With The International 9 coming in with exciting events and a bigger cash prize, a whopping $33 million, let’s take a time machine and look back at the top 10 highest prize pools in e-Sports tournament.
Now e-Sports have started to rise as soon as the new generation saw this as a way to make their passion, an occupation and do what they love while getting money along the way.
This offered a lot of opportunities for those who want to take a shot at the rising sport.
Although some people will not still accept this as a sport, the Southeast Asian Games or SEA Games have placed eSports as one of the games they will include, it will cover Hearthstone, Tekken 7, DOTA2, and Starcraft II.
These games vary in how they play and genres it has but still, if you make it big in these games, who knows you might win big and our examples that we will show is a testament of how big you can win in this industry.
10. LoL 2017 Championship – Prize Pool: $4,946,969.00
The revenge of Samsung Galaxy and the fall of SKT.
This tournament sparked a chance for other teams to rise up and inspiring the fans of SKT as the theme song of this tournament is even titled, Legends Never Die.
The picture of the hero of SKT, Faker tearing up has been viral to the community as they see the end of an era with Faker, new players started to prove their worth after this tournament.
Even in the playoffs, SKT is having a hard time against their opponents as they keep having close to comfort wins with 3-2 standings against MSF and RNG.
Samsung Galaxy, on the other hand, kept trailblazing the competition until the two old rivals clash again, but this time SSG or Samsung Galaxy has taken the throne of 2017.
9. LoL 2016 Championship – Prize Pool: $5,070,000.00
The tournament that shows the world of the rivalry of two eSports teams, SK Telecom T1 and Samsung Galaxy and the final time that SKT has won the cup in the past 3 years, this tournament is memorable to a lot of SKT fans as this event showed the final spark of the once-legendary team.
As the theme song of the tournament, Ignite by Zedd, rocked the players of League, the battle of the two behemoths clashed to the very end as neither one would like to admit defeat, and it was a tough match until a winner was shown, SKT has won it with a score of 3-2, edging Samsung Galaxy out of the tournament and relegating them to second place.
8. LoL 2018 Championship – Prize Pool: $6,450,000.00
League of Legends, the prime competitor of DOTA2 in terms of the Multiplayer Online Battle Arena or MOBA, is not shy to give their players a chance of fame and fortune as they shell out a huge amount of money for their prize pool.
With a huge viewership and a lot of memorable scenes with a group of champions in the game performing their own song, “POP: Stars” the tournament has a lot more to offer.
The final match was against two teams, Invictus Gaming, and Fnatic. Both storming their way into the finals and have proven that they both deserve to the take cup and be pronounced as the victor in the tournament.
However, even though Fnatic has made incredible matches and comebacks in the tournament, iG has proven their place as they swept Fnatic with a final score of 3-0, securing their title as the World Champion.
7. The International 2014 – Prize Pool: $10,931,103.00
This version of the International saw the highest prize pool at that time with the support of their UNDYING fans of the game.
The International 2014 saw the success that their successors will honor and top it off even more.
This cements the legacy of DOTA 2 and the future of the e-Sports community.
With a variety of countries entering the fray, the viewership was great and the exposure of the world in regards to e-Sports has been sent and together with League of Legends’ Worlds Championship started to see the rise of the industry as a whole.
The grand finals were decided by two Chinese teams, Newbee and ViCi Gaming. But Newbee proved themselves that they deserve to win by defeating ViCi 3-1.
6. Fornite World Cup 2019 Duos – Prize Pool: $15,100,000.00
From solos this time it’s duos. Fortnite also launched a duos competition at the same time with solos.
Battle Royales also have a tendency to create teams in which it could lead to great options as it tends to use cooperativeness and synergy unlike solos where it is free for all, some may be skilled with gunning enemy down while others focus on building their fortress or it may be a combination of both, still with a game with a high learning curve especially on building, Fortnite has a good deal going on with Duos.
The tournament has been won by Aqua and Nyhrox and even if the biggest stars of Fortnite like Ninja is not in the tournament duking it out with the best, the players gave it their all and gave the crowd a stellar performance like any other, proving you don’t need a star for a tournament to flourish.
