There are many games that offer a competitive mode for players that are looking for a challenge. Some of these games have evolved into big esports ecosystems with big tournaments and teams. Here are some of the top esports games.
League of Legends
Apart from being one of the most played games worldwide, League of Legends is one of the first games that come to mind when talking about esports. It has always had a big competitive community since its release. With the incentives and initiates of the developer Riot Games, many regional leagues and big tournaments were established. Nowadays, twelve different regions compete seasonally to be invited to MSI (Mid Season Invitational) and World Championship. There are also lesser leagues trying to take other teams’ place in the upper leagues, therefore creating a relegation system. Audience-wise, League of Legends easily surpasses a million live people during the Worlds finals.
DOTA 2
The competitive scene of DOTA 2 has been growing consistently since its launch back in 2011. The most famousannual tournament of the game, The International, features one of the biggest prize pools in esports. Not only thecompetitive value stands out in DOTA 2 esports, but also the entertainment value comes forth as millions of fans enjoyfollowing tournaments, especially The International. As the tournament features a prize pool made up of in-game purchases of players, the audience plays a huge role in the growing esports scene in DOTA 2. DOTA 2 also has a wideplayer base, and a wide audience, also surpassing one million live watchers during the final stages of TheInternational.
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
Counter-Strike series has been one of the foundational games of esports. The latest entry in the series, CS:GO, is nodifferent than its predecessors. Many tournaments were held just in its first year and famous teams were quick tocreate their own CS:GO rosters. Since then, the prize pools got larger and the events got bigger. There are tournaments organized by the developer Valve and also tournaments that are organized by external organizers suchas ESL and FACEIT. Today there are countless leagues and tournaments being held all around the world, andalmost every month there is a major tournament with a hefty prize pool.
VALORANT
Despite being one of the newest games in the esports scene and having a lot of competitors as an FPS game, VALORANT has quickly become the go-to esports game for FPS lovers.
Many old CS:GO pros switched to VALORANT, for refreshment in their career. And their choice was not in vain, as Riot Games quickly created large regional tournaments that led to a bigger championship. VALORANT esports has become such a sensation that it is watched by over a million people during big tournaments. Large amounts of transfer fees were paid to acquire skilled players.
Rocket League
Even though it seems very niche at first glance, Rocket League has also garnered a huge esports community dueto its competitive nature and fun gameplay. This also resulted in a large audience gathering around to watch competitive play. There are seasonal leagues and tournaments organized by Epic Games and also other external organization companies that famous esports teams compete in.
PUBG
Shortly after its release, PUBG became a sensational hit, topping the charts on every platform. It still holds a record with most concurrent players in Steam. This popularity resulted in a big esports community forming aroundthe game. Many famous teams quickly entered the esports scene of PUBG. Some of the biggest tournaments in the history of esports were organized. PUBG Global Invitational, one of the game’s biggest tournaments, featured a prize pool of approximately $7,000,000 in 2021. Even though it has been on the decline for some time, with its recent transformation into a free-to-play title, it started to build back its already large player base.
PUBG Mobile
As the name suggests, PUBG Mobile is the mobile version of the PC game by the same name. Even though most of the gameplay and weapons are identical to the original version, PUBG Mobile features new and different cosmetics and other in-game features such as UI and events. PUBG Mobile is one of the top games in mobile esports with prize pools up to 4 million dollars in Global Championships. There are also many official regional leagues with very large prize pools, making PUBG Mobile very popular all around the world. Most famous esports teams have assembled PUBG Mobile squads in order to compete in tournaments organized by the game’s publisher, Tencent Games.
