CS:GO esports reaches $100 million milestone for prizes

On August 26, Valve broke prize pool records with Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. The American video game developer reached a milestone of $100 million in tournament prize pools throughout its CS:GO tournaments. This achievement marks CS:GO esports as the second title to pass the $100 million mark, with Dota 2 in first.

Image credit to Esports Earnings.

New Prize Pool Records

With about twenty years of competitive gaming, CS:GO passed a significant milestone, becoming one of the industry’s most rewarding esports. According to Esports Earnings, CS:GO esports has awarded a professional community of 12,968 players $100,091,149 in prize pool earnings throughout over 5,160 competitions. In perspective, if equally dispersed, that’s the equivalent to 5,000 fully paid public college tuitions or 500 brand new Ferrari cars.

CS:GO Esports Events

This accomplishment was made possible through Valve’s yearly initiative to fund tournament runs with Majors and Minors rewarding prize pools in the low to high thousands. These competitions eventually lead to a championship featuring an average prize pool of one million. Additionally, third-party esports event organizers grew the scene through grassroots and middle-tier tournaments. A few of the many respected organizations are ESL, DreamHack, MLG, and ELEAGUE.

We are LESS THAN A DAY AWAY from kicking off #ESLOne Cologne 2020! ?

Here are the Day 1 matchups:

EU Division: @OGEsports vs @NiPGaming @BIGCLANgg vs @sproutGG @Fnatic vs @astralisgg @TeamVitality vs @TeamHeretics

NA Division:@100Thieves vs @GenG@furiagg vs @ChaosEC pic.twitter.com/Uk6vPlZUDS

— ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) August 17, 2020

Valve came a long way with CS:GO. From releasing Counter-Strike: Source in 2004 to Counter-Strike: Global Offensive eight years later in 2012, Valve shaped competitive FPS gaming. The company built an empire through competitive gaming but only now the world witnesses esports’ might. With global esports revenue reaching over $1 billion in 2019 because of companies like Valve, the esports industry is being recognized for its potential, scalability, and growth.

Written by Jay Hunter