Unibet Reports China Dominating in Esports Earnings, Especially Dota 2

The Unibet organisation released a new report called the Champions of eSports that lists information on who is competing in Dota 2 among other eSports. The analytical report states that even though the number of eSports tournaments around the world fell from nearly 5,000 in 2015 to about 3,900 in 2016, the payouts for competitors has increased. The total went from $65 million to about $95 million with rough estimates projecting that it will go up to $150 million in 2017.

However, it has become clear that even though there are fewer players in that country, China is dominating the eSports world in earnings. China has 1,956 listed players, about a quarter of the 8,023 players in the United States, and yet it still has won the most money out of all countries in the eSports industry.

According to analysis, Chinese players earned about $18 million in 2016 events. This is an increase over the $14 million that they earned in 2015.

The United States is the closest with $15 million earned in 2016. South Korean players earned $12 million while Sweden came in at around $5 million.

The numbers are expected to be influential to how eSports tournaments are run in the future in terms of what people will be paid. Whether this will expand the eSports betting community based on what people can bet on is unclear.

Dota 2 Dominates

While many eSports are providing big payouts to many competitors, Dota 2 has been by far the most prominent eSport in terms of payouts. It is estimated that Dota 2 has paid out about $90 million at its eSports events over the years. This is thanks in part to how many of the payouts for the game are crowd-funded.

League of Legends is the closest to Dota 2 in terms of payouts. That game has had $37 million in prizes since it was first introduced. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive has had a little less than $30 million in payouts.

Last year, the Dota 2 International had a prize pool of $18.67 million. This is much higher than the $1.6 million pool used in the first event of its kind in 2011. The success of China’s Wings Gaming at the International helped propel China to have the most financial success in the eSports industry.

In fact, Chinese teams have consistently finished in first or second place or even both in the last few Internationals. The country has earned $18 million out of the last three Internationals.

Also, the Unibet report states that of the top 100 earning eSports players in the world, 71 of them compete in Dota 2 events. 29 of those Dota 2 players are from China. These include Li “iceice” Peng, who has earned $1.98 million in events. The United States’ Saahil “UNiVeRsE” Arora leads with $2.7 million.

Other Notes

The same Unibet report found a few additional points:

• Counter-Strike: Global Offensive has nearly 6,600 players worldwide while League of Legends has about 4,300 players.
• CS:GO has about 2,100 tournaments around the world in its history but Starcraft II dominates that category with nearly 4,000 tournaments since it was first released.
• There is still a significant gap between men and women in the eSports world. Only two women were listed as having earned $100,000 or more in eSports competitions.

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