Several esports titles have risen on top of popularity as the trends significantly shift. Undoubtedly, League of Legends Worlds is among the highly anticipated tournaments across the globe and titles. They garnered millions of interests with the exceptional matches and storylines that their teams have. Along with it, the League of Legends Worlds prize pool saw significant evolution from 2011 up until today, 2024.
Modest Beginnings (2011)
The beginning of the League of Legends World Championship in 2011 is simpler than it is today. Given that at that time, the esports scene is still seeking recognition and support from people to organize events like Worlds. With that, the 2011 World Championship offered a modest prize pool of $100,000 to players. Moreover, people joked about the tournament being held in commentator Phreak’s basement, making it remarkable.
The Million-Dollar Milestone (2012)
In just a year, League of Legends growth surged from its player base community, viewership, and ultimately, the prize pool. Season 2 of the Worlds Championship established the tournament to be a premier esports event. This made Riot Games introduce the 2012 Worlds with a prize pool of $2,000,000. It is more than double of the previous year’s prize pool, which gathered the attention of many.
Stable Growth (2013-2015)
After the 2012 Worlds Championship, the three succeeding seasons almost maintained the prize pool with minimal increase. In 2013, America hosted the tournament with an amount of $2,050,000 in prize pool. The following year, the 2014 Worlds Championship held in South Korea saw an increase to $2,130,000. The prize pool continued to be the same until the 2015 World Championship in Europe. At this time, League of Legends esports remain competitive despite there’s another major esports title dominating the scene.
The Golden Era (2016-2018)
Moving forward, League of Legends reached the peak of their prize pool in the years 2016, 2017, and 2018. Esports have been gaining attention from all parts of the world, which has helped increase tournament sponsorships. The prize pool amounts for these years were almost doubled, or if not, tripled, at some point.
In the 2016 Worlds Championship, sixteen teams took their fair share in the astounding prize pool of $5,070,000. Meanwhile, in the 2017 Worlds Championship, it showed a slight decrease yet remained higher compared to the earlier seasons. It awarded a $4,946,969 prize pool to all competing teams in the prestigious tournament.
Onto the 2018 Worlds Championship, it recorded the highest prize pool ever in the league’s history. Invictus Gaming became China’s first World champions that won the $6,450,000 million prize pool in the event. Up until today, it remained the biggest out of all seasons in the League of Legends World Championship.
Modern Era Stabilization (2019-2024)
From its Golden Era, Riot Games gradually stabilized the prize pool of the League of Legends Worlds Championship. While it may seem a bit disappointing, the decision is made to ensure the sustainability and consistency of their esports ecosystem. With the decrease in prize pool from the peak years, Riot tended to boost the tournament’s prestige and production value. These efforts produced League of Legends to be one of the most successful esports tournaments ever.
2019 onwards, the Worlds prize pool maintains around $2,225,000 million distributed among competing teams.
2019: $2,225,000
2020: $2,340,000
2021: $2,180,500
2022: $2,225,000
2023: $2,225,000
2024: $2,225,000
Total Prize Money Impact
Based on the data, Riot Games’ League of Legends has awarded over $115 million in prize money since their competitive inception. From 2011, they hosted more than 3,000 tournaments that offered substantial prize amounts. With this, the League of Legends esports scene is one of the most financially rewarding esports titles in history.
The Future of Worlds Prize Pools
In many years that passed, League of Legends Worlds has grown a lot just by looking at their prize pool. The 2016-2018 season has been the peak of the competition with its tremendously high prize money. However, it is the recent years that gained massive loads of support from people with the data on its viewership. With that, expect the prize pool to remain in the same range while Riot keeps improving their production value.
