On Friday, Riot announced that the 2016 League of Legends World Championship prize pool has reached a total of $5.07 million. The amount was originally announced by Riot on Sept. 6 as $2.13 million, so fan support comprises over half of the total amount as of Friday. Fans can still contribute to the prize pool until Nov. 6.
The developer and host of the tournament provided fans the opportunity to purchase certain in-game items, with a portion of those proceeds being added to the purse for the tournament. Other games have previously held successful crowdfunded initiatives, most notably Dota 2, which broke records in the esports industry with its fan-fueled prize pool for The International in 2016.
The decision to allow fan contributions to prize pools came as a part of a major statement released by Riot in the wake of public criticism and debates about the current state of League of Legends esports and the future for players and teams under Riot's leadership.
Riot's original announcement stated that 40 percent of the final prize pool would be awarded to the winner, which will be determined in Saturday night's final between SK Telecom T1 and Samsung Galaxy. Second place will earn 15 percent of the total purse, while all 16 teams at the event will receive at least a small portion of potential winnings.
The 2015 edition of Worlds featured a prize pool of just over $2 million, similar to the one originally planned for 2016 prior to the crowdfunding initiative.