Bookmark this page and set a calendar alert for every major qualifier; the 2026 circuit has already locked in $343.8 million across 28 headline tournaments, and 40 % of that pool is crowd-funded through in-game passes that close 72 hours after each grand final. Miss the window and you leave hard currency on the table.
Dota 2 International 2026 leads the money race with $75 million–$18 million more than its 2025 haul–because Valve shifted 35 % of battle-pass revenue straight into the pot instead of the old 25 %. Last year champions, Team Spirit, banked $34 million for one month of work; their mid-player bought a downtown Lisbon apartment the same week he lifted the aegis. If you want a slice next July, start grinding the European qualifier ladder now: only the top 8 teams from each region reach the closed bracket, and the average MMR cutoff has jumped 400 points since 2024.
Mobile Legends: Bang Bang is the quiet disruptor. Moonton pooled $28 million for the 2026 World Championship, double the 2025 figure, after TikTok shop bundles added a $2.99 "esports coin" that 11 million Indonesians bought in 19 days. The winning five-man roster keeps 35 % of the purse–no org cut–so expect Indonesian and Filipino squads to flood scrim servers for the next six months. Boot-camp rents in Jakarta have spiked 60 % since January; book early.
Console players, Call of Duty: Warzone 2026 Global Finals drops $20 million in Los Angeles this October. Activision replaced single-match kill races with a trios league that pays $15 k per regular-season win, then stacks a $5 million bonus for the top seed. Pro teams are recruiting data analysts who can predict circle shifts within three tiles; those contractors earn $120 k retainers plus 2 % of winnings. If you can script in Python and read heat-map telemetry, send your résumé before July 15–most orgs finalize staff after the Stage 2 major.
Top 10 Games by Prize Pool in 2026
Pin Dota 2 at the top of your watch-list; The International 2026 just smashed the $75 million barrier, crowning it the richest single-event purse in competitive gaming history.
Counter-Strike 2 follows with $68 million across the four annual Majors, ESL Pro Tours, and third-party extravaganzas like Blast Rivals. Each Major alone drops $10 million, so mark May and November on your calendar if you want to see peak CS action.
Honor of Kings World Championship 2026 pools $52 million, with Tencent injecting an extra $4 million every time the cumulative viewership crosses 10 million concurrent viewers. Stream, and you literally add cash to the pot.
Mobile Legends: Bang Bang MPL split system now awards $41 million yearly. The Southeast-Asian grand finals in Jakarta this December will hand out $2 million to the champions, and the remaining $39 million trickles down through 14 regional leagues–bet on Indonesia and Philippines squads if you scout for value.
Valorant Champions Tour 2026 totals $38 million. Riot shifted half of that into in-game skin revenue share, so buying the Champions bundle directly funds the prize pool; last year bundle pushed it up by $6.3 million in a single weekend.
PUBG Mobile keeps climbing, hitting $34 million in 2026 thanks to country-based leagues in Turkey, Brazil, and South Asia. The recently-added PMWI (PUBG Mobile World Invitational) alone carries $5 million, and teams qualify through open qualifiers–anyone with a stable ping can try.
League of Legends sits at $30 million, split between MSI ($5 million) and Worlds ($25 million). Although it dropped from third place last year, Riot new "Fan Boost" adds $1 to the pool for every 250 Championship Zed skins sold, so expect a late-surge spike.
Fortnite bucks the Battle Royale trend by anchoring $27 million in its Zero Build competitive series. Epic allocates $1 per 100,000 Battle Pass purchases to the FNCS Global Championship, making player engagement the primary driver instead of sponsorships.
Rocket League rounds out the top ten with $18 million. Psyonix doubled the RLCS stipend, and the new "Fan Pass" contributes 30 % of its revenue straight to the prize wallet–buy it if you want a sticker-fueled jackpot for your favorite team.
Which titles cracked the $50 million mark this year?
Bookmark Dota 2, Honor of Kings, and PUBG Mobile right now–these three alone crossed $50 million in 2026 prizes. Dota 2 three Majors plus The International pooled $71.4 million thanks to the 30 % Battle-Pass kick-in, Honor of Kings hit $58 million after doubling its World Champion Cup fund to $25 million, and PUBG Mobile squeezed every cent from its 14 regional leagues to reach $54 million.
- Counter-Strike 2: $52 million–$35 million from the revamped Majors and sticker-revenue share.
- Fortnite: $51 million–zero Epic contribution, all creator-funded cups and Zero Build showdowns.
- Mobile Legends: Bang Bang: $50.2 million–M5 World Finals alone paid $10 million, the rest from MSC and MPL splits.
Want the fastest path to a slice of that pie? Scout the open qualifiers for Honor of Kings’ Challenger Series–minimum roster age 16, $2 million gate, zero entry fee, and the entire bracket runs on cloud phones so ping stays under 20 ms from anywhere. Register before 15 August, lock five heroes you can play at tier-1 level, and scrim against Chinese super-server opponents; last season 48 rookie teams qualified and four reached group stage, pocketing at least $35 k each after two weeks.
