Dota 2 revealed as the most profitable game for professional eSports players

The eSports market is currently thriving as it is expected to grow to £1.4 billion in worth by 2025. It has also become more inclusive as Scottish gamer Kelsie 'Kels' Grieg recently became the first female player to qualify for the Call of Duty Challengers Elite tournament.

Within competitive gaming, cash prizes are always increasing and becoming a more lucrative industry. It has attracted vast amounts of players as 31 per cent of eSports players revealed that earning money is their firm reason for competing at all.

The recent Dota 2 championship which started on February 28^th had a large prize pool of £415,000. Dota 2 has been the main gaming source of income for many eSports players as the top 21 earning players in the world saw Dota 2 revealed as their highest-paying game.

Uswitch's fibre experts wanted to discover the most profitable and easiest game to become an expert in. To do so the video games with the highest prize pools in 2022 were sourced alongside the top ten easiest games to master based on a complexity score out of 10.

Dota 2 provided gamers with the highest winnings in 2022 with a total prize pool of just over £26.9 million. However, despite this large winning sum being on the table, professional eSports players of this real-time strategy (RTS) video game will have their work cut out in trying to earn money.

This is as out of the top ten games which offer the highest pool rewards, Dota 2 is the second hardest to become an expert in. The game has a complexity score of 8.67 which is only behind Hearthstone in first place with 9.33.

PUBG Mobile came in as the second highest-paying game in 2022 with a total of nearly £19.2 million. PUBG, the highest rewarding battle royale game, has been revealed to be much more popular in its mobile format than on other platforms to play on.

This comes as the standard version, PUBG: Battlegrounds, paid out much less to its eSports gamers with a sum of just over £6.9 million and was the seventh highest paying game. In contrast to Dota 2, which is very difficult to master, PUBG has a complexity score of 3.33 which makes it a suitable game for many to master.

Coming in as the third highest paying game is Fortnite, which is another battle royale game and generated over £13.9 million in the prize pool for its players in 2022. This is more than double the prize pool total for one of Fortnite's main rivals, Apex Legends, who were the 10^th highest with slightly over £5.2 million in prize pools.

Battle royale video games such as Fortnite, with a complexity score of 2.67 and PUBG with a score of 3.33 indicate they may be the ideal genre of games to become experts in. The Fortnite Champion Series (FNCS) has already announced £10 million in prize pools across three majors, so competition is likely to increase in this market in 2023 with more interested gamers.

Both Fortnite and PUBG were ranked in the top 10 for easiest games to master, coming in at fourth and fifth respectively.

Out of the top 10 highest profitable games in 2022, fourth-placed Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is the easiest game to master as it has a complexity score of just 1.33. It is also only behind Call of Duty: Warzone on the list of the 10 easiest games to master with that game having a score of only 0.67.

The top 10 highest paying eSports games list for 2022 also included League of Legends: Wild Rift, Rocket League, Rainbow Six Siege, League of Legends and Apex Legends.

The other games which were among the top 10 to master included Valorant, which was the third easiest game with a score of 2.00. Overwatch 2, Apex Legends, World of Warcraft, Rainbow Six Siege and Starcraft II rounded out the top 10.

The games which cover both lists are Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Fortnite, PUBG Mobile, Apex Legends and Rainbow Six Siege. PUBG Mobile and Apex Legends were ranked as number one and two respectively in the most watched battle royale eSports titles last year.

Nick Baker, the Uswitch fibre broadband expert, has highlighted the importance of having a good internet connection when playing online. He stated, "Whether you're playing casually or professionally, a poor internet connection is an ordeal for any gamer."

Baker expressed that a minimum of 3mbps is technically enough to play online. However, he added: "That figure doesn't take into account others in the home sharing your internet connection and some games requiring large downloads. With this in mind, a download speed of 50mbps - 100mbps is more appropriate for gamers."

The fibre broadband expert also claims a wired connection is necessary as it "is the only way to get the fastest speeds in the UK. While a wireless connection can allow for a cleaner set-up, a wired connection can better ensure that your online play runs smoothly."

Lastly, Baker recommends you check your ping in order to see the reaction time of your broadband. With it being measured in milliseconds, he stated: "If you have a ping over 150ms, it may be worth talking to your provider to see if there are alternative plans to help reduce this."