Epic Games follows trends in Fortnite and esports is merely one of those – one of many boxes to check. Sure, esports has a place somewhere on this behemoth, but the focus is clearly not on the competitive aspect, which sets Fortnite apart from the rest of this list and makes it feel like the game’s esports scene is merely some unimportant, tagged-on thing, one of many little gears in a giant machine designed to garner attention. ![]() The title is deliberately transformed more and more from a game into its own platform by Epic Games. The developer dropped respectable prize money in 2021, though that somehow seems small in view of the sheer enormity of Fortnite, and repeatedly ties the major competitions of the game’s esports scene into the larger structure of the title by providing similar virtual public viewing events to the digital concerts of big stars. In Fortnite, the game itself is the marketing tool and esports is not really high on Epic Games’ priority list. Some publishers see esports primarily as a marketing tool. That’s the theory Riot Games is acting on, anyway. Million-dollar prize pools always make the headlines, but prize pools that are only high for a few top teams and leave nothing for the rest are dangerous for a scene in the long run. Riot Games wants to create as healthy an ecosystem as possible for the organizations and athletes in the scene. In return, professionals who play and compete in the MOBA title receive high salaries from their teams, which in turn can secure their own income via the game’s leagues. The world champion team EDward Gaming “only” received around half a million dollars total for its success. For LoL being one of the leading esports titles in the world, the prize money is actually comparatively modest. ![]() League of Legends (LoL) in seventh place? The developer has enough money to make a Netflix anime! But Riot Games has a slightly different philosophy than most of the other publishers on this list. ![]() Surely, you are now thinking that this must be a mistake.
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