Fifteen years ago, playing video games was a mere hobby, and being good at it would only get you bragging rights amongst your peers. But now top esports games can earn you a scholarship, sponsorship, and even a full-time career in one of the world’s most money-making businesses. It is no lie that the eSports industry has seen a huge growth in the last few years.
These sports are exploding in popularity. To put it into perspective, they are growing by 30% a year. The number is likely to increase with the coming years. Some of you may not know, but the eSports industry is now worth $1.5 billion. Judging by its growth, it may reach $2 billion this year.
In this article, we are going to mention the top esports games in terms of money. We have compiled this list using the information available on the internet, especially on the respective game’s official sites.
#1 Top eSports Games: Counter-Strike: Global Offensive:
The launch of Counter-strike Global Strike was almost eight years ago. It has still maintained its position as one of the top esports games out there. The game continues to attract a massive number of players day in and day out.
This game peaks the list with 600,000 concurrent players and almost 4000.000 users at any given time in 24 hours. In 2018 the CS GO tournament’s prize pool had reached over 22.7 million dollars. However, there are a lot more things that add to its success. For instance, frequent updates in the game, remunerative weapon stores, and many different leagues.
#2: Dota 2:
The famous Dota 2 is by the same developer as Counter-Strike Go, Valve Corporation. It one of the most successful games that Valve has made. The earners of this game are from 16 different countries, mostly from China and the US. With the prize pool of $30,200,471(and it is still increasing), Dota 2 has the largest prize pool in the esports history. This amount is likely to grow a lot more in the upcoming tournament. Despite having all this, its player count is still less than a few other games, an average of 400k. But regardless of that, it still manages to be one of the most famous esports games.
#3: League of Legends:
It has been almost 11 years since the launch of League of Legends. The game is dominating the industry ever since. LoL is one of the biggest competitors of Dota 2 and has a larger number of active concurrent players, 8 million every day, than Dota 2. When it comes to the prize money, League of legends total prize money awarded in approximately over 2400 tournaments is $73.5 million. South Korea happens to be one of the most profitable markets for LoL.
Its most famous and renowned tournament is the International, which is an annual Valve’s tournament for Dota 2. Here the players compete for a multi-million dollar prize pool.
#4: Fortnite:
Developed by Epic Games in 2017, Fortnite is a third-person online battle action game. When it comes to esports, Fortnite Battle Royale is a direct competitor of the famous Player Unknown Battle Grounds.
Fortnite’s highly-anticipated and renowned tournament, Fortnite World Cup, had the prize money of 15 million dollars. Most of its top players belong from the US and UK.
#5 Top eSports Games: PLAYERUNKNOWN’S BATTLE UNDERGROUND:
Playerunknowns Battlegrounds, aka PUBG, is a game developed by PUBG Corporation, located in South Korea. It was released in the same year as Fortnite, 2017. This game has its inspiration from the famous Japanese movie ‘Battle Royale.’
The Five-year plan introduced by the PUBG Corporation regarding PUBG esports included it supporting the teams and players financially through several revenue-sharing initiatives.
The highest prize money paid in PUBG tournament, PUBG Global Championship, was $5,999,999 in 2019.
