Richest eSport Players – Playing For Millions Of Dollars

Although the fact that an electronic sports player can make a lot of money is no surprise to the people interested in video games, many are still not aware of the incredible sums involved. In recent years, there have been discussions about whether eSports can be called a sport or whether those who dedicate their lives to it can be called athletes.

Society will probably not reach an agreement on this issue for quite some time, but it’s a fact that professional eSports players can now earn almost as much money as the athletes who play traditional sports. Then let’s see how much money the world’s richest eSports players have made so far!

In 2018, 69 players became millionaires thanks to esports, while in 2019, this number already exceeded 100 people. Due to that, it’s no wonder why more and more young people are thinking about a career in eSports. Of course, many do not reach millions of dollars. Besides talent, a good team and dedicated training matter a lot. Those who succeed can count on great money, like the following professional players. It is an increasingly important sector of video games, and their goal is for eSports to become an Olympic sport sooner or later.

Richest eSports Players – StarCraft II

It is no coincidence that StarCraft II became one of the most defining eSports of the 2010s because of its competitive scene. The multiplayer part of the first StarCraft was so wildly successful that it practically became the national sport in South Korea, so it was no coincidence that the studio saw the gold mine in the sequel. It’s one of the games that distributed $250,000 to the winners in the first World Championship finals in 2012 and around $700,000 in recent years. The game’s tournaments have rewarded the best with a total of $33 million.

Unlike many eSports, StarCraft II is not a team game but primarily a one-player game. Also, one of the most stressful multiplayer experiences because the players have to perform complex operations at great speed and with precise timing.

Perhaps because of this, it often changes who exactly is at the top of the game, although it is clear that Koreans dominate the competition. For example, a non-Korean player has won the world championship only once. 

One of the most valuable players in StarCraft II is the 28-year-old Lee “Rogue” Byung Ryul, who has won around a million dollars in various tournaments. Rogue, who competes with the Zerg race, collected his biggest prize so far during the 2017 World Championship, winning it for $280,000. However, he came out on top in 2020 when he won the IEM XIV – Katowice 2020 StarCraft tournament and pocketed $150,800.

League of Legends

Defense of the Ancients, which became popular within the ranks of Warcraft III, grew into one of the most successful eSports genres around 2010. It introduced two games that have attracted huge numbers of viewers for years. One of these is League of Legends, officially released in 2009, and since then, more than 78 million dollars have been given to the best eSports players.

LoL’s five-person teams are like any traditional sports league because the strength of the teams is not only how skillful the members playing in five different positions are but also how well they are in harmony. LoL is also dominated by Asian players, and the most successful team in LoL is the Korean SK Telecom T1. 

They are the only association that has won the World Championship three times so far. They have collected a total of 9,7 million dollars in various tournaments. LoL’s greatest legend also plays here. The 26-year-old mid-laner Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok, whose name is known to everyone who follows the game’s professional broadcasts. He has made over $5,8 million with LoL, making him one of the richest eSports players.

Richest eSports Players – Fortnite

Nobody should be surprised if Fortnite eSports players will be the richest of all electronic sports competitors within a few years. The game came out in 2017, but it is already the third eSports, which championships offer the highest winnings. We’re talking about $95 million, to be exact, which is a crazy amount when you consider that most of the top games wouldn’t have been able to offer that much money in ten years altogether. 

Some people can’t take Fortnite seriously enough because of its easy-to-use weapons and colorful graphics. However, due to its construction mechanics, you have to pay intense attention and need high-level reflexes. Plus, the game has an unbelievably large audience, we’re talking about 350 million registered players, according to online sportsbook sites in South Korea, so it’s understandable how they could pay a fortune for prizes. 

At the 2019 world championship, three million dollars went to the winner, the then 16-year-old Kyle “Bugha” Giersdorf, who is currently one of the richest eSports players with more than 9 million dollars, and he is only 19 years old. Unbelievable, isn’t it? You can check out his profile and Fortnite videos at 22BET Sportsbook!

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

Global Offensive, released in 2012, started off a bit slow because it didn’t add much to the experience of the CS version at first. For a long time, Valve didn’t give out such big prizes in the tournaments of this game, as in the case of DOTA 2. However, for the 2016 MLG Major Championship, the best in the league received a million dollars. CS:GO eSports players have collected more than 100 million dollars during the Global Offensive tournaments so far.

