Major prizes, Sport fees, teams that buys players to achieve the greatest success? Not just a familiar scenario, but this represents everyday life in sports all around Germany. In Germany, eSports may not be recognized as a sport, but it's not any different. With increasing popularity and prize moneys, m,ore and more eSports players can call themselves millionaires, but not everyone wins, and those that don't have to make ends meet.
So how do you make money in eSports? What does a player earn?
HIRED AS A GAMER
In addition to price money professional eSport athletes are employed in teams and earn a normal salary. Depending on the team, a professional FIFA player can earn a fixed salary of € 10,000 a month on top of the prize money. In other games, salaries in high five-figure areas are possible. Below we will show you the richest players in various eSport titles.
THE RICHEST PLAYERS
The most disciplines are dominated by South Korean players, but they are still not the highest paid.- The most successful in the game “Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds” (PUBG) Jeong Yeong „Loki“ Bak from South Korea, having won over 750,000 USD in prize money.
- Also the top spot in StarCraft 2 is held by a South Korean player: Cho „Maru“ Sung Choo. This professional won over 200,000 USD just in the 2017 World Cup with total winnings of over 800,000 USD
- One of the most well known eSport professionals overall is Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok from South Korea. With a total winnings figure of over 1,250,000 USD he is also the most successful League of Legends player. However, despite record-breaking LoL viewership figures there are still players that are even richer.
- There are no games that have more professional players than Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. With 10,000 players this title boasts four times the players of Dota 2. The Danish pro-player Andreas “Xyp9x” Højsleth and his team stay on top of the world leader board, and have earned a total of more than $1,700,000.
- In the just about 2 years that people can play Fortnight as an eSport, US-American Kyle „Bugha“ Giersdorf won 3,000,000 USD!
- The top 40 richest eSports players in the world, according to the global rankings, are three Fortnite, and 37 Dota 2 players. This owes a lot to The International- one of the biggest leagues in eSports. Holding almost 7,000,000 USD, Johan „N0tail“ Sundstein from Denmark is the most successful, and the richest eSports athlete.
- N0tail made over half of his profits in 2019 by the way. Before that German player “Kuro „KuroKy“ Takhasomi” held the world title. He remains by far the most successful German eSport player, holding the 6th place and over $5,000,000 total profit.
RISING PRIZES IN ESPORT-EVENTS
Take a look at the eSport numbers over the last few year. You will quickly notice that not only is the number of viewers drastically increasing, but the prize money amounts have skyrocketed. Those winning thousands years ago, would be winning millions today. In addition to more fans and more recognition, the increasing interest also is leading to larger sponsorships.
You can definitely look forward to the fact that in the next few years the first eSports event will be broadcast on German television.
