12 Top Esports Tournaments In The World!! With the growth and popularity of e-sports, there are many tournaments held worldwide. Can you guess the top e-sports tournaments?
The e-sports tournaments are hosted in venues where thousands of fans attend. On top of that, the prize money is worth millions. The scale on which these tournaments are held is incredibly massive.
Moreover, these tournaments are international, where players from various countries participate. It shows how much the popularity and appeal of e-sports are worldwide.
The gaming culture has come a long way. Before, e-sport was not taken seriously, and was games played for leisure. The tournaments held for them were also relatively small or more local.
But with the evolution of the gaming world, e-sports tournaments have gathered spectators from worldwide. Players from all across the globe can showcase their gaming skills on an international platform.
Now let us look at these top e-sports tournaments in the world!
Quick Overview
Here is a sneak peek of our list in the table below.
| S.N. | Tournaments |
| 12. | PUBG Global Championship |
| 11. | Hearthstone World Championship |
| 10. | HALO World Championship |
| 9. | Call of Duty League Championship |
| 8. | Overwatch World Cup |
| 7. | Free Fire World Series |
| 6. | Evolution Championship Series (EVO) |
| 5. | Intel Extreme Masters |
| 4. | Honor of Kings World Champion Cup |
| 3. | Fortnite World Cup Champion |
| 2. | DOTA 2 “The International” |
| 1. | League of Legends World Championships |
12 Top E-sports Tournaments In The World
We have compiled our list with the help of PcTablet as our primary source of information.
12. PUBG Global Championship
On number 12, we have PUBG Global Championship. PUBG Corporation is the host and organizer of this annual tournament.
The first international PUBG tournament was in 2018 at Berlin’s Mercedes-Benz Arena, known as Global Invitational Era. Twenty teams from 11 competitive regions participated.
The following year in 2019, the tournament was held with a new format known as Pro League Era.
Since 2020, the tournament has been known as the Post-Pro League Era with recent changes.
On January 2023, S2G E-sports of Turkey won the 2022 PUBG MIndonesia’s 2022 PUBG Mobile Global Championship
11. Hearthstone World Championship
On number 11, we have Hearthstone World Championship. Blizzard Entertainment is the organizer of this annual award.
The championship is the official and final for the Hearthstone Championship Tour. The tournament gathers 16 best players, four from each region worldwide annually, who compete against each other.
There are several criteria from which the competitors’ selection takes place. The cash prize pool is divided between the finalist, and the winner is given the title of the Hearthstone World Champion.
10. Halo Championship Series
Our tenth pick is the Halo Championship Series, the professional championship for Halo. E-sports Engine is the organizer and host of the tournament in association with 343 industries.
The championship was held first in 2016, where the official game was HALO 2: Anniversary. Halo Infinite is the official game from 2021 onwards.
During 2019 and 2020, the championship series was stopped, and it returned from 2021-22. The championship took place in Seattle, America, with a cash prize pool of $1,000,000.
9. Call of Duty League Championship
The ninth top e-sports tournaments in our list is the Call of Duty League Championship. It is the premier franchise e-sport league for Call of Duty, whose inaugural season was in 2013.
Activision is the organizer of the tournament, held annually, where 32 teams participate. The teams participating must qualify through events before qualifying for the World Championship.
The inaugural championship’s official game was Call of Duty: Black Ops II for the Xbox 360. The 2020 Call of Duty: Mobile Championship was announced; however, the Grand Finale was canceled due to COVID-19.
LA Thieves won a massive prize pool of $2.55 million in the recent Call of Duty League Championship 2022.
8. Overwatch World Cup
Overwatch World Cup is an international Overwatch e-sports tournament that takes place annually. Blizzard Entertainment is the organizer of the World Cup.
The first international Overwatch World Cup was in 2016, called Overwatch Atlantic Showdown. The tournament’s format has varied yearly, but the current format has three stages.
The first preliminary round is where any country can compete. Then five countries move to the group stages. Then, in the final stage, three teams from the group advance to the single-elimination stage.
The winner of the playoff is awarded a gold medal.
7. Free Fire World Series
For number 7, we have Free Fire World Series. The Free Fire World Series, or FFWS in short, takes place bi-annually. Garena is the organizer of the Series.
