Which Esport Pays The Most?
A comprehensive guide to the top five esports that offer the highest prize pools and salaries.
The Esports Industry
If you’re looking to make some serious money playing video games, you might want to consider getting into esports. Professional gaming can be extremely lucrative, with some athletes earning millions of dollars per year. In this article, we’ll be taking a look at the esports industry and finding out which games offer the highest prize pools.
The global esports market is expected to reach $1.1 billion by 2020
The global esports market is expected to reach $1.1 billion by 2020, up from $696 million in 2017, according to a new report from research firm Newzoo.
It’s no surprise that the industry is booming: Esports has been growing rapidly in recent years, with more players, fans, and money pouring into the scene. And as the competitive gaming scene becomes more mainstream, it’s only going to get bigger.
But which esport pays the most? Here’s a look at the top five highest-paying esports games:
1. Dota 2 – $24.7 million
2. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive – $12.9 million
3. League of Legends – $8 million
4 . Overwatch – $5 million
5 . Call of Duty: World War II – $4 million
As you can see, Dota 2 is far and away the highest-paid esport, with players earning a collective $24.7 million in prize money last year. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive comes in at a distant second place with $12.9 million, followed by League of Legends ($8 million), Overwatch ($5 million), and Call of Duty: World War II ($4 million).
The top 10 esports countries are China, South Korea, United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, France, Russia, Sweden, and Poland
The following is a list of the top 10 esports countries in the world, based on amount of prize money earned.
1. China – $89,175,209
2. South Korea – $62,456,311
3. United States – $61,478,382
4. United Kingdom – $34,606,037
5. Canada – $28,313,233
6. Germany – $20,480,128
7. France – $19,380,445
8. Russia – $17,780,780
9. Sweden – $16,783,493
10. Poland – $15,413 131
The Highest-Paying Esports
There are a few esports that offer very large prize pools and attract the best talent from around the world. These are the highest-paying esports. At the top of the list is Dota 2, with a massiveprize pool of over $30 million. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive comes in second, with a prize pool of $24.5 million. League of Legends is in third place with a prize pool of $11 million.
Dota 2
Dota 2 is a free-to-play action real-time strategy game developed by Valve Corporation. It is the stand-alone sequel to Defense of the Ancients (DotA), which was a community-created mod for Blizzard Entertainment’s Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos and its expansion pack, The Frozen Throne. Dota 2 is played in matches between two teams that consist of five players, with both teams occupying their own separate base on the map. Each of the ten players independently 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 to successfully battle the opposing team’s heroes in player versus player combat. A team wins by being the first to destroy a large structure located in their opponent’s base, called an “Ancient”.
As in Defense of the Ancients, Dota 2 features items that can be purchased by players to improve their Hero’s attributes and abilities. However, unlike DotA, where items were purchased with gold that was accrued through combat, kills or assists while playing rounds, in Dota 2 all items are purchased through real world currency via microtransactions. Dota 2 also features cosmetic items that do not have any direct impact on gameplay but can be used to customize individual Heroes.
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) is a first-person shooter video game which has been played professionally all over the world since its release in 2012. The game pits two teams against each other—the Terrorists and the Counter-Terrorists—in a battle to either plant or defuse a bomb, or to rescue or take hostages. It is one of the most popular esports games in the world, with millions of dollars in prize money up for grabs each year.
So far, the largest single prize pool for a CS:GO tournament was $1 million, which was awarded at the 2016 ELEAGUE Major. However, there are many other tournaments with smaller prize pools that are still hugely popular with both players and spectators. For example, the yearly DreamHack Masters events have prize pools of $250,000, while the smaller StarLadder Major tournaments have prize pools of $50,000.
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. LoL is one of the most popular Internet games. According to Riot Games, it is played by 650 million people.
In League of Legends, players control one “champion” on a team and work with their allies to accumulate kills and destroy the enemy’s “nexus”, a structure that lies at the heart of each team’s base. Champions cover a wide range of roles, from tanky melee bruisers that deal huge amounts of damage but can take punishment, to long-ranged mages that fire potent spells from afar, to nimble ninjas and agile archers that rely on their speed and positioning to deal damage. Players can specialize their champion around certain strengths and playstyles, through a variety of unique abilities and equipment items.
Overwatch
Overwatch is a team-based multiplayer first-person shooter video game developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment, released in May 2016. It is Blizzard’s fourth major franchise and the first new intellectual property (IP) since the Warcraft series was introduced almost two decades ago. The game pits two teams of six players against each other in onlinecombat, with each player selecting one of 24 pre-definedhero characters with unique abilities. Players on a team work together to secure and defend control points on a map or escort a payload across the map in a limited amount of time. Each map has its own objective types, and many feature seasonal or time-limited events that provide players with rewards if they complete them.
