Top 5 highest eSports earners of all-time
Despite still being in its infancy, the eSports industry has grown in leaps and bounds over the last couple of years. One of the reasons for this is that the prize pools keep increasing, meaning players at the very top of their games have managed to earn a staggering amount of money.
Here are the top five earners of all time:
1. Peter “ppd” Dager – $2,618,120.36 (Dota 2)
Teams: Stay Free, Super Strong Dinosaurs, S A D B O Y S, Evil Geniuses
Current status: retired (managerial role)
ppd is one of the most successful players in Dota and most of his earnings came while he was part of the EG roster. Unlike some of the other successful players in Dota, he did not play the first edition of the game, but rather another MOBA, Heroes of Newerth, from which he switched to Dota 2 in 2013. He has just retired following a 3rd place finish at The International contributing to $557,871.40 total earnings for 2016. ppd’s highest earning year was 2015, when he won The International and grossed a total of $1,730,076.34, supplemented by wins at The Summit 4 and the Dota 2 Asia Championships.
2. Saahil “UNiVeRsE” Arora – $2,607,145.24 (Dota 2)
Teams: Online Kingdom, Quantic Gaming, Team Dignitas, Team Secret, Evil Geniuses
Current status: active (Evil Geniuses)
Falling just behind his former teammate in terms of income, UNiVeRsE also earned most of his money while being in EG’s squad. Before finding success, he was part of several other Dota 2 teams. EG secured 3rd at The International this year and this has contributed to his annual earnings of $553,807.60. 2015 was the most lucrative year for UNiVeRsE, when he ended up as part of the winning team at The International, securing a total of $1,730,076.34 for the calendar year.
3. Clinton “Fear” Loomis – $2,383,155.64 (Dota 2)
Teams:
DotA: PluG Pullers Inc., compLexity Gaming, PluG Pullers v2, Meet Your Makers, Evil Geniuses, Blight.int, Nirvana.int, Lost.eu, Browned Potatoes, Online Kingdom
Dota 2: Online Kingdom, Evil Geniuses
Current status: retired (coach)
Another former EG player, Fear is one of the most famous Dota 2 players and a true inspiration to fans with his “rags-to-riches” story. Having gone through rough times and not having support from his closest relatives, he has been an eSports athlete since the early days of Dota in 2006, when the payoff was far less financially motivating. Indeed, in the period from 2008 to 2013, his total earned amount was just $16,695.81, including only $60.00 in 2010. His breakthrough came in 2015 when he was part of The International winning squad with EG, earning $1,326,932.14 from the event and a total of $1,730,076.34 for the calendar year. He retired this season after EG finished 3rd in TI 6, with him netting $557,871.40 in 2016.
4. Sumail “SumaiL” Hassan – $2,287,947.74 (Dota 2)
Teams: Evil Geniuses
Current status: active (Evil Geniuses)
As a 16-year-old prodigy, SumaiL stormed the Dota 2 scene with EG in 2015. He started playing competitive Dota from the age of eight and ever since then he has been breaking records. He became the youngest pro gamer to win over $1,000,000.00 in a calendar year after EG’s TI 5 success. He is also the player who earned the highest amount of money in the first year of his pro gaming career, $1,730,076.34, most of which was garnered when EG claimed TI 5, where the players grossed $1,326,932.14 each.
5. Li “iceice” Peng – $1,935,526.43 (Dota 2)
Teams: Big God, Wings Gaming
Current status: active (Wings Gaming)
Chinese star iceice from Wings Gaming only came into the spotlight this year and is already among the top five highest earners in the industry. iceice has played for only two professional teams in a career which started in January 2015. He was noticed as a pub star and soon joined Big God, but it was at Wings Gaming where he reaped the fruits of his labour. While in 2015 he had won $53,160.51, for 2016 he has earned $1,882,365.92 so far. The majority of his earnings were made by winning The International 2016, where he bagged $1,827,800.40, but he was also part of the team which won The Summit 5 Premier event too.
Sources:
