eSports Can Really Pay Off

To reach the elite echelons of gaming, you need to spend a huge amount of time playing your chosen game. Once you're there though, the financial rewards can really make the long hard grind worthwhile. Last year's grand final of The International - a DOTA 2 tournament - boasted total prize money of $21 million, with the winning team sharing over $9 million. The pool is largely crowd-funded, with 25 percent of all money spent on 'Battle Passes' for the event going into it.

This year's grand final, taking place between August 7 and 12, already has a total prize pool of $23 million. In the short time taken to write this article, the figure has risen by thousands of dollars and is unlikely to slow down before the start of the event, assuring a new record in eSport prize money.