million)
3. The International 2017 – $24,687 million (£19,79 million)
2. The International 2018 – $25,5 million (£20,45 million)
1. The International 2019 – $34.3 million (£27,5 million)
Top of the list of the biggest eSports prize pools in history. Valve’s annual world championship in Dota 2 is the most striking example of crowdfunded prize pools in eSports. The International has now broken the record for eSports prize pools for nine years in a row. The latest edition was played in the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Shanghai. OG defeated Team Liquid in the grand final to become the first back-to-back winners of The International Dota 2 Championships, bagging an astonishing $15,607,638.
Want to know how Colossus’ huge jackpots work? Watch our handy explainer video to find out.
