{"id":609,"date":"2017-01-20T04:10:34","date_gmt":"2017-01-20T04:10:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.xygaming.com\/content\/?p=609"},"modified":"2019-12-10T21:25:35","modified_gmt":"2019-12-10T21:25:35","slug":"top-5-highest-paying-esports-game-titles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.repeat.gg\/content\/top-5-highest-paying-esports-game-titles\/","title":{"rendered":"Top 5 Highest Paying Esports Games in 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.repeat.gg\">Repeat.gg<\/a> presents a list of the highest paying Esports game titles in history based on prize money won. All figures shown in this article will be placed in USD and based on the time the report was created (Late 2016). <\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It should not come as a surprise to anybody familiar with the Esports scene that Dota 2 (Defense Of The Ancients 2) rules the roost on a gaming prize pool tally. Although it records the highest paying tournaments in the world of Esports , it isn&#8217;t necessarily the most watched or largest Esports title based on statistics. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Each year prize pools and viewership numbers are rising and the past year is no exception with 4 of the five games on the list have recorded their best individual highest prize pool records in the past year.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Highest Paying Game Titles<\/h2>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><b>Game Title <\/b><\/td>\n<td><b>Earnings<\/b><\/td>\n<td><b>No. Tournaments<\/b><\/td>\n<td><b>Professional Players<\/b><\/td>\n<td><b>Release Date<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dota 2<\/span><\/td>\n<td><b>$94,814,164.45<\/b><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">654<\/span><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">1709 <\/span><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Late 2011<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">League of legends<\/span><\/td>\n<td><b>$37,042,213.80<\/b><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">1773<\/span><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">4332<\/span><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mid 2009<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Counter-Strike:GO<\/span><\/td>\n<td><strong>$28,638,773.08<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">2014<\/span><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">6333<\/span><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Early 2012<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Starcraft II<\/span><\/td>\n<td><strong>$21,765,461.56<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">3961<\/span><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">1599<\/span><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Early 2010<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Counter-Strike<\/span><\/td>\n<td><strong>$10,771,935.77<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">572<\/span><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">2587 <\/span><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Late 2000<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-611 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/d359b212dt0ata.cloudfront.net\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/15011448\/1q3aa.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"460\" height=\"215\" srcset=\"https:\/\/d359b212dt0ata.cloudfront.net\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/15011448\/1q3aa.jpg 460w, https:\/\/d359b212dt0ata.cloudfront.net\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/15011448\/1q3aa-300x140.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 460px) 100vw, 460px\" \/><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">#5 Counter-Strike <\/span><\/h2>\n<p><b>Prize Pool <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8211;\u00a0$10,771,935.77<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Professional Players &#8211; <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">2587<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Tournaments &#8211; <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">572<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Highest Earning Counter &#8211;\u00a0<\/b>Sweden <a href=\"https:\/\/d359b212dt0ata.cloudfront.net\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/15021047\/Sweden-icon.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-630 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/d359b212dt0ata.cloudfront.net\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/15021047\/Sweden-icon.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"48\" height=\"48\" \/><\/a>\u00a0$2,733,810.21<\/p>\n<p><b> Largest Prize Pool &#8211; <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">$200,000.00\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The only retired Esports game in the top 5 and also the predecessor to the current active Counter-Strike: Global offensive title. Counter-Strike (sometimes referred to as Half-Life: Counter-Strike or Counter-Strike 1.6, and shortened to CS) is a tactical first-person shooter developed by Valve Corporation. The game went to expand into other series since the original release of the game, which was successful in their right, but the original still reigned as the championship game title.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Counter-Strike version 1.6 retired as the main competitive series in\u00a0late 2012 when the majority of organisations and teams transferred over when Valve discontinued its support for the professional circuit. \u00a0Intel Extreme Masters was one of the major tournaments for CS 1.6 and once <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hltv.org\/news\/8658-iem-drops-counter-strike-16\">the announcement was released by<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hltv.org\/news\/8658-iem-drops-counter-strike-16\">HLTV.org<\/a> that it was dropped sent shock waves throughout the community.