Being a professional e-sports player or a video game content creator has been on everyone’s mind as of late. From making guides to entering tournaments, people have been looking to see which game is popping off.
Related story: Highest-Earning E-Sports Athletes for Each Game in 2023!
Well, in this article, here are the games I think that can be potential careers in both content creation and the competitive field. Do note that some information such as the total of playable characters in some games may be outdated.
Table of Contents
Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA)
Dota 2
Made by Valve Corporation, Defense of the Ancients 2, widely known as Dota 2, has been around since 2003. Dota stated off as a mod made by the community for Blizzard Entertainment’s Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos.
Dota 2 is a free-to-play 5v5 MOBA with a total of 124 playable Heroes with each character having their different kinds of skills and play styles. Each Hero is divided by attributes which are Tanks, Agility, Intelligence, and Universal. Mid Lane, Safe Lane, Off Lane, Soft Support, and Hard Support are Roles that players may queue themselves in Ranked matches.
Their largest tournament, The International, has prize pools ranging from USD 1.6 million to a whopping 40 million bucks with the latest having a total of USD 18,930,775. That’s the highest in this article.
Currently, Dota 2 can be spotted as one of the top viewing games on Twitch. This PC game is available on Steam .
League of Legends (LOL)
Now that I’ve mentioned Dota 2, let’s move on to Riot Game’s League of Legends. Abbreviated as LOL, the 2009 game was inspired by the first Dota title which then became a standalone game that we know today.
League of Legends is a 5v5 free-to-play PC MOBA with a total of 163 Champions. Similar to Dota 2, the Champions have classes which consist of Controller, Fighter, Mage, Marskman, Slayer, Tank, Specialist and Roles that goes as follows: Top, Jungle, Mid, Bottom, Support and Roamer.
The MOBA’s biggest competition, the League of Legends World Championships has a cash pot that ranged from 1.97 million dollars to USD 6.45 million.
Content-wise, LOL would be your best bet as it is the highest watched video game on Twitch and the third on YouTube. League of Legends can be played for free on the Riot Client or on the Epic Games store.
Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB)
Released back in 2016, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang can only be played on Android and iOS. Shortened to MLBB, the game is created by Moonton, a Chinese video game company.
This title is a free-to-play 5v5 MOBA with a total of 121 Heroes having either a single or dual Role: Assassin, Fighter, Mage, Marksman, Support, and/or Tank. The Laning positions consist of EXP Laner, Gold Laner, Jungler, Mid Laner and Roamer.
The M World Championship is the biggest competition with the prize money ranging from USD 250,000 to 900,000 dollars.
Mobile Legends is the second highest in views in YouTube so aspiring content creators should take note of this. To download MLBB, check out the Play Store for Android or App Store for iOS.
Shooter Battle Royale (First-Person and Third-Person)
Apex Legends
Created by Respawn Entertainment in 2019, Apex Legends is a free-to-play battle royale for the PC on the EA APP or Steam, PlayStations 4 and 5, Xbox, and the Nintendo Switch. The game is placed in the same universe as Respawn’s other series, Titanfall.
In Apex Legends, the standard match has a total of 60 players teams of three. The game has a roster of 24 playable Legends with each character having a Role with unique abilities. These roles are Assault, Skirmisher, Recon, Support, and Controller.
The biggest tournament for Apex Legends is the Apex Legends Global Series Championship with prize pools ranging from 1 to 5 million dollars.
Apex Legends can be spotted on Twitch and YouTube with a high number of average viewers when looking at Categories. Interested players may head to Steam or the EA App for PC, the PlayStation Store for PlayStations 4 and 5, the Xbox Games Store for Xbox, and the Nintendo eShop for the Switch.
Fortnite
It feels disrespectful if I don’t mention this game in this article especially with all its widely known collaborations.
