Featured image: Microsoft Copilot
Just like with traditional sports, esports offers an array of revenue sources for their players. Esports players by large are paid well. Some earn millions while others earn hundreds of thousands. The way esports players earn money is dependent on the game title, and the esports industry has dozens of games, with each one catering to a unique audience.
Where Are These Earnings Coming From?
Photo Credit: Microsoft Copilot
There has been an explosion in the esports industry; competitive gaming has moved from being a niche hobby for game enthusiasts and arcade goers, and today esports has become a global phenomenon. The possibility of esports players earning livable wages is what we are about to assess below:
- Prize Pools: One of the most obvious ways to make a living from esports is to win competitions. With the right game top level esports players can sustain themselves off of prize winnings alone, since the prize pools are quite enormous. The highest paying game of 2021 was Dota 2, having a record setting overall prize winning of $34,000,000 from its 2019 tournament. Following Dota 2 in high prize pools are Fortnite, PUBG, League of Legends, and Honor of Kings. As an esports player this revenue stream is great to live off of but it is best you do not depend on it alone.
- Salaries: The most common and lucrative way for esports players to earn income is the salaries paid to them by their teams. The elements to factor in for the amounts include the team size, competitions they play in, games their players compete in and the player abilities, among other factors. Top level esports players can get paid millions by the organizations they play for. The average player salary for top level League of Legends is assumed to be more than $410,000, according to Hal Biagas, the former Executive Director of LCS Player Association – the North American premier League of Legends competition. In the instances of unsigned players they rely on content money or prize money as earnings. The fighting game community (FGC) has a lot of unsigned players for game titles such as Super Smash Bros and Street Fighter. The average monthly pay for pro Smash Bros players is around $1000 – $5000 according to Policy Genius. As a lucrative career path, esports is showing viability for gamers.
Photo Credit: Microsoft Copliot
- Sponsorships: Sponsorships are also a high paying source of income for esports players. With an audience of about 2.5 billion, it is with no doubt that large corporations will not only show interest, but make meaningful investments in the industry. Food, beverage and computer component and peripheral companies were among the first companies to sponsor gamers. These sponsors are natively restricted to the space and have had years to realize returns on their initial investments. Beverage companies such as Red Bull, Mountain Dew, and Monster Energy, and computer companies such as Intel and AMD have sponsorships with high-profile players and teams. In turn the organizations and teams endorse their products via their socials, use their products and feature in their commercials. Mercedes-Benz and Gillette have also jumped into the esports scene with their investments in ESL and the Gillette Gaming Alliance via Twitch, respectively.
- Merchandise: When esports teams and players gather a large following, they move into making merchandise which becomes an additional revenue stream. And when fans like a team/player, they will often purchase merchandise to support their efforts. Teams like Team Liquid and Astralis have found success in selling items such as shirts, caps, jackets, scarfs with their brand logos on them.
- Streaming: Through the streaming and uploading of videos, esports teams can make money off their practice. Using streaming platforms such as YouTube and Twitch, players who have garnered recognition can use these platforms to either play games live (mostly for Twitch) or upload gameplay (YouTube mostly). Through paid subscriptions, donations and sometimes Twitch sponsorships, esports players can earn hundreds, thousands, or hundreds of thousands of dollars a month!
Conclusion
Esports has shown over the years a high level of viability of a career path. All esports players need to pay attention to choose the right game titles and follow through consistency in practice and tournament participations.
Esports has helped create jobs for lots of people. Interested in knowing about the business side of esports? Listen to the Gamers Change Lives Podcast! We get experienced guests from all around the world featuring.
Written by Jeffrey Osei-Agyeman
