Grab a pad and book your flights to Tokyo this October if you want a slice of the $4 200 000 pot that Bandai Namco just confirmed for the Tekken 8 World Tour Finals at Zepp DiverCity. No other 2026 circuit has posted a higher single-event purse, and the payout curve is steep: first place walks away with $1 000 000, while eighth still pockets $75 000.
Capcom isn’t far behind. The Street Fighter 6 Capcom Pro Tour ends in Los Angeles next April with $3 000 000 on the line, up 36 % from last year. Sign-ups for the last-chance qualifier open 30 November; last season 512 players battled for eight open slots, so set a calendar reminder and grind your LP up to 38 000 to avoid gatekeeper matches.
Nintendo shocked everyone by allocating $2 000 000 to the newly branded Super Smash Bros Ultimate Champions Series. The twist: only six invitational stops feed points toward the finale, and each stop caps entrants at 256. If you did not finish in the top 32 at Genesis, Frostbite, or Kagaribi, your only remaining route is the European wildcard in Copenhagen on 14 February–expect 1 200 entrants for 24 spots.
Arc System Works kept Guilty Gear Strive relevant by pooling $1 500 000 across three global zones. Japan–Korea accounts for 45 % of the money, but the North American finals in Austin distribute $225 000 to the top eight, making it the most cost-effective flight for U.S. players. Registration closes when brackets hit 384 entrants, and last year they filled in 19 hours.
smaller scenes still pay rent. The King of Fighters XV SNK Championship Series divides $800 000 among eight regions; Latin America gets $120 000 and regularly sees under 200 entrants, so a top-four finish there averages $2 400 after travel–often better ROI than scraping by in larger fields.
Track every open qualifier on start.gg and filter by "prize 10 k usd+" to stay ahead. Most circuits publish their points spreadsheets publicly on Google Docs; bookmark them and run the numbers each Monday morning so you know whether to grind ranked or book the cheaper Thursday flight.
Top 5 FGC Titles by 2026 Prize Money
Skip the guesswork: Street Fighter 6 paid out $4.85 million in 2026, the biggest pot the FGC has ever seen. Capcom doubled last year Capcom Pro Tour fund, added four $250k «World Warrior」 invitational majors, and let third-party TOs top-up pools through the new 70/30 revenue-split DLC pass. If you compete, grind the February-to-November points race; every CPT Online qualifier now feeds a $50k minimum weekly purse.
TEKKEN 8 sits second with $3.9 million. Bandai Namco replaced the old World Tour with a three-tier circuit: 16 Global Challengers ($100k each), four Masters ($300k each) and a $1.5m finals in Osaka. Buy the season 3 DLC bundle to unlock the «prize-boost」 token; 30% of that sale rockets straight into the pot you’re playing for that weekend.
Third place goes to Guilty Gear Strive at $2.4 million. Arc System Works pooled money from Evo, ArcRevo World, the new $15 DLC character pass and a Sony matching grant. Console and PC netcode events now share the same leaderboard, so a top-eight run in Dallas qualifies you for the Tokyo finals the same way an offline major does.
King of Fighters XV edges into fourth with $1.7 million. SNK funded a 24-stop Team Global League where each 3v3 squad locks roster names at signup; swap a player mid-season and you forfeit 30% of earned points. The winning team in Seoul split $600k, the largest single check in KOF history.
Mortal Kombat 1 rounds out the list at $1.55 million. NetherRealm put up $750k for the annual Invasion finals, then let community TOs sell limited-time «Golden Krypt» skins that feed 50% of proceeds back into their own events. The catch: only tournaments that run rollback-legal setups on PS5 and Steam Deck qualify, so check tech specs before booking venue monitors.
Want a slice next year? Focus on Street Fighter 6 and TEKKEN 8; both publishers already announced identical prize structures for 2027, so the point thresholds you hit this winter carry forward. Capcom published the exact CPT point calculator in Google Sheets–clone it, plug in your expected placements, and you’ll see you need top-six at two Global Challengers plus one Evo top-32 to qualify for the million-dollar finals.
For Guilty Gear, Arc System Works drops the season 4 pass in March; history says the pot jumps 18% when new DLC launches, so that your cheapest window to enter. KOF and MK1 grow slower–expect 5-7% bumps–so unless you already main Leona or Scorpion, prioritize the top three titles if money is the target.
Register early. Every 2026 champion secured their seed at least 45 days before the first qualifier; late signups face 256-player Swiss brackets that drain stamina and shrink prize splits. Book flights on Tuesday, practice during JP/KR net hours, and cap your warm-up sets at three hours–data from the top 32 shows win rates drop 4% for every extra hour past that mark.
