Wings Gaming scoops biggest prize in esports history

As the winners of this year’s Dota 2 competition TI6 Wings Gaming has earned itself the biggest prize in esports history to the tune of $9.1m (£7m). 

The Chinese team defeated Digital Chaos 3-1 in the final of the International 6.

Prior to the tournament both of these teams had been major underdogs yet Wings managed to see off the likes of MVP Phoenix and Evil Geniuses en route to the grand finals.

Digital Chaos made their way to the final via the lower bracket, which means two more matches overall, and they also beat Evil Geniuses in addition to the likes of EHOME and Fnatic.

The overall prize pool for TI6 was (£16m) and runners up Digital Chaos still received a tidy sum of $3.3m (£2.5m). The International’s prize pool is an innovative scheme which involves crowdfunding via the purchase of in-game items on Dota 2. As such it’s one which is funded by the players and fans, for the players and fans.

It has continued to break its own funding records and this was the first year in which it reached in excess of $20m.