Esports players have seen some outrageous payouts over the last 20 years. While the overall size of a prize pool doesn’t determine the prestige of an event, it’s quite clearly one of the major factors players use to determine whether they’ll show up.
The first esports prize was given away in 1997 when Dennis “Thresh” Fong won Quake developer John Carmac’s red Ferrari 328. In 2006, Johan “Toxjq” Quick won a Rolex from the WSVG Quake 4 championship. Those were certainly remarkable in their time, but today’s prize pools are large enough that players can often retire upon winning them.
A huge part of this boom in prize money is due to the popularity of crowdfunding. Developers have begun to offer unique in-game items to their vast player bases to increase the size of the overall prize pool.
Valve, the developer of Dota 2 and CS:GO, is the most successful company to employ the model at this time. Its marquee Dota 2 event, The International, has experienced tremendous growth throughout the past decade of competition.
Here are the biggest prize pools in the industry. But because Dota 2 and League of Legends would make up the majority of the top 10, we’ve divided the list into two categories: Overall largest prize pool per tournament series and overall largest prize pools in esports history.
Overall prize pools per tournament series
1) The International 10 – $40 million
Valve’s annual world championship in Dota 2 broke the record for esports prize pools 10 years in a row. While offering a total of $1.6 million in 2011 and 2012, since 2013, the event has been the most successful example of crowdfunded prize pools in esports history. In 2021, Team Spirit took home the lion’s share of a mammoth $40 million prize pool.
2) The 2019 Fortnite World Cup Finals – $30.4 million
Epic’s first Fortnite World Cup Finals featured one of the biggest prize pools in esports history.
The inaugural tournament was split into two main events. Kyle “Bugha” Giersdorf earned $3 million in the solo finals, while David “aqua” W and Emil “Nyhrox” Bergquist Pedersen shared $3 million after winning the duo finals.
3) Riyadh Masters 2023 – $15 million
Taking place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the event saw 2012’s T1 Champions Team Spirit take home the championship in what ended up being a one-sided series. Despite a dreadful start to the year, they beat Team Liquid 3-1 in the final.
4) The 2021 Honor of Kings World Champion Cup – $7.7 million
The Honor of Kings World Champion Cup, hosted in Beijing, saw 12 of the best Honor of Kings teams battle for a ¥50,000,000 ($7.7 million) prize pool. Every player at the tournament was Chinese.
5) PUBG Global Invitational.S 2021 – $7.1 million
The first event of the 2021 PUBG season boasted one of the biggest prize pools in esports history. Partly hosted online, and partly offline in Incheon, South Korea, PUBG Global Invitational.S 2021 saw Susquehanna Soniqs walk away with a massive $1,296,189 in prize winnings.
6) The 2018 League of Legends World Championship – $6.4 million
Riot Games allowed League of Legends fans to increase the overall prize pool of the event through the purchase of in-game items for the first time in 2017. A year later, the prize pool was increased to $6.4 million overall, making it the largest event in the game’s history in terms of prize money.
7) The 2020 Call of Duty League Championship – $4.6 million
Most of the inaugural season of the Call of Duty League was held online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But despite the circumstances, the playoff portion of the league saw one of the biggest prize pools in esports history.
After a narrow victory in the winner’s bracket, the Dallas Empire dismantled Atlanta FaZe in the grand finals and took home $1.5 million.
8) PUBG Global Championship 2021 – $4.4 million
NewHappy took home $1,378,264 in earnings at the PUBG Global Championship 2021. The Chinese team had a spur of back-to-back wins throughout the season, winning tournament after tournament. The Global Championship was just the cherry on top.
9) Fortnite Fall Skirmish Series – Clubs Standings – $4 million
To coincide with the success of the popular battle royale, Epic Games unleashed $100 million for esports tournament prize pools in Fortnite’s first year of competitive play. A good chunk of that money was awarded through the Fall Skirmish Series – Club Standings.
10) Overwatch League 2019 – Playoffs – $3.5 million
The second playoffs of the Overwatch league saw the tournament’s overall prize pool increase to $3.5 million. Taking place in the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, the San Francisco Shock beat Vancouver Titans to claim the title.
Overall largest prize pools
- The International 10 – $40 million
- The International 9 – $34.3 million
- 2019 Fortnite World Cup Finals – $30.4 million
- The International 8 – $25.5 million
- The International 7 – $24.7 million
- The International 6 – $20.7 million
- The International 11 – $18.9 million
- The International 5 – $18.4 million
- Riyadh Masters 2023 – $15 million
- The International 4 – $10.9 million
Largest expected prize pools for 2023
1) Gamers8’s The Land of Heroes – $45 million
Saudi Arabia is splashing the cash again and handing out $45 million. Starting on July 6 and ending on Aug. 27, this massive prize pool is being split between 12 esports tournaments. A big chunk of this money has already been rewarded to teams competing in Dota 2’s Riyadh Masters.
2) The International 12 – $30 million
Valve is doing away with Dota 2’s battle pass this year but that doesn’t mean The International 12 won’t have a gigantic prize pool. Despite scrapping cosmetics, a TI-themed update will be coming ahead of the October tournament. This update will still include crowdfunding in one way or another, but we can only speculate about the final prize pool at this time.
3) PUBG Mobile Global Championship 2023 – $4 million
PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds has gradually fallen off on PC over the last five years, but it’s still a vastly popular mobile game. It has a thriving esports scene and hands out millions of dollars in prize pools. The biggest and best tournament of the year is the PUBG Mobile Global Championship. Although a prize pool has yet to be confirmed, we’re looking at around $4 million if last year’s event is anything to go by.
