Which game in the world of esports boasts the widest audience and the largest prize pools?
Whether you’re a fan of old games like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Dota 2, or prefer newer addicting games like Fortnite or Apex Legends, 2020 is one of the most record-breaking years in esports for everyone.
Prize pool records will be broken again this year. More and more non-gaming brands are sponsoring and investing in teams and tournaments. The topic is generally flourishing.
Esports tournaments for games like League of Legends, CS: GO, Dota 2 and Overwatch have been announced this year, despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The past year has also seen a massive boom in the popularity of mobile esports, especially in Asia. But what’s the best esports game in terms of viewership, prize pool and audience reach throughout the year?
What are the biggest esports games?
The term “largest” can be interpreted in different ways. The most popular esports, the ones with the most prize money or the ones with the largest audience?
For this breakdown, we’ll take all the top esports tournaments in 2019. We are looking at 2019 as many of the big tournaments for 2020 have yet to take place. We’ll compare the total prize pools and the most viewed tournaments for each game.
League of legends
- Total Prize Pool: $ 8,948,000
- Most-attended tournament: League of Legends Worlds (3.9 million)
Fortnite
- Total Prize Pool: $ 64,338,000
- Most Popular Event: Fortnite World Cup (2,300,000)
Dota 2
- Total Prize Pool: $ 4,650,000
- Most visited tournament: International (2 million)
CS: GO
- Total prize pool: $ 17,578,000.
- Most visited event: IEM Katowice Major (1.2 million)
Fortnite’s entry into the esports scene has brought together all the prize money, even though Dota 2 holds the record for the largest prize pot in a single tournament this year at International.
Epic’s Battle Royale also ranks second to viewers after Behemoth – League of Legends. MOBA has a large number of eSports tournaments due to several regional leagues that cover every corner of the globe. Despite being ranked # 1 in terms of views, LoL lags behind Fortnite, Dota 2 and CS: GO in terms of prize money paid.
One of these four must take first place for the “biggest” esports. However, which one will take the crown depends on what you value the most.
What are the most popular esports tournaments?
Popularity can be measured by a number of variables, but if you look at popularity in esports, viewership for each game is probably the best metric.
Here are the most popular esports tournaments in 2019:
Based on the numbers above, League of Legends is the most popular esports by a significant margin. Not only has it broken the record for the most watched esports event (excluding a Chinese audience), but its collective audience is huge due to the number of regional leagues that are held throughout the year.
Battle royale-style games also dominate the top ten: Fortnite, PUBG and Apex Legends are attracting large audiences, reflecting the popularity of games on streaming platforms like Twitch.
Free Fire, a popular mobile game in Asia, attracted a huge audience despite not having a large market in North America and most of Europe. It shows how influential an Asian audience can be.
Big FPS titles like Rainbow Six Siege and Call of Duty didn’t make the top 10, likely due to the huge popularity of the Battle Royale wave.
However, all of this could change in 2020. Some of the top esports leaders like PUBG and Apex Legends are in decline. Games like Rocket League and Valorant could take their place.
The most popular sporting event of all time is the 2019 FIFA World Cup. With the exception of China (where viewership statistics are difficult to obtain), the 2019 World Championship recorded a peak viewer count. Every gambling lover can take part in this.