CS:GO provides a particularly intense gaming experience. Knowledge of the places and weapons, as well as manual skills and reflexes are required, but communication with peers is equally important.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=undFQyZ23Yw

In this game, the viewers can cheer on the teams, and for the most part, the most successful teams are from Europe. Of these, the Danish Astralis team has won the most money in tournaments, more than 8,2 million dollars.

The CS:GO’s richest eSports player, Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen, plays here, and he has so far pocketed more than 1,7 million dollars in tournaments. True, it is worth noting that, according to online sportsbook sites in South Korea, there are no significant differences between the winnings of Astralis players. If you want to give it a try, check out our article about the most common eSports betting mistakes!

Richest eSports Players – DOTA 2

Of the best 50 eSports players who have won the most money, 43 are DOTA 2 players. Although DOTA 2 cannot be called an unpopular game, it does not have such a large audience as Fortnite or League of Legends. Despite this, Valve spent incredible amounts of money at the game’s biggest official tournament, the annual International championship, for which they managed to raise funds. 

The 2019 International Championship offered the largest prize in the history of eSports. It was 34.3 million dollars, of which 15,6 million went to the winning team. More than $226,7 million has been awarded in the various DOTA 2 tournaments.

It is a pretty complicated game because it has a lot of playable heroes, currently 123, and equipment. You can use these in a wide variety of combinations, and you must know them at a higher level. 

The richest eSports players in DOTA 2 are in the OG team. They won the 2019 International Championship, so perhaps it doesn’t come as a surprise that the richest esports player also played here. He is none other than 28-year-old Johan “N0tail” Sundstein. N0tail is the most successful eSports player in DOTA 2 with his $7,2 million. He is currently inactive, though.

Top 5 Richest eSports Players

Finland’s Topias Taavitsainen, known to eSports fans as Topson, is only 23 years old. However, with DOTA 2, he has already collected more than $5,4 million in 20 tournaments. He won his first championship in 2014 when he was only 16 years old. Topson has played DOTA 2 since he was eight and currently plays in the OG team. The fourth highest earning eSports player is Sébastien “Ceb” Debs, who has earned almost 5,5 million dollars in 51 tournaments with DOTA 2. 

He is currently 30 years old and won his first championship relatively old, at the age of 20, in 2011. He is the first and, so far, the only French player to win Valve’s annual championship, The International. In addition, he is currently Topson’s teammate in OG.

Third place goes to 22-year-old Anathan “ana” Pham. Since 2016, he has won $6,000,411 in 24 DOTA 2 tournaments. He was the first Australian to win an eSports event sponsored by Valve. Currently, he also strengthens the OG team.

Jesse Vainikka, alias JerAx, also from Finland, is in second place with a total prize of $6,470,000.  He earned in 64 tournaments. The 29-year-old has been playing competitively since 2013. His first prize was just $200, but his last was $3.1 million. JerAx has won 75,5 percent of his more than 500 DOTA 2 matches. Unsurprisingly, he now plays for the OG team, but in the past, he also played for such well-known teams as Team Liquid.

Best Player and Game

At the top of the list of the highest earning eSports players is a Dane, Johan “N0tail” Sundstein. He strengthens the OG team these days, even as team captain. He is also the coach of the secondary squad, OG Seed. By the age of 26, N0tail had earned $6,890,591 with DOTA 2 during 109 tournaments since 2010. He is the only Danish player to win The International.

As you can see, eSports players compete for huge sums. The amount they can earn for winning the championships increases every year. The richest eSports players are currently DOTA 2 players. So much so that there is only one player in the top 20, who does not play with this game but with Fortnite, namely the American Kyle “Bugha” Giersdorf. He has earned $3,4 million so far. If you want to try your hand at becoming a millionaire eSports player, check out 22BET Sportsbook! The DOTA 2 being the #1 is no accident. 

Since 2014, Valve has invested enormous sums in eSports. Until recently, players could only earn so much in the Fortnite World Cup Finals 2019, where the total prize was 15 million dollars. However, even this is not close to the 34 million winning of the already mentioned 2019 The International. If anyone, Epic Games, which wrote Fortnite, has a chance to catch up with Valve. The Epic Games Store has already become a worthy competitor to Valve’s Steam.

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