The biggest and most lucrative eSports tournaments are those that are sponsored by the game developer or publisher and those that are directly supported by the game's community.
For example, The International prize fund is contributed to by Dota 2 players, who buy a digital pass called the "Compendium." League of Legends players, meanwhile, can contribute to the Worlds' prize fund with the sale of specially themed skins.
Richest eSports Players (Winnings)
- Kuro "KuroKy" Takhasomi - Dota 2 - $3.35 million.
- Amer "Miracle" Al-Barkawi - Dota 2 - $2.93 million.
- Dota 2 player Saahil "UNiVeRsE" Arora - $2.9 million.
- Faker - League of Legends - $1.17 million.
- Sasha "Scarlett" Hostyn - StarCraft 2 - $0.27 million - highest-earning female.
How Much Do eSports Gamers Earn?
- Overwatch League: Minimum salary of an Overwatch League player is $50,000. The highest player in the league is Jay "sinatraa" Won who gets $150,000 a year for his talent. These figures include benefits (e.g health insurance). Teams can also secure performance bonuses of $3.5 million.
- North American League of Legends Championship Series (NALCS): The average salary for an NALCS player is more than $320,000.
- League of Legends: SK Telecom T1 player Lee "Faker" Sang-hyeok reportedly renewed his contract with the team in 2017 for $2.5 million a year. League of Legends: Team Liquid's Jeong "Impact" Eon-yeong reportedly makes $1 million a year.
- Call of Duty: professional players make an average of between $40,000 - $120,000 per year. OpTic Gaming's Seth "Scump" Abner reportedly makes $1.5 million a year.
- Counter-Strike: Global Offensive pros in North America/Europe reportedly make a minimum of $4,000 per month.
Though it should be noted that the best players and the best teams - as reflected in 888sport's esports betting odds - will receive higher salaries. The highest salaries here are granted to the best-known and most-talented and most-winning players.
eSports Sponsors
- Mastercard
- Audi
- Twitch
- Intel
- Mercedes-Benz
- Red Bull
- Adidas
- Vodafone
- Volvic
- Mountain Dew
In addition to money earned from competing and being successful in tournaments, esports teams and their players can also make a lot of money from sponsorships.
With more traditional sports teams investing in esports, legitimizing the sector, more sponsors could get on board as well.