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Counter-Strike eSport\u2019s peak was during 2003-2005 and was one of the only few professional eSport titles with Starcraft at the time. Due to it being before Esports time and just starting to break ground, its largest prize pool only came from the 2003 CPL Summer with $200,000 prize pool with SK-Gaming taking it out for $60,000 1st place.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-612 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/d359b212dt0ata.cloudfront.net\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/15011756\/starcraftII.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"960\" height=\"540\" srcset=\"https:\/\/d359b212dt0ata.cloudfront.net\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/15011756\/starcraftII.png 960w, https:\/\/d359b212dt0ata.cloudfront.net\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/15011756\/starcraftII-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/d359b212dt0ata.cloudfront.net\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/15011756\/starcraftII-768x432.png 768w, https:\/\/d359b212dt0ata.cloudfront.net\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/15011756\/starcraftII-696x392.png 696w, https:\/\/d359b212dt0ata.cloudfront.net\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/15011756\/starcraftII-747x420.png 747w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\" \/><\/p>\n<h3><b>#4 Starcraft II<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><b>Prize Pool <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8211;\u00a0$21,765,461.56<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Professional Players &#8211; <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">1599\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Tournaments &#8211; <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">3971<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Highest Earning Counter &#8211; <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0South Korea <a href=\"https:\/\/d359b212dt0ata.cloudfront.net\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/15020936\/South-Korea-icon.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-629 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/d359b212dt0ata.cloudfront.net\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/15020936\/South-Korea-icon.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"48\" height=\"48\" \/><\/a>\u00a0$14,570,946.89<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b> Largest Prize Pool &#8211; <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">$$500,000.00<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><i>StarCraft II <\/i><\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">i<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">s a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Military_science_fiction\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">military science fiction<\/span><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Real-time_strategy\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">real-time strategy<\/span><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Video_game\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">video game<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> developed and published by <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Blizzard_Entertainment\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Blizzard Entertainment<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and played in a one versus one format. Just like Counter-Strike, the game Starcraft started its series back in 1999, but unlike its counterpart, it has recently received less attention as a major Esports title with League of Legends and Overwatch taking heavy traffic in South Korea. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For many years South Korea were the masters of the game and respect was given to any foreigners that were able even to challenge the game&#8217;s Overloads. Starcraft was so large at one point it was considered to be the biggest \u201csport\u201d in Korea making the top players instant superstars, which also enticed top foreigners to relocate for a professional career permanently. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/StarCraft:_Brood_War\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">StarCraft<\/span><\/i><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> has been called the most successful <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/E-sport\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">e-sport<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in the world that includes its ranking system, and it has been referred to as the national pastime in South Korea, where there are two television channels dedicated to broadcasting professional <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">StarCraft<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> matches.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A common theme in recent years in Esports is larger prize pools, and it will come as no surprise that Starcraft II, regardless of its downwards popularity, had its largest prize pool in 2016. This was the WCS 2016 Global Finals with a $500,000 prize pool where South Korean professional player Byun took home $200,000.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-613 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/d359b212dt0ata.cloudfront.net\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/15011913\/csgo-counter-strike.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"620\" height=\"349\" srcset=\"https:\/\/d359b212dt0ata.cloudfront.net\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/15011913\/csgo-counter-strike.jpg 620w, https:\/\/d359b212dt0ata.cloudfront.net\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/15011913\/csgo-counter-strike-300x169.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\" \/><\/p>\n<h2><b>#3 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive <\/b><\/h2>\n<p><b>Prize Pool <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8211;\u00a0$28,638,773.08<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Professional Players &#8211; <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">6495<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Tournaments &#8211; <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">2046<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Highest Earning Counter &#8211; <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sweden <a href=\"https:\/\/d359b212dt0ata.cloudfront.net\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/15021047\/Sweden-icon.