The five highest prize money in eSports history
Bogdan LashchenkoE-sports tournaments have been some of the most popular entertainment events in the world in recent years. They draw millions of people in front of the screens and guarantee unlimited gaming excitement. The fact that e-athletes are fighting for prize money in the millions has long been no exception. Here are the five highest trophies in esports history.
The International 2021
The International ranks first in the top five for the highest prize money. Valve Corporation's MOBA classic, Dota 2 has always been a record breaker in esports short history in terms of prize money. As a result, The International's world championship, which has been held annually since 2011, is one of the most lucrative events for professional gamers. In 2014 the tournament broke the 10 million mark. After two years, over 20 million US dollars have already been awarded to the participants. After the 2020 event was postponed, the grand total went from $ 34.3 million to a staggering $ 40 million. The fact that successful Dota 2 gamers are among the richest e-athletes in the industry is therefore not too much of a surprise. Can another event in the gaming industry exceed this gigantic sum? Probably just The International itself.
Fortnite Worldcup 2019
After The International, we see Fortnite Worldcup 2019 in second place. Although Fortnite is one of the newcomers to the esports scene with the release year 2017, it enjoys a euphoric fan base, which Epic Games has been delighting with a spectacular World Cup every year since 2019. In the tournament's debut year, it was the second-highest prize payout in esports history at a whopping $ 30.4 million. Kyle “Bugha” Giersdorf got 3 million of them, who despite his young age defeated one opponent after the other in the first round and finally took the highest step on the podium.
Honor of Kings World Champion Cup 2021
Far back in third place we find the Honor of Kings World Champion Cup from 2021 with prize money totaling 7.7 million US dollars. What is special about Honor of Kings is that the game was released by Tencent for mobile iOS and Android platforms for the Chinese market. It has been one of the country's most popular gaming hits since 2015. The international adaptation of MOBA is called Arena of Valor and is slowly gaining ground around the world. In this year's world championship, a total of twelve teams battled for first place. The winning team, QG Happy, eventually took home over $ 3 million.
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PUBG Global Invitational page 2021
Fourth place in the list of the highest prize money went to PUBG Global Invitational S.2021. Fortnite's biggest competitor from the Battle Royal Games genre was only launched in 2017, but was quickly taken into the hearts of the gamer community, so that the Chinese publisher Tencent has developed into an important player in the industry. Of course, PUBG's success is celebrated in international tournaments. This was also the case in PUBG Global Invitational S. This year's tournament took place in South Korea and gave away a prize sum of 7.1 million US dollars to the participants. The winner was the American team Susquehanna Soniqs, which won more than 1.2 million US dollars.
LoL Worlds 2018
In fifth place is a true classic. Since its release in 2009, Riot Games League of Legends aka LoL has become a phenomenon in the gaming industry. Just five years after its release, it had 65 million players and last year it fluctuated between a range of 100 to 120 million active players. It goes without saying that LoL also has a say in the esports scene. Riot Games organizes numerous professional franchise leagues, which are among the most important gaming highlights of the year, and pays out gigantic sums of money to successful tournament participants. In this regard, the record holder is LoL Worlds 2018 with 6.45 million US dollars. The host country of the World Cup was South Korea, in which the Chinese team Invictus defeated the Fnatic from Europe 3-0 in the final and collected a total of 2.44 million US dollars.
High prize money in esports events has long been nothing special in the gaming industry. Highly popular tournaments award their participants sums in the millions. The pioneer in this regard is the Dota 2 world championship The International, followed by the newcomer Fortnite Worldcup. Far back are the World Cups for the Honor of Kings, PUBG and the classic League of Legends games. Whether an event can ever surpass The International in terms of prize money is still in the stars.
Bogdan Lashchenko – content manager at EgamersWorld.Bogdan has been working at EGamersWorld since 2023. Joining the company, he began fillin the site with information, news and events.