Top 5 Esports Games

Since their inception, eSports games have become incredibly popular. Tournaments are often held to crown a winner, who usually walks away with a large cash prize or other perks. Due to events like these, certain eSports games have taken off in popularity. Here are the top five:

1. One popular eSports game is Heroes of the Storm. This game is played in a Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA,) The game is similar in nature to titles such as Defence of the Ancients, and League of Legends. Prior to the introduction of Heroes of the Storm, these games set the precedent for MOBA. Players love Heroes because it includes mention of other games such as StarCraft II, and Overwatch.
2. Second on the list is StarCraft II for the number of players it draws. Though eSports are now popular all over the world, the release of StarCraft II helped the industry expand into China and Korea. Its popularity has risen, fallen, and re-risen since its release. Tournaments are now held all over the world that include this game. Some of the tournaments are small and local to unpopular cities, but others are worthy enough to attract the attention of the media.
3. League of Legends is among the eSports industry’s hottest games. Hundreds of millions of people all over the world play it. The game is known for awarding competition winners millions of dollars. Even non-winning participants in League of Legends tournaments can get $100,000 or more. The game has become so popular that not only does major media cover its tournaments, the NBA entered into an agreement with the game’s manufacturer. There is even a World Championship event held for this game. Hundreds of thousands around the world tune in to watch this event. The game’s tournaments award huge cash prizes to winners. For example, in 2016, tournament competitors were awarded a collective $5,070,000. Even the teams that do the worst in the tournament get a cash prize of over $63,000. The 2017 tournament was also notable with the total of cash prizes awarded of $1,855,114.
4. Counter-Strike Global Offensive is also among the top five most popular eSports games. In fact, in 2016 it was awarded the title of eSports Game of the Year. Though the game is played almost everywhere in the world, it is the most popular in Europe. It has set the standard for all first person shooter games.
5. Last but not least is Defense of the Ancients 2. As a long awaited sequel, the growing anticipation led to a high demand for the game when it was released. The original DOA was only created to serve as part of an expansion of Warcraft III.

These are the games that have changed the face of the eSports industry. Each of them has a mass following and have led to the creation of tournaments that have introduced even more players to everything eSports has to offer. Only time will tell if these games remain at the top of the industry or others take over.