Fortnite is a free-to-play battle royale developed by Epic Games back in 2017. This can be played alone or solo, as a duo, trio or a squad consisting of 4 members. Solo, duo and squad matches have a total of 100 players in one game, while trios have 99 players.
Like I mentioned before, the game has multiple collaborations ranging from artists, TV shows, and other forms of media. When you enter a match in Fortnite, expect to an anime character or someone from Marvel or DC fighting alongside or against you.
The Fortnite Champion Series is an ongoing tournament that features duos duking it out for the sweet prize pot. Currently, this year’s prize pool will be 4 million dollars. Another to mention is the Fortnite World Cup with the total prize money being 15 million dollars.
The title is spotted in the top 10 most watched games in both Twitch and YouTube. Fortnite is available to play in PC via Epic Games, the PlayStation Store for PlayStations 4 and 5, the Xbox Games Store for Xbox, the Nintendo eShop for the Switch, the Play Store for Android, and App Store for iOS.
First-Person Shooters (FPS)
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
Widely known as CS:GO, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is a multiplayer FPS developed by Valve and Hidden Path Entertainment. CS:GO is the fourth installment of the Counter-Strike franchise with the first title being released in 2000.
A standard competitive match in CS:GO consists of a 5v5 that can have up to 30 rounds lasting a minute and 55 seconds. The first team who wins 16 rounds wins the match.
The Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Major Championships are tournaments made by Valve themselves. The prize pool has ranged from USD 250,000 to 2 million dollars.
CS:GO can be found as one of the highest watched video games in Twitch. The title is available to download on PC via Steam. A sequel to CS:GO has been announced called Counter-Strike 2 so keep your eyes peeled for that.
Valorant
This game took the world by storm in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Valorant is a free-to-play shooter developed by Riot Games back in April 2020. When the game hit its first anniversary, it had over 14 million active monthly players.
Valorant’s matches have a total of 10 players split in two teams, making it a 5v5. For standard matches, the game has a total of 25 rounds – first to win 13 rounds wins the whole thing. There is currently a total of 23 playable Agents – each having one of the four roles: Controller, Duelist, Initiator, and Sentinel.
Riot Games runs the Valorant Champions Tour – a global esports tournament where a total of 30 teams are selected to join the International League. The highest prize pool here is a total of 1 million dollars.
Valorant can easily be seen as one of the highest viewed games on both Twitch and YouTube, interchanging with Counter-Strike: Global Offensive in view count in Twitch. Valorant can be played on Windows via the Riot Client or on the Epic Games store.
Honorable Mentions
These are games that don’t quite fit the categories here but have raked a high number of views on Twitch or YouTube. Some of them also have their own high prized tournaments as well.
| Video Game Title | Tournament: Highest Prize Pool | High View Count? |
|---|---|---|
| Rocket League | ||
| Rocket League Championship Series: USD 2 million | Twitch | |
| Teamfight Tactics | Monsters Attack!: USD 456,000 | Twitch and YouTube |
| Minecraft | N/A | Twitch and YouTube |
| Fall Guys | N/A | Twitch |
| Grand Theft Auto V | N/A | Twitch |
Conclusion
Personally, I think one should not stick with just one game when it comes to content creation. The video game scene changes drastically as new titles get released every year. For example, as of making this article, Diablo IV released a month ago and it currently spotted in the current top viewed games in both Twitch and YouTube.
For the professional field, if you think you got what it takes, try checking out your local tournaments first and entering there. We all start out small and it can gauge the feel of the competitive scenery for you. As someone who was able to get a glimpse of that, a lot of your free time will be taken up with training and scrims so brace yourself for that.
At the end of the day, play the games that make you happy and keep on with the hustle in either producing content or trying to enter competitive scene.
Well, that’s a wrap for this article! There are so many games under the categories I’ve mentioned, but I only listed a few.
Were there titles that you wanted to see? Let us know in the comments below!
Related story: Highest-Earning E-Sports Athletes for Each Game in 2023!
