List of Top 10 Esports Awards: Take A Look!

The eSports industry has developed rapidly in recent years. Although eSports tournaments and competitions have been part of the video game community for many years, they have been primarily organised by amateurs and enthusiasts until the end of the 2000s. Since then, the industry’s popularity has been increasing tremendously and many game developers regularly design and finance competitive eSports tournaments.
Today, because of the numerous sponsorships and the extreme growth in the public domain, the eSports prize pools exceed some staggering amounts. You should check out this post if you are a gamer or just enjoy watching or sports betting since it will offer a perfect picture of the greatest eSports awards and tournaments in history. In addition to some interesting information about the competition, rules and players, we will list the top eSports honours too.

Biggest Prize Pools in eSports

• League of Legends World Championship 2017 – $4.9 Million
• League of Legends World Championship 2016 – $5.0 Million
• League of Legends World Championship 2018 – $6.4 Million
• The International 2014 – $10.9 Million
• The International 2015 – $18.4 Million
• The International 2016 – $20.7 Million
• The International 2017 – $24.6 Million
• The International 2018 – $25.5 Million
• Fortnite World Cup Finals 2019 – $30 Million
• The International 2019 – $34.3 Million

League of Legends World Championship 2017

Total Prize Pool: $4,946,969

• The 2017 LoL World Championship was the 7th edition of the world championship for the League of Legends video game. It was held in several cities across China, including Guangzhou, Shanghai, Beijing and Wuhan, from 23 September to 4 November. It brought together the world’s 24 best teams, qualified by regional circuits. The original prize pool was just over $2 million. However, the pool was expanded due to the massive spectators and huge sales of the Ashe and ward skins. The tournament is known as one of the best tournaments in the history of the League of Legends, thanks to the international exposure, the immense ceremonial results, the multitude of dramatic shows and the high standard of the competition.
• The Samsung Galaxy eSports team achieved their second championship victory in the best of five finale series and beat SK Telecom T1, the world’s three-time champions. The team was able to take $1,855.114 out and $667,841 was paid to the 2nd-placed team. For his outstanding performances, Park “Ruler” Jae-hyuk, the AD carrier of Samsung, was named MVP of a championship. In 2013, the team of South Korean eSports was formed and only played for four years professionally, as the 2017 World Championship was the last that they played before the team was dissolved.

League of Legends World Championship 2016

Total Prize Pool: $5,070,000

• From 29 September to 29 October, the 2016 Lol World Championship took place. The eSports competition took place in the US, and interestingly, the prize pool was marginally larger than in 2017. Tournaments took place in Chicago, New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles, the largest cities in the USA. It marked the first time that fans and spectators were willing to add to the tournament prize pool by in-game transactions. Sixteen teams qualified for the championship like North America, Europe, South Korea and China based on their regional circles’ placement. Riot Games, the League of Legends’ developer, declared that the winning team would receive 40% of the total prize money, while the second-best team will receive 15%.
• SK Telecom T1, the South Korean eSports team won the championship for the second straight year, beating the Samsung Galaxy Team 3:2 in a best of five final series. The champions won well over 2 million dollars and the awards for 2nd and 3rd places came to $760,500 and $380,250. During the tournament, a total of 75 matches were played and T1 player Lee ‘Faker’ Sang was awarded the MVP trophy. The finale took place in the presence of an audience of almost 20,000 fans, accompanied by some 43 million online visitors at Staples Center in LA.

League of Legends World Championship 2018

Total Prize Pool: $6,450,000

• The 2018 LOL World Championship was able to raise its money substantially, with a sum of $6,450,000 for collections, making up for the lower prize pool in the preceding year. The tournament was held between 1 October and 3 November in the towns of Busan, Seoul, Gwangju and Incheon. The 24 team format used for the first time in 2017 was continued with the group and knockout stages.
• With over 90 million competitive viewers tuning in to watch the show, the opening ceremony received tremendous coverage. Due to the surprising outcomes, the various upsets and turnarounds, the EST championship is considered the most unexpected in the history of the League of Legends tournament. If you ponder how these competitions gather such massive prize pots, let’s only say that the 2018 LOL World Championship overcame the Super Bowl’s viewership. Isn’t it fascinating? With a peak of more than 200 million viewers during the finals, the competition became the most observed eSports event in history.
• The game was the eSport event with the highest importance in history and the finals were attended by over 200 million spectators.
• China’s Invictus Gaming won the championship and took home $2,418,750. Europe’s Fnatic leaders took $870,750 home and finished second. This was the first time that a Chinese team won the world championship in League of Legends history and a Europe team came in second. After five years as winners, the domination of the Korean eSports teams was over. The final round marked the fastest finals in history as the overall time for the game was just 85 minutes.

