eSports: New study reveals Gamers to win nearly 230 Million in Dota 2 tournament

Gaming analysts at BetVictor have put together a new study looking at Money in Esports. By looking at the most popular and lucrative titles in Esports such as; Dota 2, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Fortnite, and League of Legends, and the geographical split of tournament winnings – we were able to find which countries around the world dominate.

The research uses elite pro-gamer nationalities and prize money earnings to provide a worldwide heat map revealing the countries that generate the most money, along with insights into global viewership figures.

Fortnite dominates US Esports tournament winnings with players taking OVER $16 MILLION 

Gamers from the USA have been at the top of their game for years, and over the past year or so, they’ve been dominating the worldwide smash hit Fortnite. The likes of bugha and psalm have taken millions of prize money home in recent years. While familiar teams such as Team Solmid, Faze Clan, and CLOUD9 all have a strong presence in the scene. 

Top THREE key findings in the US:

• Fortnite dominates the United States with players earning $16.1 million in tournaments. 
• 47% of worldwide Fortnite tournament winnings went to US Esports athletes in the past 12 months between March 2021 – 22.
• The US ranked second highest across the globe for overall money earned in tournaments totaling $60 million. China came first with $87 million.

A key takeaway for its popularity in the States comes down to its affordability and rich feature set.

Dota 2 leads all Esport tournaments with players earning up to 62 MILLION

Currently averaging over 450,000 monthly players, it’s no surprise that Dota  2 leads the way for prize money paid out to the best Esports gamers from the world over. Since 2011, there has been over $283 million paid out to contenders from all over the world.

Other key findings from around the world: 

• For producing the most money overall from tournaments Dota 2 leads with multiplayer online battle arena-style games generating just shy of $230 million ($226,185,774). While CS:GO collectively offers $54.4 million and Fortnite $33.9 million.
• Dota 2, ranks as the 2nd highest most-watched Esports tournament of 2021, with The International 10. The tournament generated 107.23 million hours watched with an airtime of 125 hours.
• Although Dota 2 tops the charts for the amount of prize money awarded, its viewership ranks as the 4^th most popular esports game with 347.6 million hours watched. However, the FPS-style game CS:GO ranks higher in 2^nd place with 410.8 million. With superstars like Neymar Jr, Deadmau5, and  Soulja Boy streaming the game, it’s no wonder it generates a high audience volume.
• The top 3 countries that dominate CS:GO are Denmark ($11.4 million), Russia ($6.5 million), and Sweden ($6.2 million).
• The number 1 ranked spot belongs to League of Legends (LoL), which has topped viewership figures for a few years now, dominating its competitors with 664.1 million hours watched. However, LoL didn’t make BetVictor’s Top 3 but generated $22.5 million in prize money worldwide.

The Esports industry has grown to new heights over the past decade and levelled up dramatically as interest has reached an all-time high. Your audience would be interested in finding out that the top 100 Esports games and their tournaments have paid out over a billion dollars – an eye-watering $1,217,418,331 as of 4 July.

Methodology 

The financial data used in this study is sourced from: esportsearnings.com. The findings referring to the last 12 months are based on data collected between March 2021 – March 2022. All-time earning data was collected up until May 2022.