First released in July 2013, Dota 2 is a multiplayer online battle arena that was created as a sequel to Defense of the Ancients (Dota). Published by Valve Corporation, which is also the creator of the gaming platform Steam, Dota 2 reached its record high peak concurrent player number in March 2016 at nearly 1.29 million gamers playing at the same time. In the last measured month, July 2025, the game peaked at 657,000 concurrent players. One of the biggest games on Steam With the number of monthly active users of DOTA 2 regularly exceeding 7.6 million, the game is one of the most popular on offer on the Steam platform. Dota 2 was the fourth most played game on Steam in 2024, beaten only by Black Myth: Wukong, Palworld, and Counter-Strike 2 in terms of peak number of concurrent players. DOTA 2 ranked second in terms of hourly average number of players. Big money to be won at Dota 2 tournaments As with a lot of the most popular shooter games on PC and console, there is serious money to be won by players who are at the top of their game in Dota 2. At its peak in 2021, the cumulative Dota 2 tournament prize pool worldwide stood at a cool 48 million U.S. dollars - however, the amount of prize money for Dota games has decreased significantly since then. The biggest Dota 2 tournament is The International championship, which most recently took place in Copenhagen in September 2024. The prize pool for the thirteenth edition of The International was 2.58 million U.S. dollars, a far cry from 18.93 million U.S. dollars in 2022. Still, with such sizable sums at stake, it is no surprise that viewers watch in their millions to find out who will come out on top. Nearly 1.52 million viewers tuned in to The International in 2024 to watch the Netherlands-based team, Team Liquid, take home the big prize. The 2020 edition of the tournament was cancelled due to the global coronavirus pandemic.

Counter-Strike 2 was the most popular game on Steam in July 2025. The tactical first-person shooter game racked up an impressive 917,677 average concurrent players per week, which was more than competing titles Dota 2, PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS, and Marvel Rivals did. What is Steam? Steam is one of the top-grossing digital gaming content platforms worldwide. Initially created by Valve Corporation to update games such as Counter-Strike in 2003, the service has since expanded to include games from third-party developers and publishers. The platform also offers multiplayer gaming, digital rights management, social networking, and video streaming services, drawing millions of users from around the world each day. In 2023, the number of peak concurrent Steam users hit 33 million, gaining roughtly three million users per year. Counter Strike strikes again Counter-Strike 2 is a multiplayer first-person shooter game that pits two teams of terrorists and counter-terrorists against each other in different objective-based game modes. As the fifth game in the top-rated Counter-Strike series, CS2 was released as a direct successor to Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. The game was released in 2023 as an updated version of CS:GO. In 2024, Counter-Strike 2 came third in the ranking of most played games on Steam at more than 1.7 million peak concurrent players.

In September 2023, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) was upgraded to Counter-Strike 2. As of July 2025, Counter-Strike 2 had 1.4 million peak concurrent players on Steam, slightly down from the peak marked in the previous month. CS2 completely replaced CSGO on Steam. Counter Strike still going strong Despite the fact that CS:GO was in August 2012, the game was very popular online and has developed a cult following until its replacement by Counter-Strike 2. CS2 is the fifth game in the Counter-Strike series of games. As with its predecessors, the game takes the form of a multiplayer first-person shooter in which two teams are pitted against each other in various different game modes. After more than a decade, the game's sequel was published on Steam. Not just a game for the gamers While millions of gamers have fun playing Counter-Strike, millions more watch official tournaments online. With such a large fanbase, it is unsurprising that these eSports tournaments are worth big money. The annual cumulative tournament prize pool for the game stood at 20.83 million U.S. dollars in 2024, an increase from the previous year. Gamers are therefore in line for big paydays if they do well in these tournaments, with Danil Kryshkovets, known by his online alias donk, being the top-earning Counter-Strike 2 eSports player worldwide.

