The prize level for the finals due to take place in Bali in Indonesia from November 27 to December 9 follows a pot of $55,000 (£41,000/€ 49,000) in 2021.

"We are very excited for this momentous growth of the 2022 WE Championships Finals prize pool to $500,000, which is representative of the growing popularity and credibility of our flagship event," said IESF President Vlad Marinescu.

"We are on track to hold the biggest and most inclusive WE Championships yet.

"We look forward to further increasing access to professional esports opportunities and providing athletes with the ultimate environment to perform at their full potential."

The IESF recently announced the six game titles which will be featured at the competition.

Dota 2, Tekken 7, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and the eFootball series will return to this year's World Esports Championships and mobile games PUBG Mobile and Mobile Legends: Bang Bang will be featured for the first time.

Registration for National Federations opened on February 20 and more than 120 countries across six continents are expected to compete in the regional and national qualifiers.

Athletes compete by representing their countries at the World Esports Championships, marking it out from other international esports events.

Bali was awarded hosting rights in September 2021 and was handed over the hosting duties during a special ceremony following the 2021 World Championships in Eilat, Israel, which united the IESF family for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic.

The IESF was founded in 2008 by nine member nations and is currently composed of more than 111 National Federations across five continents.