The Highest eSports Earners

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With the popularity of the competitive eSports scene rising through the sky countless numbers of professional players have made a fortune claiming victory spoils. In the history of eSports Dota 2 has awarded the most prize money with over $50 million and League of Legends comes in second place awarding over $23.5 million. Thousands of players have reaped the rewards, but the majority of the money is held by the top select. Here are some of the highest grossing players from various games.

The following earners are not listed in direct order. UNiVeRsE is the #1 highest earning player, followed by 25 other Dota 2 players. Jaedong comes in at #27, MC at #37, Moon at #40, Fatal1ty at #42, and Faker at #63.

The earnings here do not include the player’s salary or any other earnings, except the prize money from tournaments based on published information.

Saahil “UNiVeRsE” Arora: DotA 2 - $1.9 million

Not surprisingly the highest earning player is from DotA 2—along with 42 out of the top 50 earners. He has participated in The International tournament since its beginning in 2011. UNiVeRsE placed first in this year’s The International 2015, winning his team (Evil Geniuses) a total of over $6.6 million. He was widely considered the MVP of TI5.

Jae Dong “Jaedong” Lee: StarCraft: Brood War - $604,000

Jaedong has participated in over 90 competitions in the StarCraft franchise since his debut in 2006. He was named the Rookie of the Year by KeSPA (Korea e-Sports Association) in 2006, and is the first eSports player to break the $500k earnings mark. Although most of his earnings and peak times are from the former game of the series he is still ranked within the top 30 2015 StarCraft II World Championship Series standings.

Min Chul “MC” Jang: StarCraft II- $501,000

MC’s career also started in Starcraft: Brood War, but was the first Korean professional to publicly switch over to StarCraft II. His Protoss playstyle has earned him the nickname “boss toss.” MC has won numerous premier tournaments, including Intel Extreme Masters and World Championship Series. On June 18th of 2015 he announced his retirement as a professional StarCraft II player.

Jae Ho “Moon” Jang: WarCraft III - $464,000

Moon debuted when WarCraft III: Frozen Throne launched in 2003. Known for his innovative and strategic gameplay, he swept the WarCraft III scene before switching to StarCraft II in 2012. Despite not doing as well in StarCraft II compared to his WarCraft III career—and retiring in 2014—his playstyles and Night Elf techniques will never be forgotten.

Johnathan “Fatal1ty” Wendel: Various - $456,000

Fatal1ty is one of the first successful professional gamers, beginning his career in 1996. He has competed in Doom 3, Quake III Arena, Quake 4, and Painkiller tournaments. Although he hasn’t participated in tournaments in several years he has started a successful business named after himself selling gaming gear.

Sang Hyeok “Faker” Lee: League of Legends - $311,000

A little over a year after the release of League of Legends in Korea Faker was picked up from solo queue by SK Telecom. Many journalists and professional players consider Faker to be the best League of Legends player in the world. He is known for his aggressive playstyle with champions such as Riven in mid lane. Following his victory in the Season 3 World Championship, Faker and his team made it to the playoffs of the Season 5 World Championship.

 

Sources:

e-Sports Earnings
Team Liquid Wiki

My gaming walk began when my uncle introduced me to Starcraft: Brood War when I was 8. Some of the titles that I've enjoyed over the years are Lineage I, Mabinogi, Tera, and Final Fantasy XIV. Their fantasy worlds captivated me and before I knew it, I had immersed myself into the game. Right now I mostly play League of Legends and am looking for the next MMORPG to dump thousands of hours on.