How Much Do Top Esports Players Make?

A lot of people are interested in how much money professional gamers make. After all, if you can get paid to play video games all day, it sounds like a dream job! So how much do pro gamers earn?

Salaries by Game

League of Legends

League of Legends is a five-player online battle arena video game based on the Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne mod Defense of the Ancients. Designed by developer Riot Games, LoL was unofficially released in October 2009. The game is a free-to-play title supported by microtransactions. LoL is one of the most popular Internet games. According to Riot Games, it is played by 650 million people.

In North America and Europe, professional League of Legends players earn a minimum salary of $75,000 USD per year, and are guaranteed up to $200,000 USD in salary and prize money per year. The top players in these regions can earn over $1 million USD per year from tournament winnings, salaries, sponsorship deals, and streaming partnerships.

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

Global Offensive is one of the most popular games in the world, and its popularity is only increasing. With that said, it’s no surprise that Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is one of the most lucrative games in esports. The game has a huge following, and the best players in the world can earn a very comfortable living by playing it professionally.

While there is no shortage of tournaments to compete in, most of the prize money comes from two sources: Valve-sponsored Major tournaments, and ESL Pro League. These are the two biggest leagues in Counter-Strike, and they both have very large prize pools. In fact, the prize pool for ESL Pro League Season 7 was a whopping $1,000,000!

So how much do top Counter-Strike: Global Offensive players make? It depends on a number of factors, such as tournament winnings, team salary, sponsorship deals, and streaming revenue. However, we can get a general idea by looking at some of the top earners in the game.

According to esportsearnings.com, the top 10 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive players have earned a combined total of over $23 million! The highest earner is none other than Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev of Natus Vincere, who has amassed over $3.5 million in prize money alone. Other top earners include Americans Tyler “Stewie2K” Yip and Jacob “Pyth” Mourujärvi, as well as Czech player Tomas “oskar” Stastny.

Dota 2

Dota 2 is a popular multiplayer online battle arena video game and one of the most popular esports games. The game is played in matches between two teams of five players, with each team occupying and defending their own separate base on the map. Each of the ten players controls a powerful character, known as a “hero”, with unique abilities and differing styles of play. During a match, players collect experience points and items for their heroes to successfully battle the opposing team’s heroes in player versus player combat. A team wins by being the first to destroy the other team’s “Ancient”, a large structure located within their base.

The game is free-to-play and is supported by microtransactions, which allow players to purchase items to improve their hero’s abilities or cosmetic items to change their appearance. Dota 2 has been praised for its production quality, esports scenes, and faithfulness to its predecessor’s mechanics.

The game has been supported by Valve through updates and new content, released periodically throughout the year. Dota 2 has become one of Valve’s most profitable games, despite being distributed for free; according to equity research firm Pacific Crest Securities, it was estimated in mid-2015 that Dota 2 generated $20 million per month in revenue for Valve.

Top salaries by game – (How Much Do Top Esports Players Make?)
The average salary for a professional Dota 2 player is $316,000 per year. The highest paid Dota 2 players are those from China, who make an average of $1 million per year. The top 10% of earners make over $800,000 per year, while the bottom 10% make less than $100,000 per year.

Salaries by Team

The top esports players in the world make a lot of money. Some of them make millions of dollars per year. The average salary for a professional esports player is around $60,000 per year. However, salaries can vary greatly depending on the team a player is on.

Cloud9

Cloud9 is an American esports organization that was founded in 2013. The organization has players in various games such as Counter Strike: Global Offensive, Overwatch, Rocket League, and more. In 2018, the organization was valued at around $310 million.

According to esportsearnings.com, the Cloud9 Counter Strike: Global Offensive team has earned over $4.3 million dollars in prize money. The highest earning player on the team is Tyler “Skadoodle” Latham who has earned over $1 million dollars playing for Cloud9 since 2013. Other notable players on the team include Timothy “Autimatic” Ta, Will “RUSH” Wierzba, and Maikil “Golden” Selim who have all earned over $600,000 playing for Cloud9.

Evil Geniuses

Formed in 1999, Evil Geniuses is one of the oldest and most successful professional gaming teams in North America. They have teams competing in a variety of games, including Dota 2, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, League of Legends, and more. Here’s a look at the salaries of some of their top esports players.

DotA 2:
-Kuro “KuroKy” Takhasomi: $1,000,000
-Syed Sumail “SumaiL” Hassan: $700,000
-Saahil “Universe” Arora: $500,000
-Ludwig “zai” Wåhlberg: $500,000
-Andreas Franck “Cr1t-” Nielsen: $400,000

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive:

Terrorist$1.6 million (approximate)

Counter Terrorist$2.4 million (approximate)

Fnatic

Fnatic is a professional esports organization headquartered in London, United Kingdom. Founded 23 July 2004, the team has players from around the world, across a variety of games, such as Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Dota 2, Heroes of the Storm, and League of Legends. In 2015, Fnatic entered Rainbow Six Siege and Fortnite.

The organization has teams and players based in countries around the world. Fnatic’s Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team is composed of former CS 1.6 players from Denmark and Sweden who transitioned to CS:GO during the game’s beta phase in 2012. In total Connor “karrigan” Flynn played in 2 majors under the fnatic banner before moving on to mousesports (where he lead them to their first ever major victory).

Jesper “JW” Wecksell played his first LAN event with fnatic at EMS One Katowice 2014 however didn’t play in a Valve-sponsored Major until PGL Major Kraków 2017 where he helped his team to a 3rd-4th place finish. Robin “flusha” Rönnquist played his first Valve-sponsored Major with fnatic at ESL One Cologne 2015 where they finished in 9th-12th place. Freddy “KRIMZ” Johansson first played for fnatic at DreamHack Winter 2014 however due to his young age was unable to attend any Valve-sponsored Majors until ESL One Cologne 2015 where he helped his team achieve a 9th-12th place finish. Finally Lars “Gunnar” Christensen joined up with the rest of the former LGB members at PGL Major Kraków 2017 just in time for the team’s 3rd-4th place finish.

Salaries by Country

According to Forbes, “The 20 highest-paid players in esports earned a combined $109 million last year playing video games professionally.” This year’s top earner is 26-year-old Norwegian player Kuro Takhasomi who plays under the alias “KuroKy.” He made $4.1 million in prize money and another $5 million from salaries and sponsorships.

United States

In the United States, the average esports salary is $60,000 per year. The top 1% of esports players in the United States make over $200,000 per year. The top 10% of esports players in the United States make over $100,000 per year.

China

The average salary for a professional gamer in China is about $7,500 a month. The top players can make upwards of $15,000 a month. However, most of the players make less than $5,000 a month.

South Korea

In South Korea, the most popular esports games are League of Legends, Overwatch, and Starcraft. The top players in these games make a lot of money, with some even earning over $1 million per year. The average salary for a professional esports player in South Korea is $58,000 per year.