Esports is in a weird spot right now. We're seeing major tournaments dole out life-changing money: League of Legends' 2022 Worlds offered up a prize pool of $2,230,000 at its grand final. The Fortnite Championship Series 2022 Invitational's prize pool was $1,000,000, and Dota's 2022 International Tournament saw a staggering total prize pot of $18,930,775. The winners of the latter—Tundra Esports—took home $8.5 million for the pleasure.
Yet, sponsorships are beginning to dry up. Investors are pulling out. Many organisations are operating at a loss. It sucks for esports as a whole. But for competitive fighting game players, it's been the norm for a long time. After all, the FGC was hardly given a chance in the first place. This year's Street Fighter 5 Capcom Cup had a $300,000 prize pool, while the Tekken World Tour 2022 Finals was a mere third of that. Tekken 7 champion Atif Butt took home 0.5% of what Tundra made. What gives?
