The graph presents the leading eSports tournaments worldwide as of November 2017, ranked by overall prize pool. As of the measured period, The International 2017, which took place in the U.S. in August 2017 and featured DOTA 2, ranked first, with a total prize pool of 24.69 million U.S. dollars.
eSports prize pool – additional information
The entire eSports market is expected to grow over the coming years. From an estimated 325 million U.S. dollars in 2015, worldwide revenues are projected to increase to 1.07 billion in 2019. Looking at the latest regional profitability data, Asia was considered to be generating the lion’s share of the revenues in 2015, followed by North America with its 224 million U.S. dollar eSports market.
While the International 2015 was the leading tournament of all time based on the overall prize pool, the combined prize pools for all eSports events that year reached 74.8 million U.S. dollars worldwide. The fact that only a year earlier the prize pools were reported at half of that amount illustrates the increasing worth and significance of this segment of the gaming industry. What is more, in 2015 it was calculated that DOTA 2, the official game of The International championships, accounted for 43 percent of the total eSports prize money that year.
That same year, 11 percent of the eSports prize pools went to League of Legends. In terms of dollar value, League of Legends’ total prize pool between January and October 2015 amounted to 4.6 million U.S. dollars. While professional League of Legends' players compete via a variety of different tournaments, one of the most recognized tournaments is The World Championship. In fact, the 2013 World Championship is the second most watched eSports event of all time, attracting 32 million unique viewers worldwide.