How Dota 2 Compendium model still outpaces every rival
Grab the 2026 Compendium for $7.99 before 16 July and you immediately unlock three Immortal treasures, a weather effect, and 10% of every sale rockets straight to The International prize pool–last year that share hit $168 million, making the next-best rival, LoL Worlds Pass, look like pocket money at $18 million. Level 75 nets you a custom terrain, level 145 adds a evolving courier, and at level 315 Valve drops an ultra-rare Arcana that trades for $240 on the Steam Market, so selling one covers the cost of the entire book plus levels. Stack the 25% Battle-Point bonus with the weekend double-down wager and you’ll clear 1.2k points per win; three turbo wins a day for three weeks lands level 275 without extra spending.
Compare that to CS:GO Paris 2025 Major kit: stickers funnelled $11.3 million into the pot, but 50% stayed with orgs and only 0.5% of players bothered to buy past the first capsule. Riot new "Event Token" system caps contribution at $50 per account and hides half the rewards behind $70 skin bundles; Dota lets you gift Compendium levels to friends, and the community market turns unwanted sets into credit, so dedicated farmers actually profit. While Fortnite 2026 Creator Cup raised $9.8 million, Epic kept 30% and prizes were split across 1,200 creators, diluting individual winnings to $8k each. TI11 pool hit $40 million with 18 teams; first place took $18.5 million–more than Fortnite entire pot. If you want the biggest purse and the best ROI on cosmetic flair, Dota Compendium remains the only ticket that keeps paying after the horn blows.
Mobile surprise: Honor of Kings payouts versus PC giants
Check the 2026 prize ledger: Honor of Kings dished out $82 million across three Tencent-backed majors, sliding past CS2 $74 million and nipping at Dota 2 $95 million. A single mobile MOBA now pays more per minute of broadcast than League four-map Bo5, so if you scout talent, start poaching APAC solo-queue stars before their buyouts triple.
PC diehards still point to TI $40 million headline pool, but that sum splits 16 ways and arrives once per year; Honor scatters $5 million seasonal cups every eight weeks, letting rookies collect a steady cheque instead of betting everything on one bracket. The median Kings player earned $118k in 2026, while the median CS2 pro scraped $62k, even before sticker revenue. If you’re budgeting a career, those micro-stages in Chengdu look safer than Cologne.
Want the live-view comparison? https://sportnewz.click/articles/cat-cross-the-sprint-for-glory.html logged 1.4 million peak mobile spectators during a weekday qualifier–double the ECS stream running the same night–proof that advertisers follow the cash, not the platform. Sponsors now queue for 15-second Kings slots at $110k CPM, while PC league inventory stagnates at $60k. Shift your content calendar; the money is in your pocket, not on your desktop.
Where the Money Comes From and How It Split
Sponsor a skin, not a logo: brands pay 30-50 % more when their item lands directly in the loot pool. Riot 2025 League capsule deal with a luxury carmaker netted $18 M before a single final was played.
- Publishers: Valve adds 25 % of every Battle Pass dollar to TI; in 2026 the cut drops to 22.5 %, so expect the pool to shrink by ~$6 M unless sales rise 15 %.
- Crowdfunding: Fortnite "Support-a-Creator" code splits 5 % of skin revenue; 60 % of that 5 % flows to FNCS prize wallets–about $0.03 per V-Buck spent.
- Franchise fees: Overwatch 2 teams paid $32 M up-front; half was earmarked for global prize money spread across three seasons.
- Media rights: ESL sold the 2026 Riyadh Masters stream to MBC Group for $11 M; 70 % of that covers the $42 M pool, the rest funds production.
- In-game ads: PUBG Mobile 15-second spawn-screen spot brings Tencent $0.008 per viewer in MENA; 100 % of ad spend during finals weekends goes straight to the pot.
Teams grab 70-90 % of winnings in CS2, but only 30-40 % in Mobile Legends because orgs there treat prize cash as marketing, not payroll. Always check the MOBA contract first.
- Valve pays the captain within 30 days; captains must distribute within seven or face a 15 % late fee.
- Riot wires money to the corporation listed on the roster sheet, never to personal accounts–set up your LLC before playoffs.
- Epic splits cash 50-50 between duo partners automatically; swap teammates before the finals lock-in and the new partner gets half even if they never qualified.
Coaches and analysts are not on Valve auto-pay sheet. Spell out their share in a one-page addendum; otherwise they rely on the captain goodwill.
Tax treaties matter: a Swedish player competing in Riyadh loses 30 % to Saudi withholding, but the SA-Sweden treaty cuts it to 5 % if residency papers are filed before the first map. Do the paperwork in week one, not after lifting the trophy.
