Top Prizes in Esports Tournaments


Competitive gamer looking at screen in middle of match

We often discuss on this site how you should prepare yourself physically for eSports and online gaming.

What stance should you take when sitting, which exercises to do to improve performance and even energy supplements all come up as a core part of our advice.

We aim to have you in tip-top condition ready for when the right moment comes for you to become a top eSports player. After all, gaming can be lucrative as we explained in our article Professional Gamers Salary: How Much Do They Make?

It is only lucrative if you are one of the top players in one of the top titles though, which is why as well as preparing yourself physically, you will have to be good at one of the more prestigious games.

To help you decide which you should be playing, here are five of the most lucrative titles to involve yourself with.

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jW0WpdpL8qg

CS: GO is one of the titles with the most lucrative prizes on offer and a great place for an aspiring eSports star to focus attention.

In an analysis of the most prestigious eSports tournaments of 2021 by Bwin Sports, they explain how the prize pot for the Major Championships has a $1m pool for successful players.

Fortnite

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gUtfBmw86Y

Fortnite has been something of a cultural phenomenon, originally writing prize fund headlines when the 2019 World Cup winner netted $3m.

Developers Epic have pledged $20m for this year’s tournament, which is down from 2019 where a total of $30m was up for grabs. Of course, the reduction does not make it any less lucrative for the top players, who will be competing for top prize online due to the recent pandemic.

Brawlhalla

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baixpNzE9es

Many of the titles here or MMO’s or shooters, but in terms of fighting games this is the big hitter. Once upon a time, fighting games were the headline acts on consoles, with Mortal Combat, Streetfighter 2 and Tekken dominating the market.

The Brawlhalla World Championship, set to take place in November, will have a prize pool of $1m which is unheard of in the fighting game sector until now.

In fact, Mortal Kombat 11, one of the strongest sellers in the past couple of years, has a prize pool of just $60k for the whole season.

Dota 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGOWsNIoXYM

The multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game Dota 2 is one of the most lucrative eSports of all time.

The collective yearly prize fund surpassed $40m in October 2020, which was a new record. Much of that success comes from fans being able to contribute to the prize pool by buying a battle pass, of which 24% is sent to the prize pool.

Indeed, developer Valve has been putting in $1.6m since 2011, with fans propping up the numbers and contributing the rest.

League of Legends

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fwwGCr1-po

League of Legends is another MOBA with a big reputation and prize fund to match. It is believed to be slightly easier to play than Dota 2, which makes it a great entry-level eSports title and one that retains popularity as a result.

The title now has 12 professional leagues, which are located around the world and act as qualifiers for the main tournament of the year, nicknamed The Worlds.

24 teams come together for the season finale, and there is an expected prize pot of around $2m up for grabs.

Stuart

I love gaming and spending time on the computer, I even competed in esports in the early 00s. But I'm also obsessed with fixing the damage heavy computer use can cause, and this is the place where I share these two passions.

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