The coronavirus epidemic caused a massive drop in prize money in the esports sector in 2020, putting an end to the eye-popping purse figures that were catching public attention.
Following an almost 30% increase from 2018 to 2019, with last year's prize money being $211 million USD, this year's prize money was a meager $65.5 million. That's a 69 percent decrease in a year's time.
The low payments are anticipated to persist in 2021 since the globe is not expected to return to normality until the middle of the year, precluding many events that could have occurred in Q1 and Q2.
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No. 10 – Rocket League: $2.63M
This year's addition to the list is Psyonix Studios' Rocket League, which paid out $2.63 million in prize money via its Rocket League Championship Series over the course of the year. The automobile soccer game, which paid out $3.040 million in prize money last year, is regarded as a game with a lot of room for development.
The most recent RLCS season, which will end in 2021, cost Psyonix $4.5 million. Rocket League is set to climb the rankings next year, with more prize money than ever pouring into a redesigned, open environment.
No. 9 – Hearthstone: $3.73M
Following a notable absence last year, Activision Blizzard's digital collectible card game finds its way into this year's list. Hearthstone is the only digital collectible card game to make the list, with $3.73 million in revenue, but Riot Games' Legends of Runeterra is a new competitor to look out for.
While Activision Blizzard continues to devote the majority of its money and attention to its franchised leagues, Riot Games is gradually and methodically increasing esports investment in its younger games, notably LoR. Hearthstone's position as the uncontested monarch of card games is now more in doubt than ever before, thanks to the emergence of new competitors such as Magic Arena (which made the list last year).
No. 8 – PUBG: $4M
There was a moment when PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS had the potential to be an esports leader. However, the game seems to have fallen into a lower rung after repeated restructurings of its esports infrastructure and the departure of many major esports teams from the sector. The COVID-19 epidemic put a kink in that plan before it could get off the ground, so 2020 was supposed to be a fresh chance for PUBG to concentrate on international competition.
In 2020, the game only paid out approximately a third of what it earned in 2019, falling four spots in the rankings from No. 4 in 2019.
No. 7 – Overwatch: $4.36M
Due to the epidemic, the Overwatch League was forced to switch to online-only play this year, thus putting an end to its home-team model ambitions, which were set to take off in full force this year. The sport still had a healthy prize pool, but it was less than half of last year's total of $9.59 million, and as a consequence, it has fallen from fifth to fifth place.
While Activision Blizzard paid a comparable amount of over $3 million for its season-ending event, the game's stage-based competition cycle was affected by the required transition to online play, decreasing the number of league-wide contests that had previously resulted in significant awards.
No. 6 – Rainbow Six Siege: $5.02M
Rainbow Six Siege was one of the few games to make more money in the pandemic-plagued year than it did the year before, earning $5.02 million in 2020 compared to $4.1 million in 2019. This was owing in large part to the fact that the game's global championship, the Six Invitational, was held in early February, far before the bulk of the globe was under COVID lockdown. That event alone paid out $3 million, up from $2 million the year before.
Rainbow Six was one of the few games in 2020 to hold its largest tournament in person, and as a consequence, it reaped the benefits of its year-over-year growth more than most others.
No. 5 – Call of Duty: $6.27M
With the launch of the newly geo-located and franchised Call of Duty League in 2020, the game mostly held its own in this year's rating, with a three-spot rise and just a small decrease in prize money. Unlike the Overwatch League, the Call of Duty League decided early on to keep the tournament-style format that it had before the series.
This meant that, in addition to the $4.6 million paid out by Activision Blizzard for the first CDL championship, each week of competition had to pay out its own prize fund. Activision Blizzard has committed substantial resources to an open semi-pro environment for Call of Duty, which will operate alongside the CDL. The biggest of these events had a prize pool of $250,000.
No. 4 – Fortnite: $7.87M
Due to the epidemic, Epic Games' famous battle royale game fell from first to fourth place this year, owing in part to the lack of a Fortnite World Cup in 2020. After awarding $3 million to then-16-year-old victor Kyle “Bugha” Giersdorf in 2019, the event drew massive media attention.
But Epic has always had a shaky relationship with esports, as the industry perceives it, and the firm is now retreating from its formerly dominant position. Epic has previously said that there would be no offline competitions for Fortnite in 2021, implying that there will be no World Cup. While Epic Games has the resources to bring Fortnite back to the top at any time, without a major expenditure in 2022, the game will continue to slip out of esports relevance.
No. 3 – League of Legends: $8.00M
League of Legends, the world's most popular sport by viewing measures, was able to mostly survive the epidemic – although via primarily online-only matches – and therefore rose from No. 6 last year to No. 3 this year due to a lack of a significant decrease in prize money. After paying out $9 million last year, League only paid out $8 million this year.
League of Legends is one of the only esports where prize money takes second place to the prestige of the competition, despite the huge sums on offer. The days of the novelty big cheque for thousands of dollars being the most significant prize presented at an event are long gone. Instead, the highly sought Summoner's Cup trophy takes center stage during the World Championship, with the winners taking home over $100,000 apiece once the dust has settled.
No. 2 – Dota 2: $8.87M
Dota 2 experienced a significant drop-off from last year, as anticipated, due to the pandemic that forced the postponement of this year's The International. Following a huge harvest of almost $50 million last year, this year's total was a meager $8.87 million.
Without the record-breaking TI prize pool each year, Dota's esports relevance will be jeopardized in 2020. Dota might have sunk considerably lower on the list if it hadn't been for strong community lobbying and third-party organizers.
The major issue in 2021 for this tournament is what will happen to the excessively high championship purse. Valve nevertheless managed to collect almost $40 million for the 2020 TI before delaying it until August 2021 and has yet to reveal what would be done with the funds. It's possible that the money may be folded into next year's crowdfunding campaign, resulting in a single-event prize pool exceeding $80 million.
No. 1 – Counter-Strike: Global Offensive: $14.75M
Despite a decrease in prize money from last year, the long-running OG of FPS games wins the top spot this year. The open, third-party-fueled ecology of CS:GO was perhaps best suited to adjusting to the online-only, fragmented nature of esports competition in 2020. Outside of the newly-launched Flashpoint, which didn't have the OWL's difficulties of navigating a league with teams playing across four countries, there was no league infrastructure to put into place.
CS:GO tournament organizers immediately switched to a regional competition structure and continued to provide content throughout the year. The million-dollar rewards from Valve's Major system were the only thing missing from the game's ecology, but they'll be back as soon as live events can be safely resumed.