Street Fighter 7 World Tour Finals purse breakdown
Book your flight to Osaka the moment you qualify; Capcom pays the top 16 flights and two hotel nights, so arriving early turns the ¥200 000 ($1 300) appearance bonus into pure profit before you even plug in your stick.
The 2026 prize pool locks at $3 000 000, double last year. 1st place grabs $1 200 000, 2nd takes $480 000, 3rd earns $270 000, 4th pockets $180 000, 5th-6th leave with $120 000 each, 7th-8th collect $75 000, 9th-12th receive $45 000, 13th-16th get $25 000, 17th-24th bank $15 000, and 25th-32nd leave with $10 000. Every dollar reaches your account within 72 hours via Wise; no wire delays, no 10 % haircut.
Capcom adds ¥50 000 ($330) per perfect round and ¥100 000 ($660) per reverse-3-0 sweep during pools, stacking up to an extra ¥3 200 000 ($21 000) that gets split evenly among the players who trigger them. If you main Blanka, expect at least two perfect-round bonuses–online stats show 34 % of his pool matches end with a flawless round.
Merch cuts close the gap: finalists sign 1 500 hologram fightsticks that sell for $120 each; you keep $18 per unit, so even 7th place can add $27 000 by signing for two hours. Capcom streams the signing session on Twitch, drops a 30 % affiliate code under your handle, and pays the commission monthly; last year 9th-place finisher walked away with an extra $19 400 just from code redemptions. Bring a good pen–Sharpie Ultra-Fine dries before smudges hit the photo backdrop.
TEKKEN 8 Global Finals crowdfunding tracker
Bookmark the live tracker at tekkenworldtour.com/crowdfund and refresh every Friday at 17:00 UTC; Bandai adds the week DLC revenue within minutes and the counter updates without cache delay.
On 3 May 2026 the pool sat at $1 340 228–$902k from 30 % of all Season 1 character passes, $312k from the "Golden Heihachi" skin bundle, and the rest from Bits donations that average $4 700 per hour during NA prime time.
Expect the final push to match last year $2.1 m: the last three days before ticket registration closes historically add 18-22 %, and this year the EU storefront finally supports local wallets, so German and French buyers no longer skip the 3 % foreign fee.
Set a Twitch reminder for the "Crowdfund Crack-up" stream on 14 June; last year it spiked the bar by $137k in four hours after every $10k milestone unlocked an extra exhibition–Harada already confirmed a Knee vs. Arslan first-to-ten if the meter hits $1.7 m during the show.
Console players raise 42 % more per capita than Steam users according to Bandai open CSV; if you want the biggest bump, gift the PC Season Pass to a PS5 friend and have them log in once–cross-buy still tags the sale to the PSN region where the leaderboard race is tightest.
The tracker exposes two API endpoints: /current returns JSON with cent-precision totals, and /history gives minute-level deltas; plug the latter into a free Grafana cloud account and you will spot the exact minute the Japan vs. Korea donation war starts (usually 13:00 JST after work).
Pool-split is locked at 60 % for winners, 30 % for top-eight, 10 % for production; if the counter lands at $2.3 m, first place grabs $828k–more than Evo 2025 entire purse–so every $2 skin sale pushes the champ closer to a new BMW M3.
Donations close 30 h before the first Global Finals pool starts on 2 August; export the tracker CSV the moment it freezes, because Bandai trims the endpoint 24 h later and you will need the raw file for tax if you plan to write off Bits tips through a US LLC.
Super Smash Bros. Melee invitational payouts
Book your flight to the next Pound, Genesis or Summit only after you check the public compendium sheet; last year Summit 14 poured $41 300 of the $75 000 pot directly from crowdfunded merchandise, so snapping up a $35 hoodie during the open sale bumps the payout for 1st place by roughly $1 200. Track the Smash.gg tracker live: every additional 250 hoodies sold raises the top prize another grand, and the leaders usually hit that threshold in under 45 minutes once the shop opens.
The 2026 Genesis invitational already locked a $150 000 guarantee, double the 2024 figure, because Nintendo new licensing deal forces organizers to add a $15 per-spectator fee that flows straight to the pot. Expect the winner to walk away with at least $52 500 after the standard 35 % cut, while 9th-12th place will collect $1 875 each–still higher than the $500 they got at Genesis 8. Smash Summit 15, scheduled for August, is experimenting with a tiered crowdfunding cap: once the prize pool hits $125 000, every further dollar is split 70 % to top 4 and 30 % to 5th-8th, so late donors effectively bet on upsets.
If you plan to compete, note that invitationals now withhold 8 % for California state tax at source; file Form 592-F before the event and you reclaim up to $1 040 on a top-4 finish. Flyers mailed to past attendees contain a 10 % discount code for the merch store–stack it with the early-bird bundle and you fund about $18 more into the pool while saving yourself $11. Finally, keep an eye on the side-event schedule: last year crew-battle bounty added an extra $5 200 split among the five winning team members, turning a fun warm-up into a meaningful payday.
