Highest Earning Esports Players by Prize Money

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For more than 20 years now, professional players have been proving to the whole world that esports can be not only entertainment but also а high-paid work. Today top players receive salaries in their clubs, money from sponsors, and tips from viewers during streams. However, the main source of income for many players is prize pools of events, which sometimes reach millions of dollars. In this article, you will find out about esports player earnings in different disciplines.

Esports Charts has a large database that shows how much do esports players make. In this database, you can select filters by game, country, or age of players.

Dota 2 (N0tail — $7 184 163)

N0tail / Photo: N0tail's twitter

Johan "N0tail" Sundstein started playing on the professional scene back in 2010 in the Heroes of Newerth. His team was one of the strongest in Europe and played under the Fnatic tag. In 2012, N0tail and his teammates moved to the other discipline, Dota 2, as Valve's game literally blew up the industry with The International, the largest tournament back then by prize pool. 

In his career, N0tail has changed not so many teams: after Fnatic, he managed to play only for Team Secret and Cloud9. In 2015, he founded his own team called OG, which over time has grown into a full-fledged esports club with squads in other disciplines.

N0tail is the most successful player in the history of Dota 2. He won several big tournaments, four majors from Valve, as well as two TIs in a row (in 2018 and 2019). Only five players in the world can boast of the same achievement: N0tail himself and four of his former teammates, Ana, Ceb, Topson and JerAx.

At the end of 2021, N0tail went inactive, although sometimes he play as a stand-in or coach. He is now focusing on managing the club: with the money earned from tournaments, he bought a villa in Portugal, where he holds bootcamps for OG squads.

Fortnite (Bugha — $3 504 411)

Bugha / Photo: Epic Games

Kyle "Bugha" Giersdorf rose to prominence in esports after winning the 2019 Fortnite World Cup held at Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York. At this event he competed under Sentinels tag and became the champion in the individual category, earning $3 million. At the time, Giersdorf was only 16 years old, making him the youngest player ever to win such a big esports prize.

After Fortnite World Cup 2019, Bugha has also competed in other major Fortnite tournaments such as the Solo Cash Cup, DreamHack Series Championships, FNCS, and more. In addition to singles tournaments, he regularly plays in team competitions for duos or trios. His biggest team achievement was the victory at FNCS: 2021 Grand Royale NAE, where he won $95,000 together with teammates Dukez and Mero.

In addition to playing tournaments, Bugha is also a popular streamer with over 5.2 million followers on his Twitch channel. During his broadcasts, he mainly streams Fortnite and communicates with fans. Since the beginning of 2023, Bugha has been performing under the Team Dignitas tag, however, he is also the co-founder and owner of One Percent, an organization that promotes esports and trains new players.

CS:GO (Dupreeh — $2 181 164)

Dupreeh / Photo: BLAST

Peter "Dupreeh" Rasmussen is a Danish professional player and one of the most successful esports players in CS:GO history, the only player to have participated in all 19 CS:GO Majors. In total, he has earned more than $2 million over his career.

Dupreeh became a professional CS:GO player in 2013 when he joined the Copenhagen Wolves roster. Shortly after that, he moved to the Team SoloMid (TSM), with which he started playing at international tournaments. In 2016, the TSM roster left the club and founded their own organization called Astralis.

The first major achievement of Dupreeh is the victory at the international tournament ELEAGUE Major: Atlanta 2017. Together with other Astralis players, he won the final against Virtus.pro and earned $500,000.

Between 2017 and 2019, Dupreeh and Astralis dominated the professional CS:GO scene almost unconditionally. The Danish team has won many international tournaments, including FACEIT London Major 2018, IEM Katowice Major 2019 and StarLadder Major: Berlin 2019, and others. In January 2022, Dupreeh moved to Team Vitality. Together with the new team, he participated in three more majors and also won last of them, BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023.

Arena of Valor (HuaHai — $1 611 476)

HuaHai / Photo: eStar weibo

Luo "HuaHai" Siyuan is one of China's best Arena of Valor players and the discipline's most successful esports athletes. He entered the professional scene in 2019 and has been playing under the eStar Pro team tag ever since. In total, HuaHai has earned more than $1.6 million in prize money.

HuaHai has claimed many high-profile victories with his team. At the dawn of his career, he won the King Pro League Spring 2019 and the Honor of Kings World Champion Cup 2019. His biggest achievement was the victory at the Honor of Kings International Championship 2022, where he and his teammates got $3.5 million for first place.

HuaHai is one of the strongest players in the jungle position. He has repeatedly received MVP awards, including for the finals of the Honor of Kings International Championship 2022.

Call of Duty (ABeZy — $1 504 905)

ABeZy  / Photo: dallasnews

Tyler "ABeZy" Pharris started his Call of Duty career in 2018 when he joined the eUnited team. Shortly thereafter, he proved his potential by winning several international tournaments and drawing the attention of the entire Call of Duty community.

ABeZy's most significant achievement is the victory in the Call of Duty World League Championship 2019 (with the eUnited). In this tournament, he showed outstanding skills and helped his team win the final against 100 Thieves.

ABeZy continued to dominate the Call of Duty world in the following years, but with a new team. At the end of 2019, he moved to Atlanta FaZe, with which he won many tournaments, including CWL Pro League 2019, CWL Las Vegas Open 2019 and CDL Atlanta Home Series 2020, as well as many other events.