As of June 2019, over 50 million people had played Overwatch, across all platforms, with over 10 million having played it on personal computers and 14 million on consoles. The game has earned several Game of the Year awards, as well as other accolades including best multiplayer game from several publications.Esports tournaments featuring Overwatch have been held since 2016, with Blizzard themselves having sponsored some events. Overall, professional Overwatch play is still in its early stages when compared to established esports games—though it has already seen several controversies surrounding match fixing because of its popularity and prize pools. As of June 2018, there are 12 active professional Overwatch leagues globally: the Overwatch League (OWL), Join The Battle (JnJ), China’s OverWatch Professional League (OPL), South Korea’s Apex Challenge Season 2 (APEX S2), Taiwan Esports League (TESL), United Kingdom’s Insomnia61 (i61), Americas’ Contenders2017 Season 1: North America (CON1 NA) & Europe(CON1 EU), and Pacific Championship 2018 Season 1(PAC).
The Future of Esports
The esports industry is growing at a rapid pace with more and more people getting involved in competitive gaming. With the prize pools for tournaments continuing to increase, it’s no wonder that people are wondering which esport pays the most. In this article, we’ll take a look at the top five highest paying esports and see how they stack up against each other.
The esports industry is expected to continue to grow in popularity
The esports industry is expected to continue to grow in popularity andsize in the coming years. This growth is being driven by a number of factors, including the increasing accessibility of esports, the growing appeal of esports to a wider audience, and the continued development of the professional esports scene.
According to a report from Newzoo, the global esports economy is expected to grow to $1.4 billion by 2020, up from $696 million in 2017. This growth is being driven by a number of factors, including sponsorship deals, media rights deals, and investment from traditional sports organisations.
There are a number of esportstitles that have proven to be popular with viewers and fans alike. Some of the most popular esportstitles include League of Legends, Dota 2, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Overwatch, and Call of Duty. These games typically feature teams of professional players competing against each other in tournaments and leagues for prize money.
The prize money on offer in esports tournaments can vary widely depending on the game, the tournament format, and the level of competition. For example, The International 2017 – a Dota 2 tournament – had a prize pool of over $24 million, while the Overwatch World Cup 2017 had a prize pool of $300,000.
While there are many different esportstitles played at a professional level, some games are more popular than others. According to Newzoo’s report on global esports market insights for 2017, the five most popular esportstitles were League of Legends (with an estimated 54 million unique viewers), Dota 2 (40 million unique viewers), Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (27 million unique viewers), Overwatch (20 million unique viewers), and Hearthstone (16 million unique viewers).
More traditional sports organizations are beginning to invest in esports
In recent years, esports has seen a surge in popularity and investment. More traditional sports organizations are beginning to invest in esports, and as a result, the prize pools for tournaments are getting larger and larger. According to a report by Bloomberg, the total prize money for esports will exceed $1 billion this year.
With so much money flowing into the scene, it’s no surprise that some esport athletes are starting to rake in high salaries. The top earner in 2018 was Johan “N0tail” Sundstein, who made over $6 million from tournament winnings and sponsorships. He was closely followed by his teammate Jesse “JerAx” Vainikka, who earned just over $5 million.
These payouts are only going to increase as more organizations get involved in esports. So if you’re thinking about pursuing a career in competitive gaming, now is the time to do it!
Esports could one day be included in the Olympics
The International Olympic Committee is ” monitoring with great interest the development of esports worldwide”, IOC President Thomas Bach said in September.
Bach’s comments came after the IOC’s Esports Forum in Lausanne, Switzerland, where representatives from the IOC, the esports industry, national Olympic committees and gaming companies gathered to discuss esports’ potential inclusion in future editions of the Olympic Games.
While nothing is set in stone just yet, it seems likely that esports will one day be featured at the Olympics. Here’s everything you need to know about how that could happen.
What are esports?
Esports are organized, competitive video gaming tournaments. While professional gamers have been around for decades, organized esports tournaments only started gaining mainstream popularity in the early 2010s.
Today, there are dozens of different games played at a professional level all around the world, with some of the most popular titles including League of Legends, Dota 2, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Overwatch. These games are typically played between two teams of five players each.
What games could be played at the Olympics?
If esports are indeed included in future editions of the Olympic Games, it’s likely that only a handful of games will be played. The International Olympic Committee has already said that it would prefer “multi-disciplinary” games that can be understood and enjoyed by a wider audience – so it’s unlikely that niche titles like Street Fighter or Tekken would make the cut. Instead, we’re more likely to see team-based games like League of Legends or Counter-Strike being played if and when esports make their debut at the Olympics.
