In total, the number of prizes is selected to 1 billion dollars, transferred to professionals for all titles. Let’s look at how much the best eSports professionals have earned to date!
Today, prize money in ESports is staggering, professionals have long earned more than many representatives of big sports.
The large investments that eSports has received recently indicate a growing popularity in this area. The latest Dota 2 tournament (The International 2019) offers a prize pool of more than $34 million to its competitors.
The last decade of prize money won per year directly reflects the growth in esports.
Big money investment has resulted in the ‘esports boom’ (elevated interest in the esports ecosystem, leading to both transient and long-term growth); causing a linear increase in the prize money being dished out.
Now that esports is more stable and profitable than ever, the amount of prize money offered by events is at an all-time high, with this calendar year set to surpass previous years by a considerable amount. Here are the top 20 highest paying esports events, filtered by prize pool offered.
Top 20 highest paying esports events
| Title | Event | Prize pool | Year | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dota 2 | The International | $34,330,069.00 | 2019 |
| 2 | Dota 2 | The International | $25,532,177.00 | 2018 |
| 3 | Dota 2 | The International | $24,687,919.00 | 2017 |
| 4 | Dota 2 | The International | $20,770,460.00 | 2016 |
| 5 | Dota 2 | The International | $18,429,613.05 | 2015 |
| 6 | Fortnite | World Cup: Solos | $15,287,500.00 | 2019 |
| 7 | Fortnite | World Cup: Duos | $15,100,000.00 | 2019 |
| 8 | Dota 2 | The International | $10,931,103.00 | 2014 |
| 9 | League of Legends | Worlds 2018 | $6,450,000.00 | 2018 |
| 10 | League of Legends | Worlds 2016 | $5,070,000.00 | 2016 |
| 11 | League of Legends | Worlds 2017 | $4,946,969.00 | 2017 |
| 12 | Fortnite | Fortnite Fall Skirmish Series | $4,000,000.00 | 2018 |
| 13 | Fortnite | World Cup: Creative | $3,250,000.00 | 2019 |
| 14 | Dota 2 | Asia Championships | $3,057,521.00 | 2015 |
| 15 | Dota 2 | Boston Major | $3,000,000.00 | 2016 |
| 16 | Dota 2 | Frankfurt Major | $3,000,000.00 | 2015 |
| 17 | Dota 2 | Kiev Major | $3,000,000.00 | 2017 |
| 18 | Dota 2 | Manila Major | $3,000,000.00 | 2016 |
| 19 | Dota 2 | Shanghai Major | $3,000,000.00 | 2016 |
| 20 | Dota 2 | The International | $2,874,381.00 | 2013 |
Global esports market is set to break the $1 billion mark for revenue generated (27% up on the previous year).
Top 20 highest earning esports organizations
| Organization | Earnings | Number of tournaments | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Team Liquid | $33,708,806.21 | 1601 |
| 2 | OG | $33,410,175.00 | 68 |
| 3 | Evil Geniuses | $22,858,319.11 | 790 |
| 4 | Fnatic | $14,089,971.20 | 845 |
| 5 | Newbee | $13,960,187.82 | 174 |
| 6 | Virtus.pro | $13,642,183.37 | 468 |
| 7 | Vici Gaming | $12,185,473.01 | 266 |
| 8 | Team Secret | $10,938,648.13 | 194 |
| 9 | LGD Gaming | $10,752,003.42 | 131 |
| 10 | Invictus Gaming | $10,674,800.62 | 428 |
| 11 | Natus Vincere | $9,759,224.90 | 424 |
| 12 | Wings Gaming | $9,745,472.22 | 27 |
| 13 | Cloud9 | $9,155,539.46 | 662 |
| 14 | SK Telecom T1 | $9,093,858.98 | 247 |
| 15 | Paris Saint-German Esports | $8,994,818.59 | 56 |
| 16 | OpTic Gaming | $7,810,017.71 | 290 |
| 17 | FaZe Clan | $7,559,934.51 | 274 |
| 18 | Astralis | $6,722,418.81 | 71 |
| 19 | Team EnVyUs | $6,478,343.47 | 317 |
| 20 | SK Gaming | $6,292,140.16 | 650 |
Of course, none of the aforementioned success would be possible without the athletes who represent their respective teams. As a player, winning some of the largest prize pools makes you immediately more marketable to an organization. A prime example of this is the Dota 2 quintet from OG Esports (namely: N0tail, JerAx, ana, Ceb and Topson).
