What Is Esports?
Electronic sports (Esports) turn online gaming into a spectator sport. It’s like watching a professional athletic event, but instead of athletes, supporters watch video gamers compete in a virtual environment.
If it’s difficult to understand why anyone would want to watch someone else play a video game, consider how entertaining it is to watch LeBron James or Steph Curry play basketball. Fans of elite video gamers appreciate watching top athletes compete in the same way that conventional sports fans like watching top athletes perform at the pinnacle of their discipline.
This business comprises not only classic sports-related games like NBA2K and FIFA, but also, and maybe more importantly, games like League of Legends, Counter-Strike, and Dota. As we’ll see later, individuals can either stream themselves playing for money or join larger groups to compete for big bucks.
Players can interact with their followers through social media, live-streaming platforms, and in-person at events. Fans, on the other hand, may watch and follow their favorite teams compete in regional and international tournaments. As the ecosystem expands, it is surrounded by a plethora of technology platforms, services, events, analytics platforms, and huge investor cash.
Esports Earnings
Esports stars are not short on cash in 2021. While pro gamers used to compete for pitiful sums of money and peripherals just a decade or so ago, today’s top players compete for millions of dollars each year.
Fans have been tuning into esports events at an astonishing rate in the recent decade, thanks in large part to the popularization of Twitch. Since then, growth has been impressive for each successive year, and it does not appear to be slowing down. This surge in viewership has coincided with a large increase in prize money on offer.
More than $235 million was awarded in more than 5,400 tournaments in 2019. In comparison, the tracking website Esports Earnings only tallied $13.8 million in 2012.
The ninth edition of Valve’s annual Dota 2 event, The International, granted over a fifth of the total for 2019. A massive $34.3 million was distributed among the 18 competing teams, with eventual champions OG taking home a total of $15.6 million.
As a result, Dota 2 players account for 11 of the top 20 earners on Esports Earnings. But it isn’t just Dota that has seen such rapid growth.
Here are the players with the highest prize money totals in esports history, ranging from the most popular games today to the most popular titles in the past.
1. Johan Sundstein – $6.9 million (Dota 2)
After leading OG to victory at The International for the second year in a row, the Danish Dota 2 veteran became the top earner in all of esports in 2019. Aside from his impressive payoff at TI8 and TI9, N0tail also had extensive stints at OG and Fnatic before to TI, putting him at the top of this list.
2. Kyle Giersdorf – $3.2 million (Fortnite)
In 2018, Fortnite skyrocketed. It swiftly became one of the world’s most popular games, and it was only a matter of time until esports followed suit.
Epic Games, the creators of the kid-friendly craze, put millions of dollars into supporting tournaments for the game, and one player in particular came out on top. Sentinels’ Bugha’s overwhelming performance at the Fortnite World Cup propelled him to esports supremacy in 2019, earning him an incredible $3 million.
3. Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen – $1.9 million (CS:GO)
In 2019, Danish frag expert Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen won his fourth Valve Major while leading one of the finest CS:GO teams of all time. Dupreeh was instrumental in Astralis’ rise to prominence, cleaning up their act and propelling them to the top of the Counter-Strike standings.
4. Sang-hyeok, Lee “Faker” – $1.3 million (League of Legends)
Faker, the most famous pro gamer of all time, is the only constant on the rosters of T1’s three global victories. The 24-year-old won the global championship in his first season and is today recognized as the best League player of all time.
5. $1.2 million for Ian “C6” Porter (Call of Duty)
C6, the North American Call of Duty star, has been at the pinnacle of his game for years. C6 has more than $1 million in prizes after winning three world championships and 37 big tournaments during his career.
6. Feg – $1 million (Shadowverse)
In 2018, Japanese representative feg made his second participation in the Shadowverse World Grand Prix, proving himself on the big stage and earning the right to call himself a champion. Feg joined the digital card game tournament as the underdog, but instead of buckling under pressure, he went on to win it all.
7. Joona “Serral” Sotala was awarded $911,000. (Starcraft 2)
Asserting his supremacy in the world of SC2, Serral, who was born in Finland, has quickly ascended to become one of the game’s most successful players in terms of prize winnings. Serral won the $280,000 StarCraft II World Championship Series in 2018.
8. Park “Loki” Jeong Yeong received a $700,000 settlement (PUBG)
The 22-year-old South Korean PUBG player has been on a roll in recent years. He finished in the top three on many occasions, won the PUBG Global Invitational in 2018, and dominated the MET Asia Series in 2019.
9. Bradley “Frosty” Bergstrom received a $685,000 settlement (Halo)
The Halo player from North America has regularly performed well across four titles in the franchise, with the lion’s share of success coming in Halo 5: Guardians. This includes his triumph at the 2016 Halo World Championship, where Frosty and CLG won $1 million.
Last year, Frosty competed in Call of Duty, winning three tournaments with the Florida Mutineers. However, the player has subsequently returned to Halo.
10. Lee “Flash” Young Ho (Starcraft: Brood War)
Starcraft: Brood War is widely considered as one of the most illustrious figures of the early esports period. The game was virtually entirely played in Korea, and the level of competition was so high that it was unusual to see new players rise up and dominate the old guard. Flash, on the other hand, was one of them.
The Terran player succeeded in defining a completely new standard for how to perform with the race, and rose to become the major competitor of Brood War’s top star, Lee “Jaedong” Jae Dong.
