By Twenty years ago, it was difficult to find an esports event with over a few thousand banknotes at stake. But forward to 2022, esports event reward pools have flared up into millions! And while the widespread size of a prize pool doesn’t distinguish the prominence of an event, it’s quite evidently one of the significant aspects gamers use to decide whether they’ll participate or not.
A huge prize pool does triple the task by inciting competition, creating prestige, and drawing viewers in. Esports fans desire to witness their favorite squads compete for millions of bucks and event organizers seek to gladden. So if you are one of those people and still think that the gaming industry has no future and is not an actual profession then you are gravely mistaken. Check out some of the craziest prizes some people have received at an esports event.
In the year, the first esports prize was given to Dennin “Thresh” Fong who won a red Ferrari model 328 from Quake developer John Carmac. Another player named Johan “Toxjq” Quick obtained a Rolex from the WSVG Quake 4ts in 2006. Those were indeed impressive in their period, but today’s prize pools are so large that gamers can just call it quits upon gaining a victory.
Literally, esports only started gaining huge recognition because of its large prize pool and it is all due to the widespread crowdfunding. Developers have started to propose distinct in-game items to their expansive player bases to boost the size of the prevailing prize pool.
Valve, the brain behind Dota 2 and CS: GO, is the most booming organization to utilize the model at this juncture. Its marquee Dota 2 tournament, The International, has undergone massive development throughout the past many years of competition.
In this article, we have mentioned the largest prize pools in the esports event. So here are the Top 5 largest prize pool esports events.
- The International 10 ($40 million)
The annual world championship hosted by Valve in Dota 2 has shattered the record for having the largest esports prize pools for ten years back-to-back. While presenting a sum of $1.6 million in the years 2011 and 2012. Since 2013, the event has been witnessed as the most successful instance of prize pools through crowdfunding in esports history.
Clearly, it’s no amazement to anyone aware of esports that TI has taken the top spot on this list. Dota 2 and its yearly tournament is the biggest thing for many reasons as many players from across the globe take part in this event. Moreover, Dota 2 is not only the best MOBA title on the planet but it also falls under the Valve franchise. And hence, has the record for the largest prize anyone in the initiative.
Primarily because of huge crowdfunding and other financial mechanics, the previous reduplication of TI showed off a whopping $40 million in victories. The esports event even smashed its previous record and climbed to 2.7 million peak spectators, firming up its rank as the largest esports event of all time.
- The 2019 Fortnite World Cup Finals ($30.4 million)
This was Epic’s first-ever Fortnite World Cup Finals that featured one of the largest prize pools in the history of esports.
The inaugural contest was divided into two major events. A sum of $3 million was received by a solo player named Kyle “Bugha” Geirsdorf in the solo finals and another $3 million was shared by David “aqua” W and Emil “Nyhrox” Bergquist Pedersen after gaining a victory in the pair finals.
- 2021 Honor of Kings World Champion Cup ($7.7 million)
About 12 of the best Honor of Kings squads participated in the title at the Honor of Kings World Champion Cup in 2021, which was held in Beijing, China. This particular esports isn’t very popular in parts of Europe and the US, but huge prize pools like these brought in new players to the game.
- PUBG Global Invitational 2021 ($7.1 million)
This was probably one of the largest prize pools in the history of esports which was offered at the opening event of the PUBG season in 2021. The event was held both online and offline in Incheon, South Korea. A whopping cash amount of $1,296,189, was won by Susquehanna Soniqs but still it is quite less in comparison to other prize pools on this list.
- League of Legends World Championship 2018 ($6.4 million)
League of Legends players were permitted for the first time in 2017 to heighten the sum prize pool of the contest by buying in-game items. After a year, the prize pool was lifted up to a total amount of $6.4 million bringing in the richest contest in the game’s history.
