The world of esports is defined by flashy tournaments with massive prize pools. In fact, the bigger the prize pool, the higher the popularity of the game. While most esports tournaments like the ones for Counter-Strike or Dota focus on team play, some tournaments, like the ones for Fighting Games or FIFA focus on individual players.Â
These esports games tournament highlight the highest level of competitive gaming and influence the growth of the esports industry to a great extent. The logic behind this is very simple, the higher the prize pool for an esports tournament, the more viewership it gets. This viewership directly translates into the number of players playing the game at a casual level.
Key Takeaways
- Esports games tournaments have a significant impact on the growth of the industry as a whole.Â
- Games like Dota 2 and Counter-Strike are two of the most popular esports titles, with numerous tournaments happening over the span of a year.Â
- The tournament prize pools directly affect the popularity and viewership that these titles enjoy.
5 Esports Games With the Largest Prize Pool That You Should Watch
When it comes to determining the prize pool for any tournament, it’s hard to calculate the exact value because there are a lot of third party tournaments that also need to be taken into account. To simplify the process, and for easier understanding, the values mentioned in the entries below are based off the information provided by a third party website called Esports Earnings.
Dota 2
Dota 2 has always been a juggernaut in the world of competitive esports games. While its premiere tournament, The International, used to have humongous prize pools which would surpass $10 Million, the number has drastically reduced for the past three years. This year, The International had a prize pool of a little over $2 Million.Â
However, if you consider some of the other smaller tournaments and the Esports world cup, the total prize pool across all esports tournaments crosses $13 Million. Despite the amount being an approximation, it’s worth noting that Dota 2 continues to have one of the largest esports prize pools in the competitive landscape.
Counter-Strik
Counter-Strike has long dominated the competitive FPS circuit, and despite its latest version upgrades, it hasn’t slowed down one bit. While everyone thought Valorant would steal its thunder, that hasn’t happened either. In 2025 so far, Counter-Strike has had multiple tournaments with extremely high prize pools.Â
If one were to make an approximate calculation of the cumulative prize money across all the tournaments, the amount would easily exceed $12 Million, which makes it one of the highest paying esports games in 2025.
Fortnite
Not only did Fortnite redefine the battle royale genre, but it was quite influential in shaping how crossovers and promotions work in the gaming industry today. It’s got a very active community and a playerbase, thanks to its numerous collaborations, and unique approach to gunplay.
Unlike the previous two entries, it doesn’t have a high prize pool, but the multiple in-game tournaments, coupled with the yearly FNCS championships, provide a premium competitive gaming experience for everyone. In 2025, all events combined, the total prize pool so far has been close to $9 Million.
Mobile Legends Bang Bang
Mobile Legends Bang Bang is a MOBA experience on cellphones, which is widely played by a lot of players online. While not as popular as the PC gaming counterparts on this list, this also has a functional esports sector which does see quite a high prize pool for its tournaments.
In 2025 alone, Mobile Legends Bang Bang has seen a cumulative prize pool of around $3.5 Million, which is quite impressive for a mobile game. With its popularity constantly increasing, this value is expected to increase next year, and will influence the growth of the mobile gaming esports industry at large.
PUBG: Mobile
PUBG Mobile was an extremely popular mobile game at launch and took the entire gaming community by storm when it first arrived. With an authentic battle royale experience, the game quickly became a prime esports title, attracting attention from players around the world. Although its popularity has waned over time, it still boasts a prize pool worth over $2 Million. Despite mobile games existing before PUBG Mobile, it’s safe to say that this game was the prime reason for multiple developers to explore smartphones as potential gaming devices.
Understanding Esports Prize Pools
There are a lot of factors that affect the prize pools in any esports tournament. These amounts, in turn, affect the popularity of the game too.
What Are Esports Prize Pools?
Simply put, esports prize pools are monetary rewards that players can earn by winning a certain tournament at a semi-professional or professional level. Since there’s a lot of money involved, the competition here is naturally higher than what you would expect in casual levels of gameplay.
Why Prize Pools Matter to Players and Fans
Prize pools hold an important space in the growth of the esports industry. A significantly high prize pool means the gameplay that everyone gets to see is exemplary. This also acts as an inspiration for others to pick up the game, even at a casual level. Now, most of these esports titles have in-game purchases (mostly cosmetics), which not only boost the finances for the developers, but it also affects the overall tournament prize pools too in certain cases.
Current Trends & Themes in Esports Prize Pools and Beyond
While one could argue that the prize pool amount for most esports titles has gone down to a certain degree, the overall interest behind it hasn’t declined that much. In fact, it keeps fluctuating, and there are a lot of economic factors that one needs to consider. Additionally, there are a lot of esports games in the market today, which has significantly divided community attention, which in a way has played a role in these decreased prize pool valuations for most esports games.
However, with older games like Counter-Strike and Dota 2 holding the fort down, one can expect to see the valuations of these esports prize pools increase. While it won’t be a massive jump, it’ll be a slow and steady rise. With more players jumping into these games and with developers actively working to make these titles more beginner-friendly, it’s only a matter of time before these esports prize pools surpass their previous competitive gaming reward counterparts.
FAQs
Which is the most popular Esports game by viewership in 2025?
If you were to look at peak viewership, League of Legends is the biggest esports game in terms of viewership of all time, according to Esports Charts.Â
How to find upcoming esports game tournaments?
To find upcoming tournaments for esports games, start playing the games, and keep an eye on the official websites. Whenever there’s an official tournament, you should see an in-game notification and some kind of press release on the websites. Additionally, keep following communities on Discord and Reddit for information on third-party tournaments.
How much money can pro players win in esports tournaments?
The amount that pro players can earn from esports tournaments entirely depends on the prize pool of that tournament. Since winners get the highest share of the total prize pool, winners in the biggest esports tournaments walk away with a significant sum of money. It’s hard to give a proper figure; however, considering that the valuation varies across different tournaments.
How are esports prize pools funded?
Esports prize pools are usually funded by the developers behind the games, sponsors, and through funds raised by the community. Community funds are raised through in-game microtransactions.Â
Can new players realistically earn money from esports tournaments?
While almost everyone can earn money from esports tournaments, the games played here are PvP in nature, and have quite a high skill ceiling. If a new player is gifted enough to compete at a professional level without much difficulty, then they can indeed earn money through these tournaments.Â