ABeZy is a Call of Duty player with a wide range of skills and experience. He can play in any position and shows high efficiency in all game modes. He is also known for his quick reaction and ability to make decisions in the most difficult situations.

League of Legends (Faker  — $1 470 490)

Faker / Photo: Inven

Lee "Faker" Sang-hyeok started playing League of Legends in 2011 and quickly stood out for his unique skills and talent. Two years later, he began his career in esports joining the SK Telecom T1 team. Since then, he has become the most recognizable and successful League of Legends player in the world.

Faker's most notable achievement is winning three League of Legends World Championships in 2013, 2015, and 2016. He has also won numerous other international tournaments including the Mid-Season Invitational and many LCK seasons. He also received many individual awards such as tournament MVP.

Faker is well known for his incredible skills, as well as his great intuitive understanding of the game and the ability to anticipate opponents' moves. In addition, he is famous for his professionalism and discipline, which is why global brands and sponsors are very fond of working with him. 

Faker appears in commercials more often than any other e-athlete in the world, but this does not prevent him from showing high results. The status of Faker in League of Legends can be compared to the status of Lionel Messi in football. He is considered one of the most influential players in the history of League of Legends and his talent and efforts contribute significantly to the development of this game and esports in general.

PUBG Mobile (Paraboy — $1 390 739)

Paraboy / Photo: Instagram

Zhu "Paraboy" Bocheng from China is one of the most successful pro players in PUBG Mobile. Many victories at Chinese and international tournaments allowed him to earn nearly $1.4 million in prize money.

Paraboy started playing PUBG Mobile in 2018 and quickly earned himself a reputation in the community for his unique gaming skills and talent. His first professional team was X-Quest F, which he joined in 2019. With his other team, Paraboy, he became the champion of the Peacekeeper Elite Championship 2019 and the winner of several Chinese events.

In 2020, Paraboy, along with his teammates, moved to Nova Esports and immediately won several major tournaments under the new tag. The most significant of them are Peacekeeper Elite Championship 2020, Peacekeeper Elite League 2021 Season 3, and PUBG Mobile Global Championship 2021: Grand Finals.

Shadowverse (kakip — $1 228 551)

Kakip / Photo: encount

Shuma "kakip" Kakinuma is a professional Shadowverse player from Japan. He is known for becoming the champion of the Shadowverse World Grand Prix 2021, where he earned over $1.2 million for first place. This made him not only the most successful player in the discipline but also the most successful esports pro in all of Japan.

Kakip started his professional career in 2017. He is now well known in the pro scene for his skills in deck building, tactics, and decision-making on the go. He adapts well to different metagames and can create unusual decks that allow him to win against more experienced players.

StarCraft II (Serral — $1 228 632)

Serral / Photo: BlizzCon

Joona "Serral" Sotala is a well-known esports player from Finland who became a real phenomenon in the twilight of StarCraft II's popularity. He is considered one of the best Zerg players in Blizzard's RTS, and is also one of the few Europeans who was able to compete with top players from South Korea. During his career, Serral has earned more than $1.2 million in tournaments.

Serral began his professional esports career in 2012 while still playing the original StarCraft: Brood War. However, the real glory came to him along with the release of the sequel. In 2017, Serral signed a contract with the ENCE and began to conquer the world of StarCraft II.

Serral's most notable achievement is winning the World Championship Series Global Finals 2018. In the same year, he also placed first in numerous other tournaments. Serral is the only player to win every WCS Circuit Tournament during the year. He is also a two-time winner of the unofficial title of The Triple Crown (when a player wins Prime tournaments in each of the three regions during one season: Europe, North America, and South Korea). He also won four HomeStory Cups in a row, something no one else has ever done before.

Serral is famous for its ability to win in fights with any opponent. He understands the game at a deep level and can predict the moves of his opponents. His incredible game skills and the ability to quickly adapt to the game situation made Serral one of the strongest StarCraft II players in the world.

PUBG: Battlegrounds (Pio — $928 469)

Pio / Photo: Inven

Cha "Pio" Seung-hoon is a professional PUBG player from South Korea who has earned over $928K in tournaments.

Pio started his career in 2017. First, he played for the GC Busan Giants and OP Gaming Hunters teams, and in 2019 he joined Gen.G. The main achievement in his career was the victory at the PUBG Global Championship 2019, where he and his teammates received $2 million for first place. Pio's other major accomplishments include winning MET Asia Series: PUBG Classic, second place at PUBG Nations Cup 2019 with South Korea, and third place at PUBG Global Invitational.S 2021.

How much do esports players make?

The income of esports players depends on many factors: the chosen game, success in tournaments, the financial capabilities of their organization, the ability to work with sponsors, activity in social networks and on streams, even the country of residence, etc. There is no universal formula for calculating the income of players, however, there is an approximate separation of salaries from organizations.

Usually, a good organization is ready to pay about $500 per month to players from academies or second teams. This is necessary in order to “attach” a talented young player to the club, who in the future can get into the main team, or who can then be profitably sold to another club. 

Esports pros who regularly play in tier-2 tournaments can get up to $1000, and those who are regulars at tier-1 events earn up to $5000. Top e-athletes, who constantly perform at all the leading competitions in their discipline, earn the most. Depending on the game, their salary can reach $10,000, and the main stars of esports receive even more than that.

Do not forget that in addition to the salary from the club, an important part of the player's income can be provided by his victories in tournaments. Sometimes winning the World Cup can turn a player into a millionaire in just one day. However, this happens quite rarely.