10 Esports Games With The Biggest Cash Prizes

by

Video games encompass a broad range of interests. They offer engaging narratives similar to movies, pioneer innovative advancements within their genre, and even serve as a means for parents to entertain young children during travel breaks such as filling up gas on a road trip.

Certain games offer the opportunity to interact with friends, relatives, and acquaintances as well. They foster friendly competition, unexpected narratives, and in some cases, entire eSports tournaments that can lead to substantial monetary rewards for those skilled enough.

Prize funds may come from a company, sponsors, or even players pooling resources together, thereby determining both victors and vanquished, as well as potential icons and internet sensations.

Listed below, in descending order by individual prize pot, are the top 10 eSports games offering the highest cash prizes:

1. Dota 2
2. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
3. League of Legends
4. Call of Duty World League
5. StarCraft II
6. Overwatch League
7. Hearthstone
8. FIFA eWorld Cup
9. Street Fighter V
10. Tekken 7

Each game features substantial cash prizes, so if you’re an esports enthusiast, be sure to check them out!

Prize money information is from Esports Earnings and is accurate as of the published date.

10. Rocket League

$2,100,000.00

In simpler terms, compared to my winning and losing record, Rocket League is significantly more reliable when it comes to the size of its esports prizes. The game features various car cameos, where you can perform a bicycle kick on a giant ball while driving a DeLorean in mid-air and scoring goals against opponents – all while playing football/soccer with cars.

During the years 2021-2022 and 2022-2023, the game featured two significant tournaments per season, with Gamers8 and RLCS World Championship offering a prize pool of $2,100,000 for each event.

As a fan, I should mention that except for the RLCS World Championship in 2021-22, which offered slightly less prize money at $2,085,000.00, winning would have meant sacrificing one car purchase due to my skills if I were fortunate enough to emerge victorious that year.

9. Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege

$3,000,000.00

Rainbow Six: Siege started with an average global release. This strategic multiplayer shooting game received moderate reviews initially and attracted a smaller yet devoted player community.

Fortunately, Ubisoft didn’t merely abandon the project by ceasing production, but rather invested effort and resources into transforming the game into what it is today.

Currently, it stands as a titan in the esports world, boasting a decade’s worth of improvements, and for the past five years, it has maintained a staggering prize pool of $3,000,000.00 during the Six Invitational event.

8. Mobile Legends: Bang Bang

$3,050,000.00

In my exploration for this piece, I stumbled upon Mobile Legends: Bang Bang – a Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) game that had somehow slipped under my radar. Interestingly, I found out that it’s quite popular globally and ranks among the top MOBA games in existence.

In this game, you have more than 127 characters to pick from, last updated in January 2025, for combat. These battles take place between two groups consisting of five players each.

Unlike many games in this compilation, the mid-season championship for Mobile Legends: Bang Bang boasts a more substantial prize pool than its world championship. Specifically, it offers a prize pool of $3,050,000 to be distributed among the 24 participating teams.

7. Overwatch

$3,500,000.00

Overwatch is a team shooter game series featuring character designs reminiscent of Pixar, in which teams engage in combat. This was the first franchise where Activision-Blizzard established a professional league.

In the championships, teams consisting of five members each face off, where they deploy individually chosen characters. These characters may be exchanged throughout the game, resulting in fluid and strategic confrontations.

In the series, the initial game boasts the highest jackpot ever, as the Overwatch League Season 2 Playoffs in 2019 featured a grand prize pool of $3,500,000.

Since 2024, the league has adapted its structure into the ‘Overwatch Champions Series’. This new format includes a revenue-sharing system where the nine participating teams will also earn a slice of the earnings derived from the sales of their team’s cosmetic packages.

6. Call of Duty

$4,600,000.00

Call of Duty, the titanic first-person shooter franchise that often leaves journalists perplexed due to its repetitive use of similar subseries (such as Modern Warfare) and occasional application of Roman numerals (like Black Ops).

Currently, only cities from the United States and Canada are participating in these championships, with a fixed number of teams joining, representing one city each. However, it’s important to note that the players aren’t required to be from or reside in the city they represent.

