The BIGGEST eSports Payouts
eSports is a big deal. What started as Space Invaders contests has grown into a billion-dollar industry. The biggest eSports tournaments being held worldwide are proof of this. Screen Rant’s feature on massive eSports tournament payouts reports that the winners of the most recent major Dota 2 and Fortnite competitions got more prize money than Novak Djokovic, who won the Australian Open in January, and Tiger Woods, who won the Masters in April.
The fact that eSports players are now getting big payouts underscores just how massive the industry has become. A feature by Ladbrokes on everything you need to know about the world of eSports details how the industry has grown from 10 tournaments in 2000 to 3,765 in 2017. That trend is continuing, with different types of eSports competitions being held in countries across the world. This year, in fact, there are at least four major StarCraft II tournaments, including Global StarCraft II League Season 2 and the World Championship Series. Meanwhile, there are at least 10 major DotA2 competitions, notably SLi Invitational 6 and Dream League Season 11.
Major tournaments gather eSports’ best players, and naturally offer the most in terms of prize money. But the biggest, so far, are the following:
$15,609,462 (The International 9)
The International is the premier tournament for DotA2. It is, therefore, unsurprising that the prize pool for this year’s competition reached a record $34 million. OG won the tournament this year, and took home a staggering $15,609,462. The Europe-based team of ana, Topson, Ceb, JerAx, and N0tail overcame losses in the bracket stage to beat the highly regarded Evil Geniuses, PSG.LGD, and Team Liquid in the quarterfinal, semifinal, and final, respectively.
$11,234,158 (The International 8)
Last year’s The International 8 was lucrative as well. The prize pool ($25,532,177) and winner’s purse ($11,234,158), though, were slightly lower. The same OG team of ana, Topson, Ceb, JerAx, and N0tail won The International 8, too. That means they have earned over $25 million from just two competitions. Now for the purposes of this article, please note the following:
+ The International 7 paid out $10,862,683 to Team Liquid.
+ The International 6 paid out $9,139,002 to Wings Gaming.
+ The International 5 paid out $6,634,660 to Evil Geniuses.
+ The International 4 paid out $5,028,308 to Newbee.
$3 million (Fortnite World Cup)
Fortnite‘s World Cup was historic in every sense. It was Epic Games’ first Fortnite World Cup, and it was watched live by some 2 million viewers. It also gave out a cool $3 million (from a prize pool of just over $30 million) to the winner, Kyle “Bugha” Giersdorf from Pennsylvania. The $3 million winnings is the largest cash payout for an individual eSports champion. The duos winners, Nyhrox and Aqua, also took home $3 million.
$2,418,750 (League of Legends World Championship)
Last year’s League of Legends World Championship was the biggest ever. It had a prize pool of $6.4 million, with $2.5 million coming from Riot. But fans added $4.2 million more by buying the special Championship Kha’Zix skin. Invictus Gaming, which included TheShy, Duke, Ning, Rookie, JackeyLove, and Baolan, topped the competition. They brought home the $2,418,750 winners’ prize money and the massive Summoner’s Cup.
