UK’s iGaming powerhouses compete for record-breaking prize money

Over the past 20 years, players in esports have received some ludicrously large prizes. While the overall size of a prize pool does not directly affect an event’s prestige, it is unquestionably one of the key elements that players consider when deciding whether or not to participate.

Dennis “Thresh” Fong won the red Ferrari 328 owned by Quake creator John Carmack in 1997, marking the debut of esports prizes. A Rolex was awarded to Johan “Toxjq” Quick in 2006 for winning the WSVG Quake 4 championship. Those were undoubtedly impressive at the time, but today’s prize pools are so huge that winners can frequently retire.

The popularity of crowdsourcing is largely to blame for this increase in prize money. To raise the size of the overall prize pool, developers have started providing special in-game goodies to their sizable user bases.

• The International 10-$40 million

Ten years running, Valve’s annual Dota 2 world tournament has broken the prize money record. Although the event offered a total of $1.6 million in 2011 and 2012, it has been the most prosperous instance of crowdfunded prize pools in esports history after 2013. A huge $40 million prize pool was won in part by Team Spirit in 2021.

• The 2019 Fortnite World Cup Finals- $30.4 million

The first Fortnite World Cup Finals hosted by Epic had one of the largest prize pools in esports history. There were two main events in the first tournament. For winning the solo finals, Kyle “Bugha” Giersdorf received $3 million, while David “Aqua” W and Emil “Nyhrox” Bergquist Pedersen each received $3 million for taking home the duet title.

• Riyadh Masters 2023- $15 million

The competition, which was held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, saw the 2012 T1 Champions Team Spirit win the title in a lopsided series. They defeated Team Liquid 3-1 in the final despite a terrible start to the year.

• The 2021 Honor of Kings World Champion Cup- $7.7 Million

Twelve of the top Honour of Kings teams competed in Beijing’s Honour of Kings World Champion Cup for a prize fund of 50,000,000 ($7.7 million). At the competition, every participant was Chinese.

• PUBG Global Invitational.S 2021- $7.1 million

The opening PUBG tournament in 2021 featured one of the largest prize pools in esports history. Susquehanna Soniqs won a staggering $1,296,189 in prize money at the PUBG Global Invitational.S 2021, which was held in Incheon, South Korea, both online and offline.

• The 2018 League of Legends World Championship- $6.4 million

For the very first time in 2017, Riot Games permitted League of Legends players to add more money to the event’s overall prize pool by purchasing in-game items. The highest event in the game’s history in terms of prize money occurred a year later when the total prize pool was raised to $6.4 million.

• The 2020 Call of Duty League Championship- $4.6 million

Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the majority of the first season of the Call of Duty League was played online. However, the league’s playoff round included one of the largest prize pools in esports history, considering the conditions.

The Dallas Empire defeated Atlanta FaZe in the championship match and won $1.5 million after edging them out in the winner’s bracket.

• PUBG Global Championship 2021- $4.4 million

At the PUBG Global Championship 2021, NewHappy earned $1,378,264. Throughout the season, the Chinese squad went on a run of back-to-back victories, winning event after tournament. The icing on the cake was the Global Championship.

• Fortnite Fall Skirmish Series- Clubs Standings- $4 million

In Fortnite’s first year of competitive play, Epic Games released $100 million for esports event prize pools to correspond with the popularity of the popular battle royale. The Fall Skirmish Series – Club Standings awarded a sizable portion of the cash.

• Overwatch League 2019- Playoffs- $3.5 million

The Overwatch League’s second round of playoffs resulted in a $3.5 million boost in the total prize fund for the competition. The San Francisco Shock defeated the Vancouver Titans in the championship game, which was played at the Wells Fargo Centre in Philadelphia.