Once upon a time,esportswas seen as a joke, mocked by those who didn’t fully understand the concept. Today, theesportsindustry has a billion-dollar value, is made up of an ecosystem of dozens of games, and is populated by organizations worth hundreds of millions of dollars. There’s a staggering amount of value in the esports industry, and some of the most valuable tournaments rival many of the world’s traditional sporting competitions.
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There’s a broad spectrum of titles that fill up the esports space, from first-person shooters to MOBAs, and from battle royale games to racing games. For the most part, the esports industry continues to grow and expand at an exponential rate, so over time, things are only becoming more valuable.
7The International 10
There are honest expectations that the prize pool put in place at The International 10 won’t be repeated anytime soon in the esports industry. It was something of a crowdfunded pool, pushed up by sales ofDota 2’s battle pass at the time, which proved to be a roaring success.
6Fortnite World Cup
In 2019, the first and onlyFortniteWorld Cup went live, boasting a $30 million prize pool. It was a unique event that turned talented gamers into multi-millionaires within a matter of hours, but since it wrapped up, another event like it hasn’t ever been seen. It was a one-off tournament that produced staggering results, with more than 2.3 million people tuning into the action live.
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By 2022,Fortniteremains one of themost valuable gaming ecosystemsin the history of the business. It still boasts a player count in the tens of millions, and it’s available on every platform and dramatically accessible, which encourages more users to get on board every day.
5PUBG Global Invitational.S
ThePUBGGlobal Invitational.S was a super-sized esports tournament that took place between February and March 2021. It pulled in hundreds of thousands of viewers and provided competitors with a prize pool worth more than $7 million. For years,PUBGwas thought ofas the chief pioneerof the battle royale genre, which is something that the game has certainly tried to live up to.
At the start of 2022,PUBGwent free to play but remained just as valuable as it ever was.
As a game, PUBG generates as much as $2 billion every year, but as an esports tournament, thePUBGGlobal Invitational.S was an absolute titan. It hasn’t been replicated since despite thePUBGesports scene remaining well and truly alive.
4League Of Legends World Championship
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AlongsideDota 2(The International 10),League of Legendsboasts a majority market share in the esports industry. It’s easily one of the most impactful titles in the space and after a decade as a competitive title, it still works hard to rule the roost on a global scale.
3Call Of Duty League
TheCall of DutyLeague is, without a doubt, the most valuable tournament in the entireCall of Dutyecosystem. FromCall of Duty MobiletoCall of Duty Warzoneand beyond, theCall of DutyLeague dominates every other tournament in terms of both popularity and overall value. In 2020, the inaugural season of theCall of DutyLeague went hand-in-hand with a $6 million prize pool, but that wasn’t where the bulk of the value came from.
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As a franchised league, organizations had to secure a ‘buy-in’ simply to compete in theCall of DutyLeague. Reportedly, each of the twelve slots in the league was (and likely continues to be) worth $25 million, and most organizations had to secure intense investments in order to get into the league.
2Overwatch League
When theOverwatchLeaguedebuted, it was met with a positive reception by fans far and wide. In 2019, the final stages of the tournament pulled in more than 300,000 viewers, all of whom were eager to see how the $3.5 million prize pool would be divided among the competitors. It was a relatively monumental event, and following thelaunch ofOverwatch 2in 2022, theOverwatchLeague remains bigger and better than ever.
That isn’t where the value ends in theOverwatchLeague, though. Like theCall of DutyLeague, which is arguably a sister tournament, theOverwatchLeague is built on a franchised foundation. Reportedly, each buy-in for theOverwatchLeague was worth $16 million, a staggering amount for what was essentially a brand-new game when it went live.
1Six Invitational
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Most of the value of the Six Invitational comes from how exclusive it is. For teams to be invited to the tournament, they truly have to be the best of the best, and typically, that means that they’re also successful and wealthy organizations, which only serves to multiply the value overall.
