Esports is one of the most famous industries in sports entertainment and the growth of this industry is mind-blowing. In the last 20 years, esports players have been given some big payouts for winning a tournament. Today’s prize pools certainly can’t be compared to the ones in the early stage. On winning such prize money players often retire because it is more than enough for them to live on. The main reasons for the boost in prize money are the increase in popularity resulting in more crowdfunding, the unique in-game items for players to purchase, and the sponsorships.

Esports Biggest Prize Pools

Here is the top 10 list of the biggest prize pool in the esports industry but as Dota is covering most of the top 10 biggest prize pools so we will be only discussing The International 10 in detail and the rest of the 9 prize pool tournaments.

Dota 2 The International 10

The prize pool for The International 10 was more than 40 million, 18 teams participated in this championship 12 of those teams are invited directly from the tournament system of Dota Pro Circuit and the rest 6 teams advance to the tournament by winning regional qualifiers in the playoff which are Europe, China, Southeast Asia, North America, South America, and the CIS regions. The total number of players participating in this tournament is 90. The International 10 is Valve’s annual world championship in Dota 2 and it has broken the record for esports prize pools 10 years in a row.

The International 10 has been the most successful prize pool tournament in esports history. Since 2013 this tournament has been held annually and 25% of the battle pass revenue goes to the prize pool.

Fortnite World Cup Finals 2019

As the name suggests this tournament is based on one of the most popular games Fortnite. Two tournaments were held one was solo based with 100 players competing in it and the other one was duo based with 50 teams competing in it. The combined prize pool was more than $30 million and it was held from July 26 to July 28, 2019, at the Authur Ashe Stadium in New York City, United States. It was Epic’s first-ever Fortnite world cup finals that featured one of the biggest prize pools in esports history.

The Honor of Kings World Champion Cup 2021

The Honor of King’s world champion cup also known as Arena of Valor is a world championship event for the honor of kings. It is organized by VSPN and Tencent and it was hosted in Beijing. The prize pool for this tournament was more than $7.7 million, 12 teams participated with a total of 66 members.

PUBG Global Invitational.S 2021

PUBG Global Invitational.S was the first event of 2021, and it became one of the biggest prize pool tournaments in the history of esports. It was organized by PUBG corporation in Incheon, South Korea. The Prize pool was more than $7 million, 32 teams participated with a total of 135 players.

League of Legends World Championship 2018

The overall prize pool of this tournament was increased due to purchasable unique in-game items which were introduced in 2017 and in 2018’s world championship event the prize pool was increased to $6.4 million. This idea to add the purchase of in-game items made it the largest prize pool in the game’s history. 24 teams participated with a total of 131 players.

Call of Duty League Championship 2020

Sadly, the Call of Duty League championship was held online due to the covid-19 pandemic, but this tournament still became one of the biggest prize pools tournament in the history of esports. The prize pool was $4.6 million, 10 teams participated with a total of 50 players.

PUBG Global Championship 2021

PUBG global championship was the final event of 2021 organized by PUBG corporation. The prize pool for this tournament was $4.4 million, 35 teams participated with a total of 133 players.

Fortnite Fall Skirmish Series – Club Standings

Fortnite has been one of the most played games in the previous years and the popularity of this game was so much that Epic revealed $100 million for esports tournament prize pools in its first year of competitive play. The prize pool for this tournament was $4 million, 8 teams participated with a total of 498 players.

Overwatch League 2019

Overwatch League 2019 was an offline American tournament organized by Blizzard Entertainment. The prize pool in the second playoffs of Overwatch was $3.5 million, 8 teams participated with a total of 79 players.

The Dota 2 Asia Championship

The Dota 2 Asia Championship was held in Shanghai, China, and in this tournament, we saw one of the most one-sided games in Dota 2 history. The prize pool of this tournament was more than $3 million.

That is it for now but stay tuned for more information surrounding esports and the entire gaming industry.