First released in 2013, Dota 2 has grown to become one of the most popular eSports games, with official tournaments offering sizeable prize pools to the winning teams. Denmark's Johan Sundstein, known by his player ID N0tail, has earned over seven million U.S. dollars competing in Dota 2 eSports competitions, making him not only the most successful player within the game, but also the highest earning eSports player worldwide.

Kyle Giersdorf, more commonly known by his gamertag Bugha, was the most successful Fortnite player in the United States based on prize money earnings as of January 2025. Giersdorf's total career earnings through Fortnite, as of that month, exceeded 3.7 million U.S. dollars. Meanwhile, Harrison Chang aka psalm came in second place with total career earnings amounting to around 1.87 million U.S. dollars. eSports tournament prize pools Professional eSports players can earn up to millions of dollars in prize money at international competitions. As of the year-end 2024, the Dota 2 championships had amassed the highest cumulative prize pool from eSports games worldwide. The International, which is a Dota 2 tournament, was the most lucrative eSports tournament worldwide, with the winners of the 2021 iteration of The International walking away with approximately 40 million U.S. dollars. Popular battle royale games Battle royale games are multiplayer games which combine aspects of free-for-all or team-based shooters with components from survival games, such as having to scavenge for equipment within a hostile open-world environment. As of January 2025, Fortnite was the most popular PlayStation 5 game based on monthly active users worldwide, ranking above entries such as Call of Duty and Grand Theft Auto V. When it came to the most streamed battle royale games worldwide Fortnite also took the top spot, surpassing Apex Legends and Call of Duty: Warzone, which racked up 4.7 million weekly viewer hours in March 2025.

The eSports game with the greatest tournament prize pool between January and June 2025 was Dota 2, recording a cumulative prize pool valued at 6.84 million U.S. dollars. This cumulative prize pool was significantly higher than the runner-up, Counter-Strike 2, which had a cumulative prize pool of 4.9 million U.S. dollars during this period. Dota 2 Dota 2 is a multiplayer online battle arena video game (MOBA) developed by Valve Software as a follow-up to 'Defense of the Ancients,' a community-created mod for the game 'Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos.' In an effort to grow the popularity of DOTA 2 amongst ‘Defense of the Ancients’ players and to further promote the release of DOTA 2, the development company invited 16 of the world’s leading ‘Defense of the Ancients’ players to participate in a ‘DOTA 2’ tournament, an event that would eventually be held annually. It is this annual event, now referred to as ‘The International’, that offers such a substantial tournament prize pool and results in DOTA 2 consistently offering the greatest cumulative prize pool of any eSports game. eSports overview Whilst competitions have long since been a component of the video gaming industry, it wasn’t until relatively recently that eSports as a professional form of competitive video game play grew in popularity, with video game developers often organizing and funding many of the most popular eSport tournaments, which involve games such as League of Legends, Dota 2, Counter-Strike, Valorant, Overwatch, Street Fighter, Super Smash Bros., and StarCraft. These tournaments often incorporate either multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA), first-person shooter (FPS), combat, card, battle royale, and real-time strategy (RTS) games. The most prominent types of video games associated with eSport tournaments include multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA), first-person shooter (FPS), fighting, card, battle royale and real-time strategy (RTS) games.

The eSports market has boomed in recent years with more and more viewers tuning in to watch their favorite games being played by some of the best gamers in the world. By 2025, there are expected to be over 318 million eSports enthusiasts worldwide, a significant increase from the 215.2 million in 2020. Additionally, some 322.7 million people are forecast to be occasional viewers of eSports by 2025.

Leading eSports tournaments The most watched eSports event of all time is the 2021 Free Fire World Series, a Garena Free Fire tournament hosted by Singapore. With millions of viewers tuning in to watch expert gamers battle it out, it is unsurprising that large sums of money are at stake. The International 2021, which was the tenth edition of the annual DOTA 2 world championship, had a combined prize pool of over 40 million U.S. dollars. In addition, the cumulative prize pool for DOTA 2 tournaments around the world in 2021 stood at a huge 47.8 million U.S. dollars.