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-630 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/d359b212dt0ata.cloudfront.net\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/15021047\/Sweden-icon.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"48\" height=\"48\" \/><\/a>\u00a0$4,525,321.90<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b> Largest Prize Pool &#8211; <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">$1,410.000.00\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><i>Counter-Strike<\/i><\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (officially abbreviated as <\/span><b><i>CS<\/i><\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">) is a series of <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Multiplayer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">multiplayer<\/span><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/First-person_shooter\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">first-person shooter<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> video games, in which teams of <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Terrorism\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">terrorists<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Counter-terrorism\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">counter-terrorists<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> battle, respectively, perpetrate an act of terror and prevent it. Released in 1999 as a modification for Half-Life, Counter-Strike today is the oldest current Esports game title series still in rotation and in fact is the most working professional eSport title. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Counter-Strike is the largest Global Esports title with over 820 tournaments recorded in 2016 alone, almost quadruple the tournaments played then the next two most major Esports titles: League of Legends and Dota 2. With Counter-Strike: GO currently on weekly television in America with TBS and League, the potential growth for the title is becoming larger each year and now challenging League Of Legends in viewership.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Third-ranked highest Esports title Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is the <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">fourth game in the main <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Counter-Strike\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Counter-Strike<\/span><\/i><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> franchise. <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Counter-Strike: Global Offensive<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> was released in August 2012. Only recently in the past 18 months, Counter-Strike has received the mainstream gaming attention it has gotten as possibly being one of, if not the largest, Esports professional title. \u00a0In the past year prize money has jumped from $250,000 as the biggest prize pool of 2015 to around $1,400,000 almost twice this year with the viewership to match, 1.6 million people watched the MLG Columbus live with over 45 million hours viewed. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-614 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/d359b212dt0ata.cloudfront.net\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/15012125\/League-of-Legends-logo.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"580\" height=\"270\" srcset=\"https:\/\/d359b212dt0ata.cloudfront.net\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/15012125\/League-of-Legends-logo.jpg 580w, https:\/\/d359b212dt0ata.cloudfront.net\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/15012125\/League-of-Legends-logo-300x140.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 580px) 100vw, 580px\" \/><\/p>\n<h3><b>#2 League Of Legends <\/b><\/h3>\n<p><b>Prize Pool <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8211;\u00a0$37,042,213.80<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Professional Players &#8211; <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">4332<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Tournaments &#8211; <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">1773<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Highest Earning Counter &#8211; <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">South Korea <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-629 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/d359b212dt0ata.cloudfront.net\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/15020936\/South-Korea-icon.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"48\" height=\"48\" \/>\u00a0$13,832,712.92<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b> Largest Prize Pool &#8211; <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">$5,070,000.00\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><i>League of Legends<\/i><\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (abbreviated <\/span><b><i>LoL<\/i><\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">) <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">is a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Multiplayer_online_battle_arena\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">multiplayer online battle arena<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> video game developed and published by <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Riot_Games\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Riot Games<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and is highly inspired by\u00a0the game title previously mentioned, Defense Of The Ancients. Almost a brain child of the Dota franchise, League of Legends picked up momentum extremely quickly and become the fastest-growing user base of all time.