In 2025, esports tournaments awarded a total of more than $270 million in prize money, representing a 15.5% increase from 2024. Esports Charts compiled a ranking of the year’s richest esports titles by total earnings, with the top 10 featuring not only classic games from Valve and Riot Games but also several unexpected contenders. 

Counter-Strike emerged as the highest-earning esports title of 2025 by total prize money: more than $32.2 million was awarded across tournaments during the year, representing a 41.5% increase compared to the game’s total prize pool in 2024. This rapid growth was driven by an expanded top-tier tournament calendar, including new events organized by PGL and the launch of the BLAST Bounty series. At the same time, the Chinese competitive scene experienced a strong resurgence, marked by major events such as the 2025 Asian Champions League, CS Asia Championships 2025, and IEM Chengdu 2025. 

Dota 2, another esports title developed by Valve, ranked second overall. The game topped last year’s standings but slipped to second place in 2025. Notably, its total prize money remained largely unchanged year over year, reaching approximately $23.1 million.

The flagship Dota 2 event of 2025 was The International 2025, with a prize pool accounting for roughly one-tenth of the game’s total annual prize money. The rest was accumulated through a series of million-dollar tournaments, including PGL Wallachia, BLAST Slam, FISSURE PLAYGROUND and DreamLeague. The professional Dota 2 calendar has become increasingly congested. Compared to last year, the number of top-tier events has grown noticeably, and teams are sometimes forced to pass on tournaments due calendar overload.

For the second year in a row, Honor of Kings finished among the top three. The MOBA developed by China’s TiMi Studio Group awarded $21.7 million in prize money across its tournaments in 2025. Nearly half of that total came from the King Pro League Grand Finals 2024, the flagship event of the game’s competitive season. It also ranked as the highest-paying tournament for a single esports title, excluding multi-game events with combined prize pools.