The ten richest single esports tournaments ever staged, ranked by total prize pool - and seven of them are the same Dota 2 event.
Quick answer: 1. The International 2021, 2. The International 2019, 3. The International 2018, 4. The International 2017, 5. The International 2016, 6. The International 2022, 7. The International 2015, 8. Fortnite World Cup Finals 2019 - Solo, 9. Riyadh Masters 2023, 10. Fortnite World Cup Finals 2019 - Duos.
Esports prize money is wildly concentrated. One game, Dota 2, and one event, The International, account for seven of the ten biggest prize pools ever assembled - a consequence of Valve's Battle Pass, which funnelled a slice of in-game cosmetic sales straight into the pot and produced purses no sponsor would have written a cheque for. This list ranks single tournaments by the total money paid out across all placings, as tracked by Esports Earnings. It is a snapshot of a specific era: the crowdfunded prize pool peaked at just over $40 million in 2021 and has since collapsed, with Valve ending the Battle Pass model and recent Internationals paying out roughly a fourteenth of the 2021 figure.
The largest prize pool in esports history at just over $40 million, crowdfunded through Dota 2 Battle Pass sales during 2020 and held over a year late after the pandemic postponed the 2020 edition. Team Spirit, a Russian roster seeded through open qualifiers, beat PSG.LGD in the final and took home more than $18 million.
The first International held in China, and the last before the pandemic, with a $34.3 million pool. OG became the only team ever to win back-to-back Internationals, beating Team Liquid 3-1 in the Mercedes-Benz Arena final.
A $25.5 million pool and one of the great underdog runs in esports: OG, assembled weeks earlier after losing two players, came through the open qualifier and beat PSG.LGD in a five-game final.
Team Liquid swept Newbee 3-0 in the final after being knocked into the lower bracket on day one, then running the entire lower bracket - the longest such run in the event's history. The pool topped $24.6 million.
The $20.8 million pool broke the $20 million barrier for the first time in esports. Wings Gaming, a Chinese roster famous for drafting heroes nobody else touched, beat Digital Chaos 3-1 in the final.
The last International before Valve retired the Battle Pass funding model, worth $18.9 million - less than half the previous edition. Tundra Esports won it with a dominant run, dropping only a single game in the entire main event.
The $18.4 million pool made this the richest esports event in the world at the time, and the first North American win: Evil Geniuses beat CDEC Gaming in the final, with 15-year-old Sumail Hassan becoming the youngest esports millionaire.
The richest tournament outside Dota 2, with a $15.3 million pool funded outright by Epic Games rather than by players. Sixteen-year-old Kyle 'Bugha' Giersdorf won $3 million, at the time the largest single payout in esports, in front of a sold-out Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Part of Saudi Arabia's Gamers8 festival and the richest Dota 2 event ever staged outside The International, with an announced $15 million pool and $5 million to the winner. Team Spirit beat Team Liquid in the final.
The companion bracket to the Solo final, played the day before over the same $3 million top prize. Norway's Emil 'Nyhrox' Bergquist Pedersen and Austria's David 'aqua' Wang won the first and, so far, only Fortnite World Cup duos title.
| # | Name | Game | Year | Host city | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The International 2021 | Dota 2 | 2021 | Bucharest, Romania | Team Spirit |
| 2 | The International 2019 | Dota 2 | 2019 | Shanghai, China | OG |
| 3 | The International 2018 | Dota 2 | 2018 | Vancouver, Canada | OG |
| 4 | The International 2017 | Dota 2 | 2017 | Seattle, United States | Team Liquid |
| 5 | The International 2016 | Dota 2 | 2016 | Seattle, United States | Wings Gaming |
| 6 | The International 2022 | Dota 2 | 2022 | Singapore | Tundra Esports |
| 7 | The International 2015 | Dota 2 | 2015 | Seattle, United States | Evil Geniuses |
| 8 | Fortnite World Cup Finals 2019 - Solo | Fortnite | 2019 | New York City, United States | Kyle 'Bugha' Giersdorf |
| 9 | Riyadh Masters 2023 | Dota 2 | 2023 | Riyadh, Saudi Arabia | Team Spirit |
| 10 | Fortnite World Cup Finals 2019 - Duos | Fortnite | 2019 | New York City, United States | Nyhrox and aqua |
Tournaments are ranked by total prize pool in US dollars as recorded by Esports Earnings, the long-running public database of competitive gaming prize money, ordered largest first (rank 1 = biggest pool). Each entry is a single tournament with one bracket and one champion. Multi-title festivals are excluded: the Esports World Cup in Riyadh has advertised combined prize allocations above $60 million, but that money is split across dozens of separate game championships plus a club championship, so it is not a single-tournament figure and is not comparable to the events listed here. The Fortnite World Cup Finals 2019 is likewise counted as its two separate competitions - the Solo and the Duos brackets had their own pools and their own winners - rather than as one $30 million event. Figures are Esports Earnings' recorded totals, which can differ by small amounts from the organiser's announced headline number where bonus or qualifier money is counted differently; the announced figure is noted in the entry where it differs. Data as of 22 September 2026.
The International 2021, a Dota 2 tournament held in Bucharest in October 2021, with a prize pool of just over $40 million. Team Spirit won it and took home more than $18 million. No single esports tournament has come close since.
Valve funded The International through the Dota 2 Battle Pass, a seasonal in-game purchase where 25% of every sale went into the prize pool. Millions of players effectively crowdfunded the tournament, producing purses far beyond what sponsorship alone supports. Valve ended the Battle Pass after 2022 and prize pools fell sharply: recent Internationals have paid out around $3 million.
In total money, yes - the Esports World Cup in Riyadh has advertised combined allocations above $60 million, rising to $75 million for 2026. But that is a multi-week festival split across dozens of separate game championships plus a club championship, not one tournament with one bracket. This list ranks single tournaments, so the individual competitions inside the Esports World Cup are counted on their own, and none has yet reached the top ten.
Esports Earnings, a public database that has tracked competitive gaming prize money since 2011 by compiling organiser payouts and tournament results. Its totals occasionally differ by small amounts from an organiser's announced headline figure, usually because qualifier or bonus money is counted differently.
More like this: all Culture & Media rankings · browse every topic