The International Dota 2 Championship 2014

Total Prize Pool: $10,931,103

• We will switch from eSports to Dota 2 – the most popular game in the world, as we move to 8-digit numbers. Whether it is sports betting like football betting, social events, competitions, prize pools, or something, Dota 2 seems to be the undisputed king.
• The fourth edition of the competition, the International 2014 was held in Seattle, Washington. The tournament, organised by Valve Corporation, started on 8 July and ended with the Grand Finale on 21 July. The contest’s main event was competed by a total of 16 teams. 11 of them were invited right away, while 4 teams had to qualify for the final position by different regional competitions, and the runners up in these qualifiers were offered a final shot for a place in the competition.
• Newbee won the tournament by 3:1 and became the second Chinese team to win the championship. The winners of the tournament are also known as ‘Fourth International’.
• They took home a whopping amount of $5,028,308. Vici Gaming came in second and was awarded $1,475,700. The Grand Final was contested between two Asian teams for the first time.

The International Dota 2 Championship 2015

Total Prize Pool: $18,429,613

• Valve Corp. launched a new compendium of in-game cosmetics for 2015 International, after the huge success of the 2014 International. Along with a great amount of money earned from sponsorships and crowd engagement, the prize pool crossed over 18 million dollars. The rise was amazing as the prize pool almost doubled from last year. The tournament started in May and finished in August after the Main Event. It was conducted in Seattle at KeyArena.
• Out of a total of 16 competing teams, the champions of the tournament were the Evil Geniuses located in Seattle. This time they won $6,634,660, which was 36% of the entire pot. They came in third place the previous year. The Chinese eSports association second-placed team LGD Gaming won $2,856,590.

The International Dota 2 Championship 2016

Total Prize Pool: $20,770,460

• The International Dota 2 Championship in 2016 is at number five in our ranking of the top 10 eSports trophies. An eSports championship reward pool exceeded $20 million for the first time in history. It took place again in Seattle from June to August. Like previous tournaments, Valve kept selling the compendium but opted to rebrand the collection this time. Before the game, a corresponding Dota 2 war pass was issued and 25% of the sales contributed to the championship prize pool. The other 75% of the revenue made was used by Valve to fund the production costs.
• There are two groups of eight teams at the round-robin group phase, with the top four of each group moving to the upper bracket. The great finale took place between Wings Games and Digital Anarchy, in a best of five series, with the former winning the series by 3:1. $9,139,000 was awarded to the champions, while $3,427,126 was the award for the second-placed team. In addition to the incredible honour, the American Digital Chaos team gained immense popularity, as they experienced much greater success than anticipated. They received the nickname ‘Cinderella team’ mostly because of the term Cinderella which is used to describe powerful underdogs.

The International Dota 2 Championship 2017

Total Prize Pool: $24,687,919

• With the seventh Dota 2 International, we continue our list. Year after year, Dota 2 tournaments started to draw more followers, teams and sponsors, so it was understandable that the prize pools were raised. It is almost difficult for other eSports titles to contend with the Dota 2 award funds. (with very few exceptions). (with very few exceptions). The International 2017 opened its doors on 22 June, ending the grand finals on 12 August. As in 2016, only six teams were admitted directly to the competition. The other 12 teams were required to pass the qualifiers. The 2017 International smashed the record for the largest eSports prize pool held by its previous edition the year before.
• Team Liquid from The Netherlands, who was a strong fan favourite, won the gold medals along with $10,862,683.The 2014 winners Newbee came in second place and won $3,950,067.

The International Dota 2 Championship 2018

Total Prize Pool: $25,532,177

• The 8th annual edition of the International was premiered outside the United States and was held in the Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia. The tournament opened on June 14, but the main event was from August 20-25. The bulk of the prize pool was earned via a variety of Valve products, including the Worldwide Combat Pass 2018, a wireless tournament pass and the event’s package of activities and cosmetics.
• The European Dota 2 team, OG won despite being deemed a lower level team and was awarded $11.234.158 as the first prize. In a thrilling and entertaining series, they beat the Chinese party PSG.LGD by 3:2 and became the first final since 2013 having 5 games.

