Esports earnings might have already peaked according to new research as prize money purses have started to decrease.
The richest esports players in the world all earnt their winnings from one tournament, DOTA 2.
This international event, which took in 2019, is responsible for making all five members of the winning team the richest players in esports history, according to research from kingcasinobonus.uk.
Prize money on offer of US$34mln was the second largest purse in esports history, behind only to the 2021 iteration in which the prize fund was upped to US$40mln.
The five team members, who played for the OG esports, will thank the 2019 competition for making up around half of their lifetime earnings.
Similarly, the sixth to eighth richest players gained around 40% of their wealth from winning the same tournament two years prior when the tournament had a purse of US$24mln.
However, after the International increased winnings in 2021, the tournament made a steep reduction paying out only US$19mln in 2022.
The prize pool is largely contributed by Valve, the creators of DOTA 2, with the company using its sales of in-game ‘battle passes’ to sure up the purse.
In 2022 the company split the sale of its latest battle pass into two, with the second part being released after the tournament, therefore reducing the pot.
However, despite these changes other tournaments have witnessed a similar fate.
The League of Legends world championship is one of the biggest esports events with its 2018 tournament offering a US$6.4mln purse.
However, that too has seen a steep reduction in winnings with the 2022 championship only pooling together US$2.2mln in prizes.
Even now the industry continues to suffer with stocks like FaZe Clan, Gfinity and Enthusiast Gaming (TSX-V:EGLX) all down between 74% and 95% in the last year.