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Current League Of Legends boasts around 100 million active users each month making it the most played game on the planet. Released in 2009, League of Legends has formed as the pinnacle of professional Esports. The creators Riot fully fund the pro-circuit and the world championships each year. Riot have fully taken control of the professional scene by paying professional players salaries, accommodation, managers, coaches and dealing with all legalities of contracts for all its pro-players. What also makes League Of Legends so successful is using their platform also to showcase the professional and amateur scene by each region player logs into. Just loading the game, you will be inundated with information about current and recent tournaments hosted by Riot Games. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">League of Legends is also the most watched Esports title in the world. In one year LOL received 263.8 million hours watch on twitch and by June 2016 had 26.7 million Esports hours watched, just behind Dota 2 which saw 32.9 million hours watched. In 2015 League of Legends had more people watching their World Championship then the NBA Finals online with around 36 million unique viewers. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In 2016, League Of Legends broke their record for highest prize pool for the game having adopted the Dota 2 crowdsourcing method. This boosted their last year&#8217;s prize pool from $2,130,000.00 to $5,070,000.00 the following year. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-615 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/d359b212dt0ata.cloudfront.net\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/15012127\/dota2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"636\" height=\"358\" srcset=\"https:\/\/d359b212dt0ata.cloudfront.net\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/15012127\/dota2.jpg 636w, https:\/\/d359b212dt0ata.cloudfront.net\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/15012127\/dota2-300x169.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 636px) 100vw, 636px\" \/><\/p>\n<h3><b>#1 Dota 2 <\/b><\/h3>\n<p><b>Prize Pool &#8211;\u00a0$94,814,164.45<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>Professional Players &#8211; <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">1709 <\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Tournaments &#8211; <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">654 <\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Highest Earning Country &#8211;\u00a0<\/b>China <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-625 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/d359b212dt0ata.cloudfront.net\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/15020432\/small_china_flag.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"26\" height=\"18\" \/>\u00a0$37,253,914.71<\/p>\n<p><b>Largest Prize Pool &#8211; <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">$20,770,640.00 (2016) <\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><i>Defense Of The Ancients 2 (Dota 2)<\/i><\/b> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">is a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Free-to-play\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">free-to-play<\/span><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Multiplayer_online_battle_arena\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">multiplayer online battle arena<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (MOBA) video game developed and published by <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Valve_Corporation\">Valve Corporation<\/a>.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0The game is played by pitting two teams of five. The game currently holds the world record for the largest Esports prize pool at $20,770,640.00. This was for their annual world championship which has run since 2011 called \u201cThe International\u201d. The International Prize Pools are reached by the game developers (Valve) first offering an initial cash purse of $1,600,000 with the rest of the money raised by the community that plays Dota2 via purchasing in-game Compendiums called \u201cBattle Pass\u201d. 25% of the proceeds from all \u201cBattle Pass\u201d sales go directly to funding The International Prize Pool.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This method of crowdsourcing for prize money has led to games such as Smite, Counter-Strike: GO and League Of Legends reaching their highest prize purse given away in the last couple of years. Much of Dota 2\u2019s success is from the game company themselves introducing a Major Pro Circuit each year of 3 major events funded by crowdfunding and game creators Valve.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-865 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/d359b212dt0ata.cloudfront.net\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/20035108\/e389f8b6b69ec6c4aeefab241b6b07de.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"624\" height=\"156\" srcset=\"https:\/\/d359b212dt0ata.cloudfront.net\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/20035108\/e389f8b6b69ec6c4aeefab241b6b07de.jpg 624w, https:\/\/d359b212dt0ata.cloudfront.net\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/20035108\/e389f8b6b69ec6c4aeefab241b6b07de-300x75.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 624px) 100vw, 624px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>An argument can be had about which of the top 3 highest earning game titles can take the crown as the largest <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Esports <\/span>title. Is it Dota 2, League of Legends or Counter-Strike? Key factors such as the active competitive circuit, larger audience or viewership and largest prize pools can all be arguments in determining which title is king.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Source<\/strong> \u2013 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.esportsearnings.com\/countries\">http:\/\/www.esportsearnings.com\/countries<\/a> \u2013 This list represents the top countries of players in <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Esports <\/span>who won prize money based on information published on the internet. Sources include news articles, forum posts, live report threads, interviews, official statements, reliable databases, VODs and other publicly-accessible sources that preserve \u201chistorical\u201d information.