Repeat.gg introduces the largest Esports game titles and prize pools in 2017, showcasing the major prize pools of 2017 as well as comparisons from the previous years.

Esports

Prize Pool Totals For Major Game Titles In The Past 3 Years

2017 – $78,095,474 ( Dota 2, League Of Legends, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Heroes Of The Storm, Call Of Duty)

2016 – $73,590,463 ( Dota 2, League Of Legends, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Halo 5, Call Of Duty)

2015 – $51,736,283 ( Dota 2, Smite, League Of Legends, StarCraft II, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive)

The $1,000,000 tournament seems to be the benchmark and standard for a major Esports event. In fact, 20 different championships in the past three years have seen a million dollar prize pool event, with 2017 having Halo 5, CS: GO, League Of Legends, Heroes Of The Storm, rFactor2, Dota 2 and Hearthstone all hosting a major event for their esports title.

* All figures are in USD and based on the single most significant prize pool for each of the five major eSports titles listed.

Top 5 Esports Titles in order of total prize paid in 2017.

#5 Call Of Duty: Infinite Warfare (Console)

Largest prize Pool – $1,525,000

Prize Total – $4,027,894

Tournaments – 72

The thirteenth instalment of the Call Of Duty series Infinite Warfare was the esports title for 2017. Each year as of late the latest game title from the franchise becomes the game title of choice for the Call Of Duty World League Finals which boast the largest prize pool for the game.

This year saw record-breaking viewership from the CWL event despite the outcry from the Call Of Duty scene being against the futuristic space warfare genre it was set in. Over 20 million people tuned in to watch the Call of Duty World League during the tournament duration and further cementing that console esports is much alive and thriving.

Fun Fact: The Call Of Duty: Infinite Warfare game trailer posted on youtube became the most “disliked” video in youtube history, much due to the footage of jetpack and futuristic gameplay.

#4 Heroes Of The Storm (PC) –

Largest Prize Pool – $1,000,000

Prize Total – $4,783,332

Tournaments – 31

Released in 2015 Heroes Of The Storm (abbreviated as HotS) is the youngest esports game title on the list. This battle arena (MOBA) is heavily backed and supported by the developers of Blizzard has been the cause of its quick rise in the scene.

2017 saw the Heroes Of The storm Global Championship Grand Finals with a viewership of 3,559,574 with a concurrent peak of 191,037 viewers.

Fun Fact – The game features characters from previous Blizzard games such as WarCraft, Starcraft, and Diablo, as well as their latest title Overwatch.

#3 League Of Legends (PC)

Largest Prize Pool – $4,946,969

Prize Total – $12,018,015

Tournaments – 139 Tournaments

League of Legends is considered to be the largest esports title in the world, mostly due to their viewership and at one stage being the most played game in the world for consecutive years in 2016 & 2017.

The developers of the game Riot Games run their League Of legends Championship series ( LCS for short ). Consisting of twenty teams competing in two separate competitions for North America and Europe, with ten teams per continent.

The World Finals with the $4.9 million prize pool saw a 106 million concurrent peak viewership for the Grand Final.

Fun Fact – Out of the 106 million concurrent viewers watching the World Finals, 104 million were from the Chinese stream

#2 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (PC)

Largest Prize Pool – $1,000,000

Prize Total – $19,242,958

Tournaments – 893

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS: GO) received four tournaments equaling their largest prize pool in 2017 at $1,000,000. Although CS: GO has the lowest prize pools of the five major esports titles, they do however have one of the most viewed and active pro tournament circuit in esports.

Out of the four $1,000,000 tournaments for CS: GO last year, PGL Major Krakow 2017 was the most significant event of the year with viewership reaching over 40 million over the course of the event with a peak of 1,897,741 concurrent viewers during the finals.

Fun Fact – Since E-Leagues conception with TBS in 2016, they have run six large CS: GO tournaments with a combined prize pool of $5,750,000.

#1 Defence Of The Ancients 2 (Dota 2) (PC)

Largest Prize Pool – $24,687,919

Prize Total – $38,023,275

Tournaments – 158

Dota 2 has been the juggernaut of being the highest prize pool tournaments in the world for esports in the past four years thanks to The Dota 2 International. In Fact, The International 2014 tournament still towers over any other prize purse outside of The International events by $5 million to its next competitor, only the predecessor of 2015, 2016 and 2017 Dota 2 International beats it.

These prize pools are seeded by the game developers (Valve) first offering an initial cash purse of $1,600,000.00, and the rest of the money is raised by the community that plays Dota2 via purchasing of in-game compendiums called “Battle Passes”. 25% of the proceeds from all “Battle Pass” sales go directly to funding The International Prize Pool, with rest going to Valve, the game developers.

The viewership for the Dota 2 International 2017 surpassed 92 million viewers with a concurrent peak of 10,935,730 during the finals which hosted the world record for largest prize pool won $10,862,683 and total prize pool gave away in $24,687,919

Fun Fact – There are 43 players who are now millionaires due to the prize pools won in Dota 2 in the last three years.

Sources

All figures compiled from http://www.esportsearnings.com. This list represents the top players in esports who won the most prize money based on information published on the internet. Sources include news articles, forum posts, live report threads, interviews, official statements, reliable databases, VODs and other publicly-accessible sources that preserve “historical” information. Viewership figures were produced using

If you found this article interesting make sure to read our other Prize Pool Articles –

Highest Earning Esports Countries

Highest-Earning Prize Pools of 2016

Highest Paying Game Titles In History

Highest Earning Individuals In Esports



Article Written by – Repeat.gg Community Manager Scott “Boomser” Bednarski – Twitter