5. Fortnite World Cup 2019 Solos – Prize Pool: $15,287,500.00
From 100 players, one will rise as the champion. As the Battle Royale genre dominated the gaming landscape for quite some time, a lot of games tried to cement their legacy to the genre but Fortnite stood above the rest.
With its unique building mechanic, you need quick wits and fast hands to create an impressive defense while finishing off every enemy you come across to.
As a solos match each has to fend for themselves in order to win that Victory Royale!
In the end, it was won by Bugha from Sentinels. Last year he was without a team but with this victory with his team, he has solidified his place to the game.
It just goes to show that effort and hard work will lead you to victory if you work hard for it.
4. The International 2015 – Prize Pool: $18,429,613.05
After the success of The International 2014, The International 2015 doubled down on the prize pool and made it even higher to show to the players that the tournament is there to stay.
The Grand Finals feature a direct invitation team vs a wildcard opponent. It’s worth noting that from a wildcard, CDEC Gaming from China stood up against those their opponents and proved to the world that they belonged, albeit losing to Evil Geniuses of the USA.
This set the standard that even underdogs can go the distance and win the tournament just like what happened in TI8.
3. The International 2016 – Prize Pool: $20,770,460.00
It seems that we are seeing a pattern here as The International tournament is the one giving out big winnings for those who will seize the throne to victory.
Back in their time, this was the highest prize pool an e-Sport tournament would give but it is proven time and time again that it will be topped by next year’s event.
Like any other The International games, a lot of teams from all over the world participated but in the end, the two giants in the real world, the United States of America vs China as Digital Chaos and Wings Gaming duke it out to see who’s the best among them.
Digital Chaos took first blood in the match but Wings Gaming suddenly gained the momentum needed in order to secure the victory for China.
2. The International 2017 – Prize Pool: $25,532,177.00
Another, The International game has taken the place as avid DOTA Players crowdfunded this huge amount of cash for those who will win it all in the world stage of the game.
With various competitors in the match from the US, Europe, China together with teams from Peru and the Philippines.
In the end, the main event took place in KeyArena in Seattle where Team Liquid would demolish Newbee in a sweep of 3-0.
While Newbee tried to mix it up in hopes of ushering a comeback from the series or avoiding the sweep, it was inevitable as Team Liquid took the early game advantage and never looked back as they secured the victory.
Team Liquid’s victory was cemented as the first team to completely shut down the opponent in the grand finals of the International, proving their mettle in the e-Sport.
1. The International 2018 – Prize Pool: $25,532,177.00
TI8 had a great final match and the prize pool was the highest at that time, a lot of team from all around the world competed in the tournament.
Some from America, Asia, and Europe but only 2 remained strong and fought well and hard in that match.
The two competitors, OG and PSG.LGD were two different teams for a different reason.
OG already qualified in the European qualifiers and have stormed the competition after placing 4th in standings. PSG.LSD, on the other hand, proved to be a tough match for OG since, after OG defeating them in the first game, LSD suddenly came and took 2 wins, to avoid being defeated they forced a comeback in game four and ensured the victory of game five.
In a final score of 3-2, this match has proven that underdogs can defeat those who are favored by the rest.
After a long trend of Chinese teams winning the International, the future looked bright for the Europeans after beating that streak.
Honorable Mentions
Even though they did not enter as the highest prize pool in their respective tournaments, there are games that are both popular and niche but garnered a huge prize pool for their players. Games like Halo 5, gathered $2,500,000.00 in the prize pool for those who joined their tournament.
The popular Hero Shooter game, Overwatch also pitted their players for a chance to obtain a piece of the prize which is $1,700,000.00.
Even card games such as Shadowverse and Hearthstone placed 45th and 52nd respectively among the top prize pools that games have to offer, showing the world that their games are profitable and can garner your popularity among the industry of e-Sports gamers.
Takeaways and Conclusions
With a growing audience, a growing player base of each games trying their best to enter the eSports scene we expect that the community will grow even larger and eSports will enter the mainstream news as time goes by. It is a bustling industry with good potential for those who want an alternative way to earn money while doing the things they enjoy the most.
Are you motivated to join your heroes and earn money as well? Time to start practicing and earn your reputation as you climb up to the top, we hope to see you being awarded as the champion soon!