Updated 25 October 2026: The International 2021, the Dota 2 world championship played in Bucharest, still has the largest prize pool of any single esports tournament: $40,018,400. Counted across a whole event, the record now belongs to the Esports World Cup, which paid out $75 million across 25 events in 24 games in Paris in 2026.
Largest single-tournament prize pools in esports
| Rank | Tournament | Game | Prize pool (US$) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The International 2021 | Dota 2 | $40,018,400 |
| 2 | The International 2019 | Dota 2 | $34,330,069 |
| 3 | The International 2018 | Dota 2 | $25,532,177 |
| 4 | The International 2017 | Dota 2 | $24,687,919 |
| 5 | The International 2016 | Dota 2 | $20,770,460 |
| 6 | The International 2022 | Dota 2 | $18,930,256 |
| 7 | The International 2015 | Dota 2 | $18,429,613 |
| 8 | Fortnite World Cup Finals 2019 – Solo | Fortnite | $15,287,500 |
| 9 | Riyadh Masters 2023 | Dota 2 | $15,120,000 |
| 10 | Fortnite World Cup Finals 2019 – Duo | Fortnite | $15,100,000 |
| 11 | The International 2014 | Dota 2 | $10,931,103 |
| 12 | Honor of Kings International Championship 2022 | Honor of Kings | $10,000,000 |
Nine of the 12 biggest prize pools were for Dota 2 events: eight Internationals and the 2023 Riyadh Masters. The 2019 Fortnite World Cup Finals, at $15,287,500 for the solo event and $15,100,000 for the duos, remain the largest outside Dota 2.
The International: from $1.6 million to $40 million and back
Valve’s first International, in Cologne in 2011, had a prize pool of $1.6 million. From 2013, a quarter of the money players spent on the in-game Compendium battle pass went into the pot, and the total grew at every edition until it reached $40 million in 2021, when Team Spirit won in Bucharest.
The pools have been far smaller since. These are the totals for each International since 2021, as recorded on Wikipedia:
| The International | Prize pool (US$ million) |
|---|---|
| 2021 | 40.0 |
| 2022 | 18.9 |
| 2023 | 3.1 |
| 2024 | 2.6 |
| 2025 | 2.9 |
| 2026 | 3.9 |
Team Spirit won The International again in Shanghai in 2026, their third title.
The Esports World Cup: the biggest total prize money
The Esports World Cup grew out of Gamers8, whose 2023 edition in Riyadh offered a then-record $45 million combined, with $15 million of it for the Riyadh Masters in Dota 2. The first Esports World Cup, in Riyadh in 2024, raised the total to $62.5 million, the 2025 edition to $71.5 million, and the 2026 edition, held in Paris from 2 July to 23 August, to $75 million.
That money is spread across many games, plus a cross-game Club Championship for the best-performing organisations. Its individual events are smaller than the biggest single-game tournaments, such as The International, the League of Legends World Championship and the Fortnite World Cup. Team Falcons won the Club Championship in 2024 and 2025, and AG.AL, the umbrella name for All Gamers’ teams, won it in 2026.
See also our guide to the best betting sites in India.
Photo credit: Alamy