What Is The Biggest Esport?

League of Legends is the biggest esport in the world with the largest prize pools and the most viewership.

What is an esport?

An esport is a form of sport competition that is facilitated by electronic systems, particularly video games. The most common video game genres associated with esports are real-time strategy, first-person shooter (FPS), multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) and battle royale. Tournaments such as The International, the League of Legends World Championship, the Evolution Championship Series and the Intel Extreme Masters provide live broadcasts of the competition, offer prize money to participants and have pre-established fan bases.

The biggest esport games

There are a few games that could be considered the biggest esport. Games like League of Legends and Dota 2 have the largest prize pools and the most viewers. They also have a large number of professional players and teams. Other games like Counter Strike: Global Offensive and Overwatch also have large audiences and professional scenes.

League of Legends

League of Legends is a five-player online battle arena video game based on the Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne mod Defense of the Ancients. Designed by developer Riot Games, LoL was unofficially released in October 2009. The game is a free-to-play title supported by microtransactions. League of Legends is one of the most popular Internet games. According to Riot Games, it is played by 650 million people.

LoL is a two-dimensional, online-multiplayer, real-time map game with three base lanes, five players down in each, and a set of minions that march up the lanes to the central dark temple structure pushing each team towards the enemy’s base. The objective is to propagate one’s armies so that they take down the enemy’s temple, and as the game progresses each team gains an extra structure: an Evangelist and a Dragon.

Dota 2

Dota 2 is a free-to-play online multiplayer game developed and published by Valve Corporation. It is a sequel to the original Defense of the Ancients (DotA) mod for Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos and its expansion, The Frozen Throne. Dota 2 is played in matches between two teams of five players, with each team occupying and defending their own separate base on the map. Each of the ten players individually controls a powerful character, known as a “hero”, who all have unique abilities and differing styles of play. During a match, players collect experience points and items for their heroes in order to successfully battle the opposing team. A team wins by being the first to either destroy the other team’s “Ancient”, a large structure located within their base, or forcing the other team to forfeit by having an overwhelming advantage.

Since its release in 2013, Dota 2 has been one of the most popular games on Steam, with regular updates and new content releases keeping players coming back. The game also has a very large professional scene, with numerous tournaments being held each year offering millions of dollars in prize money.

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

CS:GO is one of the biggest esport games in the world with a huge following. It is a first-person shooter game that was released in 2012 by Valve Corporation. The game pits two teams against each other, with one team trying to plant a bomb and the other team trying to defuse it. The game is extremely popular in countries such as Sweden, Denmark, and the United States.

Overwatch

Activision Blizzard’s Overwatch is one of the newer games on the scene, but it has quickly become one of the biggest esport games. Released in 2016, Overwatch is a first-person shooter that features a cast of 25 unique heroes. Blizzard regularly adds new heroes and maps to keep the game fresh, and there are currently more than 30 million players worldwide.

Overwatch League is the professional esports league for Overwatch, and it is one of the most successful games in terms of viewership and prize money. The league is made up of 12 teams from all over the world, and each team is allowed to have up to six players. The regular season runs from January to June, followed by playoffs and a championship match in July. So far, South Korea’s Seoul Dynasty has been the most successful team in the league, winning two championships.

The biggest esport tournaments

The biggest esport is the Overwatch World Cup. It is a global tournament organized by Blizzard Entertainment. The Overwatch World Cup is an annual event, with the 2019 tournament taking place from August 2nd to August 25th. The prize pool for the 2019 tournament is $1,500,000.

The International

The International is an annual Dota 2 tournament hosted by Valve Corporation, the game’s developer. The first tournament took place in Cologne, Germany in 2011, and was attended by 16 teams from around the world. The prize pool for the event has grown rapidly over the years, reaching a record high of over $34 million in 2019. The 2020 tournament was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The International is not only the largest Dota 2 tournament, but also one of the biggest esport events in general. It routinely draws in large audiences both live and online, with last year’s event reaching a peak concurrent viewership of over 15 million on Twitch.

The League of Legends World Championship

The League of Legends World Championship is the annual professional League of Legends world championship tournament hosted by developer RIOT Games. It is the largest tournament in LoL esports, with 14 regions competing. The tournament has been held every year since 2011 and is usually located in different cities each year. The prize pool for the 2020 tournament was $2.5 million.

The Dota 2 Major Championships

The Dota 2 Major Championships (also known as Majors) are annual tournaments sponsored by Valve Corporation, the game’s developer. The first Major was held in Frankfurt, Germany in 2015. The tournament series began in 2015 with the debut of the Frankfurt Major. The most recent tournament was the 2019 Chongqing Major.

The Majors have traditionally been hosted in different cities each year, with each season having two: one in the spring and one towards the end of the calendar year. The first four Major tournaments all employed a double-elimination bracket format across multiple days, while later tournaments have used a single-elimination bracket played out over several days. In order to ensure that a tournament is compliant with Valve’s guidelines, organizers must adhere to several strict rules regarding both logistics and broadcasting rights.

The Dota 2 Majors credit system was introduced in 2016 to reward teams which place highly in multiple tournaments within a DPC season. Each team is given points based on their finishing position at each tournament. The top 12 teams at the end of each season are then invited to compete at The International, Dota 2’s annual world championship event.

The Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Major Championships

The Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Major Championships, commonly known as Majors, are Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) esports tournaments sponsored by Valve, the game’s developer. The Majors were first introduced in 2013 and took place in Jönköping, Sweden and was hosted by DreamHack. Since then, the Majors have been sponsored by Valve and held in multiple cities around the world each year. The most recent Major was hosted in Berlin, Germany in August 2019.

The CS:GO Majors use a proprietary system where teams from around the world qualify for the chance to compete at the event. The top eight teams from the previous Major automatically qualify for the next Major. Additionally, the next eight highest-placing teams from a Minor qualifier also earn spots. All of these teams are placed into a Swiss group stage, where they play other squads with similar records. After three wins or three losses, teams are either eliminated from or advance to the next phase of the tournament.

The future of esports

The global esports market is expected to grow from $1.1 billion in 2019 to $1.8 billion by 2022, according to research firm Newzoo. And it’s not just popular among teenagers: The average age of an esports fan is 34, and 38% of all fans are older than 34, Newzoo found.

There are a number of reasons for the growth of esports. First, there’s been a proliferation of live-streaming platforms such as Twitch and YouTube Gaming, which have made it easier for gamers to watch others play. And second, there’s been an increase in the number of professional leagues and tournaments, which has helped turn gaming into a spectator sport.

The most popular games in esports are shoot-em-ups such as “Overwatch,” “Counter-Strike: Global Offensive” and “Fortnite.” Multiplayer online battle arena games such as “League of Legends” and “Dota 2” are also popular.

The future of esports looks bright. The industry is expected to continue to grow in popularity, with more leagues and tournaments springing up around the world. And as theprize money gets bigger and the audiences get larger, we’re likely to see even more professional gamers emerge