Guilty Gear Strive Evo 2026 pool split
Split the $310 000 pot 60-20-10-4-3-2-1 % across top eight to keep Evo 2026 Strive payouts clear and hype: winner grabs $186 000, runner-up $62 000, third $31 000, then $12 400, $9 300, $6 200, $4 650, $3 100.
That curve pays the champion more than any Strive major in history and still gives 4th place a five-figure cheque–something only three events managed last year.
Organisers locked the ratio after polling 1 200 entrants; 71 % voted for a heavy first-place slice, echoing the same winner-take-most model you see in https://rocore.sbs/articles/see-how-palm-beach-county-soccer-teams-performed-in-regional-finals-and-more.html regional finals prize pools.
Expect a $75 buy-in and 2 100-player cap; every slot beyond 1 800 adds $45 to the pool after the $10 venue cut, so sell-outs push the total past $330 000 and nudge the eighth-place cheque above $3 300.
Taxes bite hard–California withholds 7 % for foreign players plus 37 % federal on amounts over $1 000–so EU pros should file a 1040-NR return within three weeks to reclaim roughly 12 %.
Coaches and analysts aren’t on the payout sheet; if you want a slice, register as a player-substitute before bracket lock on Friday 10:00 a.m. PDT, no exceptions.
Print the split graphic from the Evo app, tape it to your setup, and you’ll never wonder what a top-three finish buys you: a Tesla, a down-payment, or just dinner for the crew.
Where the Cash Comes From: Crowdfunding, Sponsors, DLC
Grab a season pass if you want a slice of your own money to reach the Evo 2026 pot–Capcom already coded 30 % of every Street Fighter 7 premium costume sold on PlayStation, Xbox and Steam straight into the prize tracker, and the counter ticks up in real time on the main menu.
Bandai Namco copied the model for Tekken 8 in 2025, but they sweeten the split: 35 % of the $7.99 DLC characters and 50 % of the $19.99 frame-data add-on feed the Bandai esports fund that pays Evo, CEO and the new Japan Cup. Expect the same structure to stay for Tekken 9 next year, so buying three DLC fighters adds roughly $8.40 to the pool–more than the actual tournament entry fee.
Sponsors still shoulder the biggest single cheque. Red Bull wrote $1.2 million to the Guilty Gear Strive circuit in 2025, and their contract includes a renewal clause that jumps 15 % if peak viewership breaks 250 k on Twitch. Arc System Works confirmed the clause triggered last December, so the 2026 instalment will be $1.38 million before crowdfunding even starts.
Logitech, Samsung and HyperX pool resources for the "Peripheral League Bonus." They pay $50 k for every 1 k units of tournament-branded mice or fightsticks sold during finals weekend. At Evo 2025 the stock sold out in 43 minutes, injecting an extra $400 k that bumped the last-chance qualifier pot from $5 k to $45 k. If you plan to compete, buy the hardware early; the bonus stops when inventory hits zero.
Crowdfunding plateaus faster for older titles. Melty Blood: Type Lumina 2025 community drive scraped together $92 k in three months, but 68 % came in the first ten days. organisers now front-load reveals: show a new character trailer on day one and the pot grows 4× faster, according to French Bread own analytics.
| Source | Title 2026 | Share to Pool | Forecast Addition |
|---|---|---|---|
| DLC Characters | Street Fighter 7 | 30 % | $3.2 million |
| Season Pass | Tekken 9 | 35 % | $2.7 million |
| Red Bull Sponsorship | Guilty Gear Next | Fixed | $1.38 million |
| Peripheral League | Multi-title | $50 k per 1 k units | $400 k cap |
Smaller studios without DLC pipelines sell FOMO cosmetics. The 2025 "Golden Lobby" bundle for Them Fightin’ Herds cost $4.99 and expired after 72 hours; 25 % of each sale filled the $150 k prize pool for the Indy Gaming World Cup. Short windows plus exclusive palettes generated 31 k sales in two days, proving time pressure beats season-long campaigns for niche rosters.
If you main a game that ignores crowdfunding, switch to enter-and-donate formats. Community pots for Skullgirls doubled in 2025 after tourney organiser "dekillsage" routed PayPal links through the tournament overlay. Viewers typed "!pot" in chat, sent $5, and saw the on-screen total update instantly. The tool raised $78 k across four events with zero platform fees, something no publisher DLC can match for transparency.
Battle Pass revenue share math for 2026
Lock 28 % of every Battle Pass dollar into the prize pool if you want to match Street Fighter 6 2026 payout of $2.4 million. Capcom model keeps 60 % for itself, allocates 12 % to regional organizers, and still returns $7.8 million to players across three seasons. Copy the split verbatim and you’ll fund a $500 k Evo main event without touching sponsor cash.