Battle-pass cuts vs. brand sponsorships: revenue share sheet
Split 30 % of every battle-pass dollar with players and keep 55 % after store platform fees; sponsors add another 20-35 % on top without touching the prize pool, so lock both streams into one ledger and you net 75-85 % of gross compared to 45-50 % when you rely on passes alone.
| Source | Gross share | Player cut | Org net | Days to cash |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Battle pass | 30 % | 30 % | 21 % | 60 |
| Team bundle | 50 % | 0 % | 42.5 % | 30 |
| Title sponsor | 100 % | 0 % | 100 % | 15 |
| Peripheral brand | 15 % | 0 % | 15 % | 45 |
Player taxes by country: what winners actually wire home
Book your flight home after you reserve 30–45 % of any seven-figure prize if you live in the U.S.; most states slap an extra 3–13 % on top of the 37 % federal rate, and the IRS withholds 24 % before the wire even hits your account. Sweden esports stars keep 47 % more: winnings count as "hobby income" and face only a flat 30 % capital-gains grab, no social fees. If you hold a South-Korean passport, report the cash within June next year and you’ll pay 45 % on the slice above KRW 1.2 bn (~$890 k) but you can deduct every scrim-room rental receipt and coach salary, often shaving the real rate below 35 %.
Denmark SK Gaming alumni wire home 100 % of the first $7 k each year thanks to a unique "prize-money" allowance, then 52 % on the rest; if you relocate residency to Portugal NHR scheme within six months of lifting the trophy, you cap Portuguese tax at 20 % for ten straight seasons. Brazil charges 27.5 %, yet local courts treat TI victories as "cultural awards" so a one-off R$1.5 M exemption applies–file form "Declaração de Prêmios Culturais" in 30 days or lose it. Japan National Tax Agency bills 55 % on esports earnings, but competing while on a working-holiday visa triggers only 10 % withholding at source, a loophole used by three 2025 League champs who stayed 88 days, cashed out, then left.
Canada lets you split the prize through a newly-formed esports corp: pay 12 % federal + 2–11 % provincial small-business rate, then dividend the rest to yourself at 39 % minus the dividend tax credit, netting ~42 % instead of 54 % personally. Finland Tax Administration ruled that open-qualifier prizes are "random windfalls" so if you’ve played fewer than 30 ranked days in the past year you qualify for the 30 % lottery rate rather than 44 % income tax–keep server logs as proof. Finally, Singapore residents pay zero on foreign-sourced prizes brought in anytime after 1 Jan 2026; just file IRAS Form M and keep the LAN ticket stubs to show the cash was "earned offshore."
Q&A:
Which 2026 esports title has the single biggest prize pot, and how much is it?
The International 2026 carries the largest purse: just over $46 million, with the winning squad taking home almost $21 million.
How does the 2026 Dota 2 pool compare with last year?
It rose roughly 8 %, from $42.8 million to $46.2 million, thanks to a 30 % slice of the 2026 Compendium sales.
Why does League of Legends sit lower on the list even though its player base is huge?
Riot caps Worlds prize money at a fixed $2.25 million and funnels most of its revenue into salaries, regional stipends, and venue production rather than a crowdfunded jackpot.
Can console games crack the top five, or is the money still PC-only?
Console titles are climbing: the 2026 Call of Duty League Championship offers $8 million, and Halo Infinite relaunch series added a $6.5 million finals, pushing both into the upper bracket for the first time since 2018.
Reviews
coral_spring
I squealed so loud my cat fled: the 2026 prize pools look like someone spilled a jewelry box across a starry keyboard! Imagining those dazzling sums makes my heart pirouette; maybe one day I’ll compete, headset crowned with daisies, and send every last coin to mom so she can nap without alarms.
Abigail
My lipstick smudged from screaming Dota just handed six million girls a reason to git gud
Luca Finch
I keep the 2026 prize sheet taped inside my closet door, right next to the poster of the 2005 ESWC. $94 million for a single circuit my pulse spikes like a railgun. Mom still asks why I hoard retro mice; I mumble "equity" and retreat. The numbers feel unreal until I recall fourteen-hour solo queues, ramen steam fogging cheap glasses, wrists burning. Now one lucky roster banks more than our block will earn in decades. I scroll rosters, whisper tags, calculate splits, taxes, visas, imagine the silence after the stage fades to black.
velvet_echo
TI11 $40m kitty still tops my ledger, but 2026 forecasts pin League new crowdfunding cap at $55m and Riyadh club WC at $70m. Mobile cuts Honor of Kings, PUBG M already bank $12m weekends in Jakarta; their skin splits push 38% to girl rosters, up from 9% in 2020. Saudi $1b women-only circuit adds another $30m pot, tax-free, flights covered. I track every wire: Tencent yuan, Valve euro, ESL dollar. The curve is steep, but the split is finally flatter.
Noah Voss
Mikhail here how did you decide which events to keep off the list, and could you share the raw data so I can check my own math?
Liam Calder
My wife asked why I keep checking prize charts instead of fixing the sink. I told her a leaky tap never paid 18 million for clicking creeps. She rolled eyes, I rolled win rate; marriage is about balanced lanes. GG, plumbers your W2 just got ganked.
Victor
Guys, am I the only one whose eye twitches when a mid-tier MOBA hands out 40 million while actual surgeons argue over parking spots? Who decided that clicking polygons is worth more than open-heart choreography, and how long before my mom stops asking why I didn’t "go pro" at spreadsheets?