As a gamer myself, I’ve got to admit, the recent rule changes might dampen the thrill of those unexpected victories we all love. But hey, let’s not forget that every participant gets a solid $55,225 in their pocket (as of 2023)! So even if luck isn’t on our side, the cash keeps coming either way.

As a devoted follower, I can’t help but share some exciting numbers from the Call of Duty esports scene! Last year in 2020, the Championship using Modern Warfare (2019) had a staggering $4.6 million prize pool. This year, the prize pot didn’t quite reach the heights of last year, but with $2.5 million at stake for the 2021 Championship, it still ranks as the second-largest in the history of this thrilling competition!

5. League of Legends

$6,450,000.00

In simpler terms, participating in professional League of Legends is not a laughing matter. To put it another way, League of Legends is a Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) game featuring more than 170 characters available for selection as of 2025.

Similar to many Multiplayer Online Battle Arenas (MOBAs), League of Legends (LoL) presents two teams of five players a combat arena for competition. This game boasts one of the most significant esports communities globally, with certain professionals earning salary packages exceeding $1 million.

The winnings from this event reached a total of $6,450,000 for the 2018 World Championship, making it the largest prize pool in the game’s history to date, although it does not compare to the crowdfunded pots seen in Dota 2.

4. PLAYERUNKNOWN’s BATTLEGROUNDS

$7,068,071.00

The original game that made the “battle royale” style popular, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG), continues to have a significant number of active users. This count increases notably when we consider its mobile variant as well.

Since 2017, this game has hosted an esports tournament annually, varying in format from single-player, two-player, two-player with a first-person perspective, to four-player squad games.

2019’s ‘PGI.S 2021 Main Event’ was the grand prize, offering a total of $7,068,071.00 in rewards.

The mobile edition is equally thriving and offers its own tournaments, with the ‘Peacekeeper Elite League 2022 Spring’ taking the top spot boasting a prize pool of $4,141,565.50.

3. Arena of Valor/Honor of Kings:

$10,000,000.00

Once again, diving into the world of Multiplayer Online Battle Arenas (MOBAs). I’m talking about Arena of Valor, the global edition of Honor of Kings, a MOBA developed by the creators behind Pokémon Unite, hailing from China.

To be completely transparent, I’ve come across an exciting piece of news! It turns out that “Honor of Kings,” a game I admire, is now available globally under a new, standalone version.

Despite the expectation that various adaptations might divide the gaming community, this game has become the highest-earning mobile game globally, demonstrating that if you construct something appealing, people will indeed flock to it.

Currently, esports tournaments provide a glimpse into how much prize money is distributed. Notably, they offer some of the largest prize pools, as evidenced by the $10 million awarded at the International Championship in 2022. This figure has remained fairly steady over the years.

2. Fortnite

$15,287,500.00

Although Fortnite has grown into a media powerhouse, hosting concerts, LEGO-themed endurance events, and even showcasing characters like Thanos dancing while battling Ariana Grande in virtual combat, it’s crucial to remember that it remains a significant platform for competitive eSports.

Instead of playing cooperatively to save the world, why not switch to competing individually and potentially win a share of the $15,287,500 prize pool from the ‘Solo’ division of the 2019 Fortnite World Cup finals?

In second place, ‘Duos’ follows closely with a total of $15,100,000.00 to distribute. Although it hasn’t reached the same peak as in 2019, you still have an opportunity to earn substantial amounts of V-Bucks with this game.

1. Dota 2

$40,018,400.00

When it comes to thinking about esports and financial success, Dota 2 is the game that immediately comes to mind for me. Since 2013, this multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game has funded its annual ‘The International’ tournament through an innovative crowd-funding approach.

Each time a Battle Pass, or Compendium as it’s sometimes called, is purchased, one-quarter of the earnings are added to the total prize pool. This means that regular players have an opportunity to contribute towards the prize pool, and if they play well enough, they could potentially win a share of it.

Through crowdfunding efforts, the reward pool for the 2021 tournament swelled to a staggering $40,018,400, which remains the 62nd largest prize pot in history, despite a subsequent drop to $2,581,982 by 2024.

Read More

2025-04-08 16:12