Continuing Multi-Million Prize Pool Trend Bodes Well for Growing eSports Industry

The sheer size of the prize pools at some of the major upcoming eSports tournaments can be seen as a good indicator of the continuing growth and popularity that the industry is enjoying, and it's a trend that goes back a way. You need only look to 2014’s edition of The International to see this over a decade ago. That tournament’s prize pool, which has been bumped down to 11th overall, was over $10.9 million. Now, the world record is over $40 million, which was offered to the competitors of The International 2021.

This will not remain the record for very long. Announced in April 2025, the eSports World Cup 2025 will be putting out the largest prize pool in the history of the industry. By the end of August, the event will have paid out over $70 million in prizes. While it is backed by Saudi Arabia – a nation known to splash some cash on world-class sporting events – clearly there’s enough enduring appeal to make the venture viable in the first place.

It’s a strong sign of a healthy industry, which is also being reflected in the market estimates coming out right now.

An Inspirational Rise to Prominence

Overall, the eSports industry is expected to continue to grow through to the end of the decade. In 2023, the industry was already worth in excess of $3 billion. Hitting a compound annual growth rate of 19 percent until 2030, that’d put its value at around $6 billion by the end of the decade. It’s a staggering figure, fuelled by increased viewership – which is set to eclipse 641 million viewers this year – which will only invite more powerful sponsors.

To say that the rise of eSports has been a phenomenon would be an understatement. It’s had a huge influence on entertainment across the board, from drawing TV viewers to live-streaming platforms like Twitch, to encouraging other platforms to lean into the appeal of competition.

As a way to add value to game time, some online casinos have even begun to adopt the tournament structure. You don't have to look very far nowadays to find an online promotions page with many a casino bonus, including daily random cash drops, welcome bonuses, and now even a roulette leaderboard and daily tournaments. Both of these latter offerings pit players against each other to reward the top performers through each cycle, further incentivizing regular engagement with the platform's content.

It seems that audiences from all walks of life have responded well to these types of events, and this has, in turn, allowed recent tournaments to offer some pretty sizeable prize pools. The stack of multi-million-dollar competitions we can see coming up throughout the year is a major marker of this sustained success.

Big Prize Pools for Big (and Lesser) Events

Of course, The International and a few others will remain the headline-makers with their seven or eight-figure prize pools every year. However, what’s very important to note is that it’s not just the biggest events in eSports that reach prize pools of $1 million or more. In general, so far, 2025 has enjoyed a hot start for particularly large prize pools.

In February, the Apex Legends Global Series: 2024 Championship had a $2 million pool, and Fissure Playground #1 also had a $1 million pool. Later that month, IEM Season XIX – Katowice joined the $1 million club, and the Capcom Cup 11 went over $1.2 million. Step into March, and we also see First Stand Tournament 2025 and PGL Wallachia Season 3 break into seven figures.

Then, this October, we'll welcome the 2025 World Championship with a prize pool of $5 million, and in September, there'll be the female-only FIDE Women's Grand Swiss tournament for $230,000.

The eSports industry is certainly in a very good place right now, and while that can be seen in industry forecasts, the underlying prevalence of huge prize pools for so many tournaments offers further evidence to eSports’ high-flying trajectory.