Here the ledger: a $9.99 pass sells 1.35 million copies in 90 days. Multiply by 0.28 and you net $3.78 million. Subtract 8 % platform fee on console, 3 % on Steam, set aside 5 % for charge-backs, and the pool drops to $3.19 million. Announce the figure on day one; sales spike 22 % in week two, pushing the final pot to $3.9 million–enough to pay the top 64 finishers a five-figure check.
Publishers who hate handing out cash hide behind "community stretch goals." Tekken 8 2026 pass earmarks only 15 % for prizes, doubles it if buyers complete 50 million online matches, then pockets the interest on the float. Players grinded 38 million matches and missed the trigger, so Bandai saved $1.1 million in foregone winnings while keeping the PR splash. If you’re running the event, insist on a non-conditional percentage; otherwise you’re marketing for free.
- Announce the exact split in the launch trailer; ambiguity costs you 18 % in missed sales.
- Sell a $29.99 "pro tier" that dumps 50 % straight into the pool; 14 % of buyers pick it and generate 31 % of total prize money.
- Cap pass levels at 50; every extra tier reduces completion rate by 3 % and lowers repeat purchase odds next season.
- Pay studios within 30 days after finals; delay clauses longer than 60 days slash content-creator hype by half.
Mobile ports behave differently. A $4.99 pass on iOS nets $2.94 after Apple 30 % and the 1 % refund hold. You need 4.2 million sales to equal one Steam premium season. Arena of Valor 2026 workaround: sell a $1.99 cosmetic coupon that counts as a pass purchase, pushes volume to 6.8 million, and still funds a $1.5 million Asian circuit. If your title lives on phones, price low, sell wide, and keep the share percentage unchanged–volume beats margin every time.
Q&A:
Which fighting game paid the highest single-event prize in 2026, and how much was it?
Street Fighter 6 Capcom Cup IX set the record with a $3 000 000 pool, of which $1 000 000 went to the solo champion. The cheque was presented on stage in Tokyo and wired the same evening, so the number is easy to verify.
How did Tekken 8 manage to triple its 2025 payouts without raising the entry fee?
Bandai Namco swapped the old fixed model for a crowd-funded war chest: 30 % of every DLC costume sold between February and October went straight to the Tekken World Tour finals. The skins were cheap, but they sold 8.4 million units, pushing the finale to $2 200 000 and letting the studio keep the $10 registration price unchanged.
Did any smaller title crack the million-dollar mark this year?
Guilty Gear Strive came close at $980 000, almost all of it from Arc System Works’ own pocket. They treated the sum as a marketing line-item for the Season 4 pass, proving you do not need a six-figure player base if the company chequebook is willing.
How much of these pools actually reaches the players after tax and org cuts?
For a U.S. resident taking home a $200 000 share, expect roughly 37 % to disappear between federal tax and, if you live in California, state tax. Most teams skim 5–10 %, so the wire transfer lands around $110 000. European winners keep a bigger slice; Swedes, for example, pay about 52 % but only on the portion earned inside Sweden, and many orgs waive the cut for marketing value.
What is the safest prediction for 2027 will the numbers keep climbing?
Capcom has already locked $3.5 million for next season, and Tekken DLC trick is repeatable, so another jump is baked in. The only brake is publisher nerves: if DLC fatigue shows in the quarterly reports, the tap turns off fast. Expect low-seven-figure headline pools for the big two, flat or slightly down for everything else.
Reviews
James
Tekken 8 $3.2M purse dwarfed SF6; Evo Japan skewed totals north.
Dmitri Volkov
Ah, 2026: where only three games funded pros, the rest just sold skins and called it support.
Christopher
yo, where my waifu at if she ain’t topping the 2026 payout list?
Michael
Yo, spreadsheet warrior, did your brain lag harder than a 2004 net-café connection when you slapped together this "prize pool" rundown? How does it feel to crown a 2026 king without even whispering that Street Fighter 7 announcement trailer already flashed a bigger pot than every entry on your limp list combined did Capcom logo fry your optic nerves or are you just allergic to primary sources? Did you confuse "paid out" with "promised on Twitter" because half your numbers track pledges that evaporated faster than a Twitch sub when the emotes turn lame? Were you too busy sniffing glue to notice Tekken 9 Saudi-backed invitational dropped 3 mil in hard cash the same weekend you scribbled this homework-grade PDF, or does your Google only load pages from 2025? Tell me, champ: when you typed "most" did your keyboard autocorrect to "whatever I scraped off Reddit during a bathroom break" or is deliberate mediocrity your kink and we’re all just unpaid fluffers?