The ‘Top 3’ of eSports Games
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Commonly referred to as eSports, Electronic Sports has taken world by storm in the last couple of years. Dating back to the 70s, esports started gaining popularity and is today one of the most popular gaming cultures that have ever existed. With availability of high speed internet, eSports gained popularity from 2000 onwards. Let’s take a look at the hottest eSports gaming titles.
- League of Legends (LoL)
This game proved to be the chart-topper for so long that RIOT Games started hosting a dedicated event for LoL. It began in 2011 with 8 Teams competing for the trophy with prize money of $100,000. 2012 saw 10,000 live spectators for the competition with winnings of $1,000,000 for the top 3 teams. Gaining momentum as a popular sporting event, the 2015 season offered prize winnings of $1,400,000 to the top teams. The tournament had 36 million viewers in the final.

- Dota 2
The second most popular option amongst gamers is Dota 2. Its availability is restricted to Steam members. Valve, the developers of the game, hosts a tournament ‘The International’. 16 teams battle for a first position prize of $1,000,000. 2013 saw ‘The International’ making an eSport record with the largest prize pool valued at $2,800,000. Dota 2 gained immense popularity by 2015. A number of Dota 2 events were held in the year with consolidated winning of 25 million Dollars.

- Counter-Strike (CS)
The idea of shooter games as an eSports was not attractive to a lot of people in the beginning. However, the number of people playing popular shooter game titles like Call of Duty, Counter Strike allowed organizers with an opportunity to create eSports tournaments for such games. A number of CS tournaments are now held throughout the year across the globe. CS offered prize winnings of $3,800,000 million from these tournaments, a major chunk of which was taken by the Swedish players.