Free Fire World Series’ inaugural tournament was the first of its kind. It was the first battle royale-based game tournament where 18 teams from different countries and regions qualified.
The first FFWS took place in 2019 with a prize pool of $400,000.
The C.O.P.A. Free Fire 2023, the biggest free fire tournament by prize pool, is set to happen from 25 Feb 2023 to 25 Mar 2023.
6. Evolution Championship Series (EVO)
The Evolution Championship Series (EVO) is an annual tournament and the sixth top e-sports tournament in the world. It is the biggest fighting game tournament, first held in 1996 under a different name.
The current name EVO was named in 2002 after the tournament rebranded. Sony Interactive, Entertainment, and RTS are the tournament owners. The Series is especially popular in Asia.
EVO includes multiple games like Super Smash Bros, Tekken 7, and many more. The tournament is open to anyone participating. Similarly, the players can choose a specific fighting game they want to enter.
The 2020 and 2021 tournament was canceled due to COVID-19. Luckily, EVO made a comeback on August 2022.
5. Intel Extreme Masters
For number 5, we have Intel Extreme Masters. The tournament is a series of international e-sports tournaments that takes place worldwide.
Intel is the sponsor, and Electronic Sports League (ESL) is the sanctioner of the tournament. The first tournament was in 2007, where the official games were Counter-Strike and Warcraft III.
Since its inaugural game, Intel Extreme Masters has operated for 16 seasons. The other official games feature World of Warcraft, DotA, Quake Live, etc. Each esport has its pool prize.
The Intel Extreme Masters is one of the unique esport tournaments. The highest prize in the tournament was $2.5 million in 2019, which took place in Katowice, Poland.
4. Honor of Kings World Champion Cup
Honor of Kings World Champion Cup is a World Championship for a mobile multiplayer online battle arena game, Honor of Kings. The tournament has been taking place since 2016.
Tencent Games and VSPN are the organizers of the tournament. Since the game was created especially for the Chinese App Mobile market, it is massively popular in China.
Twelve teams who are qualified through various events compete against each other. The 2021 Honor of Kings World Champion Cup was the sixth installment of the Series.
The prize pool for the 2021 tournament was also raised from 32,000,000 CNY to 50,000,000 CNY ($7718487 approximately).
3. Fortnite World Cup Champion
Fortnite is a popular online video game that was first released in 2017. As a result of its popularity, the Fortnite World Cup Champion came into being in 2019.
Epic Games is the host of the tournament. Fortnite World Cup Champion is one of the top and most popular e-sport tournaments which uses two game modes available in the game.
The first inaugural game took place at the Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York City, where the prize pool was $30 million across various competitions (solo and team). It was one of the largest prize money in esport history.
COVID-19 saw the cancellation of the tournament in 2020 and 2021. Lucky for the Fornite fans, the World Cup came back in 2022.
2. DOTA 2 “The International”
Our second pick is the DOTA 2 “The International.” It is the championship tournament for the popular game DOTA 2 and takes place annually.
Valve is the host of the tournament and the developer of the game. It first took place in 2011 at Gamescom as a promotional event and has been taking place every year since.
Twenty different teams from different countries are selected through various qualifying events. The tournament has one of the largest single-tournament prize pools in esports history, reaching $40 million.
DOTA 2 “The International” did not occur during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, but the 2021 tournament took place late in Sweden. Tundra Esports won the 2022 series.
1. League of Legends World Championships
For number one, we have the League of Legends World Championships. It is one of the world’s most successful and watched e-sport tournaments.
Rivot Game is the host of the championship. The team participating in the championships is in for the 70 pounds Summoner’s Cup and multi-million dollar prize money.
The first championship took place in 2011, with just eight teams participating. In 2018, the tournament the championship’s final was watched by 99.6 million viewers and set a new final viewer record.
League of Legends World Championships is one of the most prestigious e-sport tournaments. South Korean team DRX won the 2022 Championship.
Conclusion
E-sport has made a huge progress over the years and is continuing to grow and evolve. Various tournaments are being held, and newer ones are yet to come.
The incredible prize pool and international appeal have further helped e-sports competitiveness and growth. Gamers with gaming skills now have the platform to show them off.
Thank you for reading.