<\/p>\n<p>If you found this article interesting make sure to read our other Prize Pool Articles \u2013<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.xygaming.com\/content\/highest-earnings-esports-countries\/\">Highest Earning <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Esports <\/span>Countries\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.xygaming.com\/content\/top-5-largest-esports-prize-pools-of-2016\/\">Highest-Earning Prize Pools of 2016<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Article Written by \u2013 Repeat.gg Community Manager Scott \u201cBoomser\u201d Bednarski \u2013 Twitter \u2013 <a class=\"ProfileHeaderCard-screennameLink u-linkComplex js-nav\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Scottyboomser\">@<span class=\"u-linkComplex-target\">Scottyboomser<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Repeat.gg presents a list of the highest paying Esports game titles in history based on prize money won. All figures shown in this article will be placed in USD and based on the time the report was created (Late 2016). It should not come as a surprise to anybody familiar with the Esports scene that [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":867,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[99],"tags":[112,84,102,9,111,23,63,96,91,3,45,40,105,104,29,43,60,28],"class_list":{"0":"post-609","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-esports","8":"tag-biggest-games","9":"tag-counterstrike","10":"tag-dota2","11":"tag-esports","12":"tag-esports-prizes","13":"tag-gaming","14":"tag-gaming-competitions","15":"tag-gaming-grand-prize","16":"tag-highest-earning","17":"tag-league-of-legends","18":"tag-paid-gamers","19":"tag-prize-money","20":"tag-sc2","21":"tag-starcraft","22":"tag-steam-games","23":"tag-video-gaming","24":"tag-world-championship","25":"tag-xy-gaming"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Top 5 Highest Paying Esports Games in 2016 - Repeat<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The top five highest paying Esports game titles based on prize money won in 2016. All figures shown in this article will be placed in USD.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.repeat.gg\/content\/top-5-highest-paying-esports-game-titles\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Top 5 Highest Paying Esports Games in 2016 - Repeat\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The top five highest paying Esports game titles based on prize money won in 2016. All figures shown in this article will be placed in USD.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.repeat.gg\/content\/top-5-highest-paying-esports-game-titles\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Repeat\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Repeatgg\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-01-20T04:10:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-12-10T21:25:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/d3nxyjdfmsp653.cloudfront.net\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/20035647\/maxresdefault-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Scott Bednarski\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@repeatgg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@repeatgg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Scott Bednarski\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.repeat.gg\/content\/top-5-highest-paying-esports-game-titles\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.repeat.gg\/content\/top-5-highest-paying-esports-game-titles\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Scott Bednarski\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.repeat.gg\/content\/#\/schema\/person\/9e89f785f676265f7cc265ceaf5a0b58\"},\"headline\":\"Top 5 Highest Paying Esports Games in 2016\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-01-20T04:10:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-12-10T21:25:35+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.repeat.gg\/content\/top-5-highest-paying-esports-game-titles\/\"},\"wordCount\":1468,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.repeat.gg\/content\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.repeat.gg\/content\/top-5-highest-paying-esports-game-titles\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/d359b212dt0ata.cloudfront.net\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/20035647\/maxresdefault-1.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"biggest games\",\"counterstrike\",\"Dota2\",\"esports\",\"esports prizes\",\"Gaming\",\"gaming competitions\",\"gaming grand prize\",\"highest earning\",\"league of legends\",\"Paid Gamers\",\"prize money\",\"sc2\",\"Starcraft\",\"Steam Games\",\"Video Gaming\",\"World Championship\",\"XY Gaming\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Esports\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.repeat.gg\/content\/top-5-highest-paying-esports-game-titles\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.repeat.gg\/content\/top-5-highest-paying-esports-game-titles\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.repeat.gg\/content\/top-5-highest-paying-esports-game-titles\/\",\"name\":\"Top 5 Highest Paying Esports Games in 2016 - Repeat\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.repeat.gg\/content\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.repeat.gg\/content\/top-5-highest-paying-esports-game-titles\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.repeat.gg\/content\/top-5-highest-paying-esports-game-titles\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/d359b212dt0ata.cloudfront.net\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/20035647\/maxresdefault-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-01-20T04:10:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-12-10T21:25:35+00:00\",\"description\":\"The top five highest paying Esports game titles based on prize money won in 2016. 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