Source: www.dexerto.com

What do Esport Salaries look like and who is the highest earning esports player?

In 2021, esports stars are raking in cold hard cash in stacks. Just a decade ago, the scale of the competitive gaming scene seemed bleak, where esport salaries were a bonus and professional gamers were struggling for insignificant prize pools and gaming equipment. According to JD,  there was a staggering 37,722% increase in the number of tournaments and a $151,097,817 increase in total prize pools over the past 2 decades.

Somewhat recently, thanks to the success of streaming platforms and increased accessibility towards video games, games have acquired huge player bases and fans have begun tuning into gaming tournaments at an absurd rate. With ever increasing viewership and a growing fan base, this growth within the esport industry doesn't seem to be losing steam. In turn, this video game craze has brought about massive prize pools and insane amounts of revenue for esports teams and players alike. 

How Professional Gamers Get Paid

On top of getting paid solid esport salaries from the organisations they are representing, the most common way professional gamers make money are from tournament winnings and these tournament prize pools are far from what you might imagine. In 2021, the largest prize pool comes from International 10, a Dota2 competition, that showcases a $34.333 million prize pool for all competitors and players don't even have to win to get a share of this amount. With that being said, winnings that are handed out in millions are not rare and happens very so often. Moving on, esports players also stream on platforms such as Twitch, garnering thousands of viewers per stream where fans would support their favorite streamers through paid subscriptions or cash donations. A typical popular streamer can make up to or more than $5,000 per month from their subscribers. On top of that, esports influencers (which are typically esports players) are also sought after by brands and companies for their fiercely loyal fanbases for endorsement deals that are in no way smaller than those of famous celebrities.

Now, with that being said, what do esport salaries look like today and how much is the highest earning esports player getting?

The Average Esport Salaries

Although the esport industry is fragmented and shroud in mysteries, according to Esportsgrizzly, the average esport salaries that players draw range from about $50,000 – $60,000 a year. However, this figure by no means is exhaustive and there are definitely renowned players from the largest esports teams that make much more than what is stated here. If we were to include streaming revenue, that would easily put professional gamers with salaries that are well above $100,000 a year, excluding their tournament winnings and sponsorship deals. 

Highest Earning Esports Player

Source: win.gg

Like mentioned earlier, with regards to the esport salaries and earnings within the esports industry very little is made public. Each competitive game title differs largely in terms of how much top players make in salary, and many games have other considerations like signing bonuses, incentives, and even stock options. According to Statista, if we were to solely look at competition winnings which are made public, Johan "N0tail" Sundstein - Dota 2 Player from Denmark, he has accumulated close to $7 million in tournament winnings alone on top of what he is earning at a young age of 27. Moving on from just looking at prize winnings, although other games might not boast as large of a prize pool, many other games like League of Legends in particular sees top players being paid over seven figures per annum. Because of that, there’s a very high likelihood that League of Legends’ top stars make considerably more than those that have higher prize pools. 

Source: dotesports.com

And at the top of this peak, stands Faker, League of Legend’s top earner and also possibly the highest earning esports player. Faker’s salaries have been widely speculated and while no one has given an exact figure on how much he earns, Faker himself stated that he turned down a $10 million annual salary offer from an unnamed Chinese team as well as other big offers from North America. In addition, Faker also received partial ownership of the T1 organization (worth hundreds of millions). He also has multiple other revenue streams including reputable brand deals and sponsorships worth tens of millions. The most notable example of this was his recent deal with Lotte to have his face plastered over their ice cream packaging.

Despite all these discussions and speculations, it is impossible to put an exact figure towards and point out who is the highest earning esports player and who commands the largest esport salaries. However, it is a fact for sure that esports players earn ludicrous amounts of money and this amount definitely is still continuing to grow.