ESports, or Electronic Sports, are rapid growing professional sports. We see this with Counter Strike: Global Offensive being aired live on TBS. It's definitely no surprise that this is a rising sport. But exactly what games are in ESports? A lot of the games are ones that you've never even heard of. So here is a list of the top 11 games in ESports ranked by total money winnings.
11. World of Tanks
As a tank-based fighting game, this game brings in the fans by offering tank battles in many different venues. This game brought in a huge amount of $300,000 in just one tournament.
10. Guild Wars 2
This is the only MMORPG on the list. We see the players use their characters to fight in a 1v1 duel. While still being quite unknown to a lot of people, it still had 4 tournaments with a final reward of $300,000.
9. Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft
This entry features a trading card type game for online play. Building their own decks, players try to lower their opponents health from 20 to 0. This is Blizzard's second most popular ESport game, hosting 63 tournaments and having a final cash prize of $1,339,475.28. This is also Blizzard's lowest rates ESport.
8. StarCraft II
StarCraft II is Blizzard's second entry into the ESports league. StarCraft features space battles between people of the likes of which you'll never see in another game. Being Blizzard's oldest entry, this game hosts 389 tournaments with a final winning of $1,501,151.51.
7. SMITE
This is the first of the three MOBAs we'll see on this list. SMITE features mythological gods, either destroying towers, aiming for the opponents enemy Phoenix, or battling it out in an arena. The tower defense that this game is known for is the least popular of the MOBAs, only seeing 9 tournaments with a total winning of $1,624,194.9 5
6. Call of Duty: Black Ops 3
Being the most recent Call of Duty game, this is one of the more recent entries into this list. This brings two teams shooting it out in over 15 maps. These games are hosted on Playstation 4. Being the most recent entry, it's had only 37 tournaments, but having a final winning of $1,711,910.46. This will be replaced with the next Call of Duty game in the line.
5. Heroes of the Storm
Heroes of the Storm is the most recent of Blizzard's games to make it to ESprorts, but taking off almost immediately. As Blizzard's entry into the MOBA genre, we see teams of 5 playing as popular Blizzard characters from their previous games fighting into their enemy's base to destroy their Nexus. Being one of their most recent games, there are only about 38 tournaments total, but we see a final winning of $2,550,441.10, being the highest earning Blizzard game in ESports.
4. Halo 5: Guardians
Halo 5 is on of the newer games on this list. Being the newest Halo game, it is obviously the one to be played competitively. In this game, we see 2 teams of four have a firefight on many different maps for the most amount of points. Halo, being very popular, may only have 19 tournaments, but brings in about $2,667,224.23. Like Call of Duty, this is subject to change for the next Halo game.
3. League of Legends
Though not the top of the list in earnings, this is probably the most polar MOBA and maybe the most popular game on this list. Like the other MOBAs on this list, two teams of five battle it out to destroy each other's Nexus. This is the second biggest MOBA game, seeing 74 tournaments and having a final winning of $2,738,465.87.
2. Counter Strike: Global Offensive
Counter Strike: Global Offensive (CS: GO) may be the biggest game in ESports, being the only game to see airtime on TV. The goal is for a team of five terrorists to plant a bomb or kill the anti-terrorists, and for a team of five anti-terrorists to kill the terrorists or disarm the bomb before it blows. This is the most popular ESport game, seeing 468 tournaments and having a final winning of $9,375,518.05.
1. DOTA 2
DOTA 2, or Defense of the Ancients 2, is the highest earning MOBA in the world. This may not be the most popular of the MOBA genre, but it does earn the most by almost a full $20 million. DOTA 2 has the premise of other MOBAs, except trying to destroy what is known as the "Ancient." This game sees 78 games total, but has a final winning of $30,942,720.28. This is definitely the highest paying game in ESports!
These are the top 11 games in ESports, by winning money. As a growing sport, more and more people are recognizing video games as a sport, and we see many games rise through the works for people to play and win! With each game being ever-growing, even the kid sitting next to you could be the next ESport athlete!
