Esports prize money to rise to just over USD 200 million in 2021

E-sports professionals earned prize money of USD 201.39 million (EUR 175.63 million) last year. According to the data portal Esports Earnings, the prize pool thus increased by 60% compared to the previous year, which was plagued by many tournament cancellations. In 2020, there were „only“ 124.91 million USD to be won by the 25,000 active tournament players worldwide.

Despite the considerable growth in prize money, e-sports tournaments have not yet been able to completely shake off the effects of the COVID pandemic. For example, the pre-Corona year of 2019 still occupies the top spot in terms of prize totals with USD 240.70 million.

Over the past decade, prize money for e-sports players has experienced an unprecedented boom. While they totaled USD 14.21 million in 2012, they have since increased by more than 7.5 times. The main reason is prize money at tournaments such as the Dota 2 International or the League of Legends World Championship Worlds with their prize pools in the mid-double-digit millions.

In terms of the most successful players, the five members of the Dota 2 World Champion Team Spirit rank first. Their share for winning the title in October 2021 is USD 3.70 million each. However, that still puts them a good bit behind the most financially successful e-sportsman, Johan „N0tail“ Sundstein. The 28-year-old Dane has already earned USD 7.18 million over the course of his career.

German gamers in 2021 under „distant memory

German fans have had to wait for years for successful local teams in the highest gaming leagues. For example, the German e-sports clan Berlin International Gaming (BIG) only came 65th in the ranking of the top teams of 2021.

The Berlin Bundesliga club Hertha BSC will be involved in the fight for prize money in e-sports in the future. The club announced its entry into League of Legends on Thursday. Starting January 24, Hertha will have a team competing in the Strauss Prime League, Division II, the second-highest German-language league. It will probably be a while before the Berliners compete for millions in tournaments such as LoL Worlds. Daniel Milleg, who is responsible for e-sports at Hertha, emphasized that the goal is first to advance to the highest league.

Even in a national comparison, Germany does not make it to the upper ranks. Here, gamers from the Federal Republic rank 13th with earnings of USD 3.6 million. Leading by a wide margin are gamers from China, who earned a total of USD 37.1 million in prize money last year.

The days when German players like Dota 2 pro Kuro „KuroKy“ Takhasomi raked in millions at tournaments seem to be over for now. It remains to be seen which player will make it to the top of the prize money rankings this year.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)