We are all familiar the how much money is being thrown around in both the eSports and Crypto world these days but we thought we’d take a look at how some of the top players are doing. Exactly how much money are the big boys making from doing what they love? Let’s take a look.
Not too many years ago, even the most serious eSports pros were competing for a free lunch and maybe a fancy headset. But times have changed – there is literally millions dollars up for grabs now. With the launch of Twitch (other streaming platforms are available, hello ESTN), the amount of prize rose inexorably with the increased reach of profiles of the best pro-gamers. Games, like Fortnite and CS:GO, specifically designed and marketed as eSport tournament experiences only further drove that growth. By the end of 2021 total prize money across the sector broke the $200m mark, up from a paltry $14m back in 2012.

In 2021, Dota 2 took the lion’s share of prize money with one team alone earning an eye-watering $18.7m+ for themselves.
But it’s not all about Dota 2, there’s plenty of pro gamers making super-car and yacht money from other games too. Let’s take a look at some of games and gamers winning big.

2022, the story so far…
There’s been over $27m in prize money paid out so far this year and the big Dota 2 tournaments are yet to even start. So far, PUBG:Mobile leads the way in terms of prize money awarded – over $4.4m and counting, followed closely by CS:GO at just over the $4m mark.

Last year’s runaway leaders Team Spirit (yes, that’s the guys who landed a cool $18.7m in ’21) are still languishing in 31st place overall. I think we all know that won’t last for long.

As for players, everyone in the top 20 has broken the $200k mark in personal earnings so far with Ceng ‘Order’ Zuhai out in top spot with $316k. Not bad at all for 4 months work.

There’s a long way to go this year so it will be interesting to see how it all plays out in the coming months.
And winners are…

Ok, so let’s take a look at some of the players who have really won big since the whole eSports revolution began. It is worth noting that the entire top 20 biggest winners all made their fortunes playing Dota 2, but we’ll mix it up a little and pick them out by game.

• Dota 2 veteran Johan ‘N0tail’ Sundstein scooped a huge $7.2m back in 2019 and just as impressive is that it was his team OG that took down the International tournament for the 2nd year running.

• When Fortnite took over the world back in 2018, Epic Games backed it hard so it’s no surprise to see prize pools explode. In 2019 Sentinels player Kyle “Bugha” Giersdorf bagged himself a pot of $3.2m.

• Our second Danish player on the list, Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen, is somewhat of a CS:GO legend – as he should be having taken down a $1.9m at the Valve Major in 2019.

• Call of Duty also features, with Ian ‘C6’ Porter having ground out a very comfortable living indeed through incredible consistency over his career – with an astonishing three world championships and 37 tournament wins netting him $1.3m to date.

• Also, with career earnings of $1.3m is Lee ‘Faker’ Sang-hyeok for his outstanding performances in League of Legends – unsurprisingly is generally regarded as the GOAT of Riot Games classic.

There are great many more who are worthy of honorable mentions, with plenty of pro gamers raking in hundreds of thousands of dollars a year doing something they love.

The money is out there if you have the skill and dedication.