Esports stars in 2021 will not be short on cash. Professional gamers compete for millions of dollars each year, while only a decade or two ago, they were battling for tiny amounts of money and accessories.
Fans have begun tuning into esports events at an astonishing pace in the past decade, owing in large part to the popularity of Twitch. Since then, the increase has been remarkable each year, and it doesn't seem to be slowing down. The rise in viewership has coincided with a significant increase in prize money on offer.
More than $235 million was distributed over more than 5,400 events in 2019. In 2012, the monitoring website Esports Earnings reported just $13.8 million in revenue.
The ninth edition of Valve's annual Dota 2 tournament, The International, granted almost a fifth of the total for 2019. The 18 teams competed for a total of $34.3 million, with eventual winners OG taking home a total of $15.6 million.
Of course, these amounts have boosted the total top earners—in fact, Dota 2 players make up the top 11 entries on Esports Earnings. But it isn't only Dota that has exploded in popularity.
Here are the players who have won the most money in esports history, from the most popular games to the most popular titles in the past.
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- Sundstein, Johan “N0tail” – $6.9 million (Dota 2)
- Kyle “Bugha” Giersdorf has a net worth of $3.2 million (Fortnite)
- Rasmussen, Peter “dupreeh” – $1.9 million (CS:GO)
- $1.3 million — Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok (League of Legends)
- $1.2 million – Ian “C6” Porter (Call of Duty)
- Feg is worth $1 million
- Sotala, Joona “Serral” – $911,000 (Starcraft 2)
- $705,000 - Park “Loki” Jeong Yeong (PUBG)
- $685,000 – Bradley “Frosty” Bergstrom (Halo)
- $669,000 – Lee “Flash” Young Ho (Starcraft: Brood War)
Sundstein, Johan “N0tail” – $6.9 million (Dota 2)
After guiding OG to victory at The International for the second year in a row, the Danish Dota 2 veteran became the highest earner in all of esports in 2019. Apart from his lucrative paydays at TI8 and TI9, N0tail also had lengthy stints with OG and Fnatic previous to TI, putting him at the top of this list.
Kyle “Bugha” Giersdorf has a net worth of $3.2 million (Fortnite)
The popularity of Fortnite skyrocketed in 2018. It soon became one of the most popular games on the planet, and esports was only a matter of time until they followed suit.
Epic Games, the creators of the construction-crazed, kid-friendly hit, put millions of dollars into tournaments for the game, and one player, in particular, came out on top.
Sentinels' Bugha's dominance in the Fortnite World Cup propelled him to esports supremacy in 2019, earning him a staggering $3 million.
Rasmussen, Peter “dupreeh” – $1.9 million (CS:GO)
Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen, a Danish frag master, won his fourth Valve Major in 2019 with one of the best CS:GO teams of all time. Dupreeh was a major part of Astralis' ascent to prominence, helping them clean up their act and surge to the top of the Counter-Strike rankings.
$1.3 million — Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok (League of Legends)
Faker, the most famous professional gamer of all time, is the only constant on the lineups of T1's three global championships. In his first season, the 24-year-old won the global title, and he is still considered the best player to ever participate in League.
$1.2 million – Ian “C6” Porter (Call of Duty)
C6, the Call of Duty star from North America, has been at the top of his game for years. Over the course of his career, C6 has won three world championships and 37 major events, totaling more than $1 million in prize money.
Feg is worth $1 million
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 was the underdog in the digital card game competition, but instead of collapsing under the strain, he went on to win it all.
Sotala, Joona “Serral” – $911,000 (Starcraft 2)
Serral, a Finnish-born player who has rapidly established his supremacy in the world of SC2, has quickly ascended to become one of the game's most successful players in terms of prize money. Serral's earnings were boosted in 2018 when he became the first non-Korean player to win the $280,000 StarCraft II World Championship Series.
$705,000 - Park “Loki” Jeong Yeong (PUBG)
Over the past several years, the 22-year-old South Korean PUBG player has been on a tear. He finished in the top three on several occasions, won the PUBG Global Invitational in 2018, and dominated the MET Asia Series in 2019.
$685,000 – Bradley “Frosty” Bergstrom (Halo)
The North American Halo player has excelled in four of the franchise's games, with most of his success coming in Halo 5: Guardians. This includes Frosty and CLG's $1 million wins in the 2016 Halo World Championship.
Frosty also participated in Call of Duty last year, winning three tournaments with the Florida Mutineers, in addition to his prize money. However, the player has subsequently returned to Halo.
$669,000 – Lee “Flash” Young Ho (Starcraft: Brood War)
One of the most famous figures of the early age of esports is Starcraft: Brood War. The game was almost entirely played in Korea, and the level of competitiveness was so high that new players seldom climbed to the top and dominated the old guard. However, one of them was Flash.
The Terran player succeeded in establishing a new standard for how to perform with the race and developed to become Lee "Jaedong" Jae Dong, Brood War's top star, as his primary opponent.