Last year, the top five highest-paying esports titles, Counter-Strike, Dota 2, Honor of Kings, League of Legends, and PUBG Mobile, collectively awarded $101.2 million in tournament prize money, nearly $10 million more than a year before that. However, while total prize money rose, the number of tournaments continued to fall, highlighting the ongoing trend of esports market consolidation.
According to data presented by Betideas.com, the top ten esports games cut nearly 900 tournaments in a single year. Here are the titles that made the biggest reductions.
Counter-Strike and Fortnite Alone Cut Nearly 400 Events
For years after competitive gaming broke into the mainstream, the number of esports tournaments rose almost nonstop, fueled by the surging player base, growing viewership, and game streaming becoming more and more popular. Between 2017 and 2024, the number of these events jumped sevenfold, rising from 252 to 2,650, and that’s just the top ten titles.
However, things began to change a few years ago as industry shifted away from many small events to fewer, larger, publisher-backed leagues that are easier to monetize and control. At the same time, weaker sponsorship budgets, rising production costs, and tighter team finances have made many mid-tier tournaments harder to run profitably. The result was a major decline in the number of esports events, and Esports Charts data show just how big that drop was.
In 2025, the top ten highest-paying esports games, Counter-Strike, Dota 2, Honor of Kings, PUBG Mobile, Fortnite, Valorant, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege, Rocket League, and PUBG: Battlegrounds, collectively organized 1,760 tournaments and events. While still a high number, that’s nearly 900 fewer events than the year before, when the total event count stood at 2,650.
Statistics show that nine of the top ten games saw a considerable decline last year, with Counter-Strike and Fortnite leading the cut. The two titles alone reduced the number of tournaments by nearly 400, or by 199 and 189, respectively, far more than any other title. Valorant was the closest to these figures with a 146 event drop, while Rocket League and PUBG mobile were the only two titles with more than 100 canceled events. Statistics also show Dota 2 cut 76 events year-over-year, League of Legends 43, while Honor of Kings and Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege reduced roughly 30 tournaments each.
On the other hand, PUBG: Battlegrounds was the only major esports title to increase the number of tournaments in 2025, more than doubling it to 116.
Nearly 900 Events Less but $13 Million More in Combined Prize Money
The Esports Charts data proves that while there are fewer tournaments overall, the money is concentrated on bigger, higher-paying events. Last year, half of the top 10 highest-paying esports games increased their prize pools, some significantly, while the rest made reductions. Despite that, their combined annual prize pool increased by roughly $13 million, rising from $134.4 million in 2024 to $147.4 million in 2025.
Most of that increase came from Counter-Strike, which alone raised its annual prize pool by a whopping $9.1 million. League of Legends, Rocket League, Valorant, and PUBG: Battlegrounds followed with prize pool increases of $5.3 million, $2.5 million, $1.6 million, and $1.1 million, respectively.
On the other hand, PUBG: Mobile and Fortnite reduced their prize pools by a considerable $3.7 million and $1.9 million, while the remaining three titles made between $100,000 and $700,000 year-over-year cuts.