The 2019 Fortnite World Cup Finals

Total Prize Pool: $30,000,000

• It is no wonder that Fortnite is the only game that can keep up with the Dota 2 prize pools. This creation of the Epic Games gained so much popularity in 2018. Quickly, the game became one of the world’s most played games and it was not long before the elite eSports tournaments with stunning prize pools took place. After Epic Games eventually agreed to endorse Fortnite as a serious eSport, they promised that they would donate $100 million alone to Fortnite eSports in 2019. Out of this $30 million was going to be invested to the Fortnite World Cup prize pool.
• The festival was held at Arthur Ashe Stadium in Flushing, New York between 26 and 28 July. Online tournaments over 10 weeks, from April to June, presented players with an opportunity to qualify for the finals. The world’s best 100 solo players and the top 50 duo teams packed their bags and headed to New York City.
• The two major events were the Fortnite Single Finals and the Fortnite Duos Final with a total prize pool of $15 million. A 16-year-old American Kyle Giersdorf, known as ‘Bugha’ online, won the Solo event. In a matter of hours, he alone won $3 million. And it wasn’t just him that became a millionaire over a day, when the 2nd, 3rd and 4th place prizes were $1.8 million, $1.2 million and $1.05 million respectively. As for the Duos Finals, the champions Emil ‘nyhrox’ Pedersen and David ‘aqua’ Wang divided $1.5 million each.
• In addition to the World Cup, Epic Games invested millions on a wide variety of other 2019 competitions – Fortnite Champion Series, Skirmish Series, Twitchcon events. This means that the game will begin to broaden its horizons, and the massive eSports prize pools won’t end anytime soon. Today, more than 130 million players play the game on laptops, consoles and handheld devices. Epic Games are not joking when it comes to Fortnite eSports presence, and it is expected that the title will replace the existing number 1 eSports prize pool of Dota 2 tournaments in the years to come.

The International Dota 2 Championship 2019

Total Prize Pool: $34,330,068

• As you would have anticipated at this stage, the biggest eSports bonus pool ever was the 2019 International Dota 2 Championship. It was the ninth annual edition of The International and was organised for the first time on Chinese soil. The tournament was held at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Shanghai in August 2019. Twelve teams were directly invited to the tournament, and the remaining six won through regional qualification in July. During the grand finale, the action had over a million concurrent audiences on Twitch’s live streaming site.
• The Grand Finals were contested between Team Liquid and OG, both World Champions, respectively in 2017 and 2018. About $15.6 million went to the champions, OG, while more than $4.4 million went to the runners who lost the finals. It is important to remember that the original prize fund set aside by Valve was $1.6 million. This indicates that almost the whole bonus pool was sponsored by supporters, demonstrating just how strong a crowdfunded eSports can turn out to be.
• Since its first event in 2011, more than $140 million has been awarded to the World Championship. The theme of Dota 2 tournament prize pools getting bigger every year seems impregnable and players and fans around the world cannot wait to see what’s going to happen soon.

More on eSports competitions and professional Gaming

Dota 2 is leading the highest prize pools for professional gaming at the present, but this does not mean that other eSports games do not arrange worthy tournaments with rewarding prize pools. CG: GO, FIFA, Starcraft II, Call of Duty and Overwatch are just some of the eSports games that also host competitive tournaments every year, where the top players fight for gold. But, no matter what the game is, becoming a professional gamer is not as simple as it seems. It takes a great deal of ability, dedication and, of course, thousands and thousands of hours of practice. And if you assume that just winning a lucrative eSports championship would make up for the many, many hours spent competing, don’t ignore that the best eSports players don’t count on only the money of the tournament. Any of them receive up to $15,000 an hour televised games on live streaming sites alone.

What to expect from the future

As you can fathom, eSports awards and tournaments are as serious as any other sporting event around the world or any form of sports betting like cricket betting. The ease of playing a traditional video game, along with the eagerness to play in front of millions of fans and challenge for mind-boggling prizes, all makeup for the incredible growth of the eSports industry. The rise in the quantity and standard of professional eSports tournaments and competitions is huge. It also comes as no surprise that many of the casinos are joining eSports and beginning to deliver lucrative markets for online betting and resources so that fans can get ever closer to the eSports industry.