In the world of eSports, StarCraft 2 and League of Legends have been the best for payouts. Last year, Riot even paid out $2 million for its finals. But Dota 2 might be surpassing that… today!
The International 3 (IT3) is still doing the West and East Qualifiers, but through a strange form of crowd funding, the prize pool is already almost at $2 million – and we haven’t even gotten to the main competition! Check this out:
There’s still a lot of money in eSports – here is some data from the last few years.
The Dota 2 client is made for eSports – it even has built in streaming and sharing capabilities. Once it is out of beta, I wonder if it will surpass the others in eSports popularity – the big prizes certainly don’t hurt! Perhaps LoL will have to step up their game to keep the lead.
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Last Updated: May 16, 2013
mancera
May 16, 2013 at 13:37
That it is O.O
Admiral Chief Combat Engineer
May 16, 2013 at 13:44
I wanted to say exactly the same thing, in exactly the same words!
Heh, nice LC 🙂
Sir Rants-a-Lot Llew
May 16, 2013 at 13:47
🙂
Sir Rants-a-Lot Llew
May 16, 2013 at 13:47
🙂
Ultimo_Cleric_N7
May 16, 2013 at 13:57
I am trying so hard to get my SC2 skills up, but damn its difficult to think and react as fast as these guys do.
Personally think LoL and DOTA2 are a lot easier to play than SC2.
Admiral Chief Combat Engineer
May 16, 2013 at 14:03
I know what you mean man. At the SC2 event recently, it was mad watching those okes play, mad I tell you.
Lots of respect to them!
caponeil
May 16, 2013 at 14:13
Go and watch really highly skilled Dota or LOL players do their thing, it can be a thing of genius!
Matthew Holliday
May 16, 2013 at 15:17
less micro management, more control over an individual.
not easier, different.
Matthew Holliday
May 16, 2013 at 15:19
was up to 199800$ last i checked.
best 10$ Ive spent in ages.
legendary customisable courier
125% battlebonus for 3 months
and a new HUD coming probably befor the end of the night.
too sweet.
Matthew Figueira
May 16, 2013 at 15:36
Yeah! The bonuses are just gonna keep rolling in 😀
Matthew Figueira
May 16, 2013 at 15:35
EVERYBODY DROP EVERYTHING AND GO BUY A COMPENDIUM! DADDY WANTS A NEW IMMORTAL ITEM KKTY! 😀
Naudran
May 16, 2013 at 15:37
I’m not so sure about this being the highest. If you take into account that Riot (League of Legends developers) is paying teams $125 000 for participating in the LCS. There’s 8 US teams and 8 EU teams, that’s already $2 000 000 in salaries. Then they also pay out $100 000 in prize money for each leg in the LCS (spring then summer), so that’s another $200 000 for each group (US & EU). That brings us to $400 000 total prize money the the playoffs.
This all then leads up to a World Championship at the end of the year, that will pay out another unspecified amount of money to the winner… but I’m sure this prize pool will probably easily hit the millions again.
That’s a total of $2 400 000 without the World Championships, which could possibly push it up to over $4 000 000 in total.
I think all-in-all, what Riot as a game development company is doing for eSports is rather amazing
Chung Van Dao
May 16, 2013 at 19:30
The difference? Riot practically controls LoL’s competitive scene and is providing all that money. By the time the International 3 comes around I’m willing to bet that 1/3 of its prize pool at the very least will have been community-funded. I’m willing to bet that the prize pool will surpass $2.4 million. It’s taken about 10 days to raise (as of right now) $412,487.50 and there’s still another ~80 days or so until the International 2013 main event actually starts. All it’s gonna take is less than 1/8 of the current rate of compendium sales to reach that.
What exactly is Riot doing again? It benefits just them and not e-Sports. Valve are coming up with new features/improving old features that are very practical and applicable to any other e-Sport (eg. team logos, team pennants, in-game tournament spectating/tickets system, the compendium, the up-coming guilds system…) Riot? They’re just throwing a bunch of money at their competitive scene while strictly controlling it. I don’t see how that’s anything special to be honest. Any rich company can randomly inject millions into a game’s competitive scene and inflate its value but very few (eg. Valve) are actually doing things right that actually foster community-driven growth. It also doesn’t help that Riot have in the past paid organisers to keep Dota 2 and HoN away from being hosted.
Naudran
May 17, 2013 at 08:39
I have to disagree with you on certain points.
With regards to Riot controlling LoL’s competitive scene. There are still a lot of tournaments between and during the LCS legs. If I look at only today for instance, there’s LPL, OGN, GPL, SW8, TeSL and some random international invitational in Turkey. Also, you can’t fault Riot for initiating something that helps make their World Championship series more structured. They are also planning an amateur-type league next here, to help the less experienced teams.
If you think this structured way of working towards a World Championship does not benefit the whole of eSports and could also be used by any other company, then I’m truly lost. It’s after all used in normal sports as well… to great success.
Also, with regards to your new features/improving old features comment. The LoL teams have logos, pennant. There’s in-game tournament spectating. Huge crowds that goes to the venues every weekend to support their teams. Valve is not the only one doing these things. So not too sure what your point is… maybe I misunderstood you here.
Matthew Holliday
May 17, 2013 at 09:17
Point is, you’re in a dota 2 thread talking about LoL.
Past experiences show that LoL and dota players do not get along.
Naudran
May 18, 2013 at 01:08
The article was about price pool size. I just pointed out, that the kickstarter will probably have to go a bit before actually becoming the “biggest prize”. It could have just as well have been any other game this instead of LoL .
Past experiences show that imature fanboys do not get along. I myself enjoy LoL more than Dota, yet have friends to plays Dota… and we still get along. Don’t generalise 😉
Daniel Spengler
May 16, 2013 at 18:48
But money is not an object. It is a measure of value. Its like saying a kg or meter or whichever unit you choose is a physical object……… A bank note may very well be a phyiscal object. just as a measuring tape may be a physical object or a weight may be a physical object. Money is an IOU which can be readily transferred or redeemed for goods or services, currency is a standardised measure of value. Money is worth what you can buy with it.