Biggest Cash Prizes In Esports
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| Author Ophelie Castelot
Each year, esports draws in more players, viewers, and sponsors. The tournaments grow bigger, and cash prizes go through the roof. What are the esports with the highest prize pools from tournaments? Here are the biggest cash prizes in the history of esports so far.
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The International – DOTA 2
The International is one of the world’s biggest esports events. Since 2011, The International has gathered the globe’s best DOTA 2 players. They compete to win the Grand Prize, funded in part by Valve, but mostly by the DOTA 2 player community. Any DOTA 2 player can purchase an in-game battle pass, whose benefits fill The International cash prize.
The various editions of The International systematically rank among the highest prize pools in esports. Out of the 50 biggest cash prizes in esports history, 9 are from The International. And the 5 biggest cash prizes of all times all belong to The International, the biggest prize pool to date being $34,330,069 for The International 2019.
The International 2020 had to be canceled due to the pandemic, but The International will be back in 2021. For the first time in esports, The International 2021 will reward the best players with a total prize pool of over $40,000,000.
Fortnite World Cup
The Fortnite World Cup Finals of 2019 made history. 16-year-old American Kyle “Bugha” Giersdorf won the Solo Finals, along with its reward of $3,000,000. The entire cash prize for the Fornite World Cup Finals 2019 Solo amounted to over $15,000,000. The Duo Finals also rewarded the best players with a similar prize pool.
The Fortnite World Cup had only one season so far, as 2020 postponed all major esports events.
League of Legends World Championship
The League of Legends World Championship, also known as Worlds, is the biggest tournament on Riot’s MOBA. Each year, it crowns the best League of Legends players from all around the world, no matter if they usually play in North America (LCS), Europe (LEC), South Korea (LCK), China (LPL), or South Asia (PCS).
The League of Legends Worlds is one of the most popular esports, with nearly 100 million spectators for the Worlds 2018 Grand Finals. This edition rewarded players with a total of over $6,450,000 beating its previous record of $5,000,000 in 2016 and 2017.
Call of Duty League Championship
18 years after its initial opus, Call of Duty is still one of the games with the highest revenues. The Call of Duty League Championship 2020 offered a prize pool of $4,600,000 split among the 10 best teams. The winning team of the Call of Duty League Championship 2020 won a cash prize of $1,500,000.
This year’s cash prize remains similar to the previous editions, with around $5,000,000 to share between the players and organizations.
Now that you know the esports with the biggest cash prizes, you can try to get yourself a piece of that cake. Esports betting in Canada is growing and is now becoming as mainstream as sports betting, Superlenny.com is one of the sites that provides an overview of the market. Enjoy this year’s tournaments!