Top 20 highest earning esports pros
| Name | Title | Nationality | Earnings | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Johan ‘N0tail’ Sundstein | Dota 2 | Danish | $6,889,591.79 |
| 2 | Jesse ‘JerAx’ Vainikka | Dota 2 | Finnish | $6,469,000.02 |
| 3 | Anathan ‘ana’ Pham | Dota 2 | Australian | $5,999,411.96 |
| 4 | Sébastien ‘Ceb’ Debs | Dota 2 | French | $5,488,233.01 |
| 5 | Topias ‘Topson’ Taavitsainen | Dota 2 | Finnish | $5,413,446.17 |
| 6 | Kuro ‘KuroKy’ Takhasomi | Dota 2 | German | $5,128,788.15 |
| 7 | Amer ‘Miracle-‘ Al-Barkawi | Dota 2 | Jordanian | $4,692,418.88 |
| 8 | Ivan ‘MinD_ContRoL’ Ivanov | Dota 2 | Bulgarian | $4,483,493.36 |
| 9 | Maroun ‘GH’ Merhej | Dota 2 | Lebanese | $4,086,426.44 |
| 10 | Sumail ‘SumaiL’ Hassan | Dota 2 | Pakistani | $3,590,225.34 |
| 11 | Lasse ‘Matumbaman’ Urpalainen | Dota 2 | Finnish | $3,557,781.04 |
| 12 | Saahil ‘UNiVeRsE’ Arora | Dota 2 | American | $3,038,937.67 |
| 13 | Kyle ‘Bugha’ Giersdorf | Fortnite | American | $3,034,400.00 |
| 14 | Peter ‘ppd’ Dager | Dota 2 | American | $3,001,531.36 |
| 15 | Lu ‘Somnus丶M’ Yao | Dota 2 | Chinese | $2,916,865.42 |
| 16 | Xu ‘fy’ Linsen | Dota 2 | Chinese | $2,825,674.64 |
| 17 | Clement ‘Puppey’ Ivanov | Dota 2 | Estonian | $2,655,686.23 |
| 18 | Clinton ‘Fear’ Loomis | Dota 2 | American | $2,531,840.19 |
| 19 | Gustav ‘s4’ Magnusson | Dota 2 | Swedish | $2,502,654.11 |
| 20 | Ludwig ‘Zai’ Wåhlberg | Dota 2 | Swedish | $2,315,218.85 |
Interestingly, Kyle ‘Bugha’ Giersdorf is the only non-Dota player to make the top 20, off the back of his solos win at the Fortnite World Cup. Although, given the global scope of esports in this modern era, the list is comprised of athletes from all over the world, with no single nation taking precedence.
Other notable mentions include: David ‘Aquav2’ W and Emil ‘Nyhrox’ Bergquist Pedersen, whom sit just inside the top 50 following their duos win at the Fortnite World Cup. The Astralis core: Andreas ‘Xyp9x’ Højsleth, Peter ‘dupreeh’ Rasmussen, Nicolai ‘dev1ce’ Reedtz and Lukas ‘gla1ve’ Rossander sit within the top 60 following their dominant run in CS:GO (dubbed the Astralis era).
League of Legends phenom and three-time world champion, Lee ‘Faker’ Sang-hyeok makes the list at 66th, being the only LoL player to earn over $1million. The highest placing console player is three time Call of Duty world champion Damon ‘Karma’ Barlow, who sits just outside the top 100 at 106th — highlighting the considerable distance between both PC and console prize pools.
