High spectator numbers and great interest from sponsors. Esport-Events with prize money in the millions are no longer a rarity. With these games the players have taken the most.
The sport forms real top stars. But with which games do the players win the really big money? Which Esport titles have their own millionaires? We present this in the list of the biggest prize money winners of the 20 most famous Esport titles. The start is made by places 20-11.
The list includes only the tournament prize money won. Any team salaries, sponsorship money, streaming income etc. are not included.
20. World of Warcraft – Rene “Swapxy” Pinkera – $240,000
The Top 20 starts with a true classic: World of Warcraft. The MMORPG has captivated many players for countless hours. Only one thing is certain: the German Rene Pinkera (2nd from right) from Method Black has won the most prize money during his playing time.
Most notably, three wins at BlizzCon in the most important tournament in World of Warcraft, the Arena World Championship (2015, 2016, 2019: $35,000 each), earned Swapxy the title of the most successful prize hunter in WoW.
#AWC CHAMPIONS METHOD BLACK! pic.twitter.com/r6058H3pFx
— Method (@Method) November 3, 2019
19. Overwatch – Hong “Gesture” Jae Hee – $260,000
Overwatch, like many games in this list, is played in a team. 6 against 6 is the supreme discipline. That’s how the Korean Gesture and his team mates from London Spitfire won the Overwatch League Season 1 and together they won $1.000.000.
This alone brings Gesture to $140,000 in prize money. With his former team GC Busan, he already won the APAC Premiere League 2017 ($18,000) and is therefore also the leader of the prize money list in Overwatch.
18. Smite – John “BaRRaCCuDDa” Salter – $330,000
The highest prize money in the history of Smite was awarded at the Smite World Championship 2015. 2.6 million US dollars were awarded to all participants. Since then, no tournament prize money has surpassed the $1 million mark. No wonder, then, that the American BaRRaCCuDDa and his fellow players immediately jumped to the top of the Smite earners by winning in 2015. In the significantly lower-paid Smite World Championship in 2016 and 2017, BaRRaCCuDDa reached the semi-finals with his new teams Cloud 9 and Luminosity Gaming. With $30,000 from these tournaments, BaRRaCCuDDa is the undisputed top earner with $330,000 in career earnings.
17. Rocket League – Courant “Kaydop” Alexandre – $340,000
21 years young and already top earners of all Rocket League gamers. Frenchman Kaydrop is the only player to have won the Rocket League Championship three times ($13,000, $33,000, $66,000). He has also won the European Championship Series five times ($12,000 each). On top he is a multiple MVP of the Rocket League Championship. Over the next few years, he is sure to add to the $330,000 prize money he has won so far.
16. Super Smash Bros. Melee – Juan “Hungrybox” Debiedma – $350,000
Released in 2001 and still a real Esport classic: Super Smash Bros. melee. Hungrybox, born 1993, has been around almost from the beginning. The US-American is part of the scene since 2008. To list all his successes, it would take a separate article.
In the last 12 years he has felt endlessly winning online tournaments with prize money between 500-1,500 dollars. How many tournaments the 27-year-old had to win to accumulate $350,000 is for everyone to calculate for themselves. The highest prize money in his career was the first place finish at Smash Summit 5 & Smash Summit 7, where the Smash Bros. player took home $30,000 & $15,000 in prize money.
15. Madden NFL – Eric “Problem” Wright – $390,000
Whoever wins the highest-endowed tournaments will end up at the top of the list of tournament money collectors. Logically: 1st place in the Virgin Gaming MADDEN Challenge 2013 ($140,000), 1st place in the ESPN2 Madden Nation Season 3 ($100,000) and a second place in the Madden Championship 2017 ($70,000) let Eric Wright from the USA live from the sport in a relaxed manner.
14. Arena of Valor – Chen “Cat” Zhengzheng – $450.000
Selbiges gilt für Platz 14. Der erste Platz beim Honor of Kings Wold Champion Cup 2019 sicherte dem Chinesen Cat eine beachtliche Summe. $390.000 konnte er mit nach Hause nehmen. Es ist das mit Abstand am höchsten dotierte Turnier in der Geschichte von Arena of Valor. Kein Wunder also, dass Cat in seiner gesamten Karriere “nur” zusätzliche $60.000 an Preisgeldern gewann und trotzdem der Spitzenverdiener des Games ist.
13. Hearthstone – Thijs “Thijs” Molendijk – $460.000
Den Jackpot hat Thijs im Oktober 2018 bei der China vs Europe Championship 2018 in Shanghai gewonnen. Ein 3:2 im Finale über den Chinesen Wu „XiaoT“ Juwei sicherte dem Niederländer $200.000. Dazu kommen $50.000 von einem ersten Platz bei der Archon Team League Championship, sowie $40.000 auf den BlizzCon-Turnieren 2015 und 2016. Zusammen mit vielen Erfolgen bei Online-Cups, kann sich Thijs Molendijk als der erfolgreichste Preisgeldsammler der Hearthstone-Szene bezeichnen.
Congratz @G2Thijs, you deserve it! Hard work pays off 🙏🏼 pic.twitter.com/LCWTVVRdN8
— G2 Esports (@G2esports) October 2, 2018
Für den Sieg bei der China vs Europe Championship durfte sich der Niederländer übrigens zwischen einem neuen Aston Martin DB11 oder $200.000 entscheiden. Trotz eines protzigen Promovideos auf Twitter, hat sich der Hearthstone-Pro dann doch lieber für das Geld entschieden.
12. Heroes of the Storm – Lee “sake” Jung Hygeog – $460.000
Heroes of the Storm hat trotz der Kurzlebigkeit im Esport einige Spitzenverdiener hervorgebracht. „Sake“ hat zusammen mit seinem Team MVP Black die Heroes of the Storm Global Championship 2017 gewonnen. Im Folgejahr konnte er den Erfolg unter der Flagge vom Gen.G auf der Blizzcon wiederholen. Es gab jeweils $500.000 für das Siegerteam. Es war das mit Abstand höchste Preisgeld, das jemals in Heroes of the Storm ausgezahlt wurde.
Die Championship Series findet seit 2019 nicht mehr statt. Nach der Championship 2018 hat Lee „sake“ Jung Hygeog kein offizielles Turnier mehr gespielt und kann stolz darauf sein in der Zeit von 2015 – 2018 knapp eine halbe Millionen Dollar an Preisgeldern eingesammelt zu haben.
11. Fifa: Aldossary „MSdossary7“ Mossad: $540.000
Die Top 10 der Spiele mit dem größten Preisgeldjäger hat Fifa knapp verpasst. Aldossary Mossad ist trotzdem der erste Esportler in der Liste, der die halbe Millionen Euro an Preisgeld durchbricht. Alleine $250.000 gab es für den Sieg beim Fifa eWorld Cup 2018. Der saudische Fifaspieler stand auch 2019 im Finale des eWorld Cups, verlor dort allerdings gegen den deutschen Mohammed “MoAuba” Arkous. Trotzdem gab es $100.000. Durch drei erste Plätze bei FUT Champions Cups (2018 – London: $40.000; 2018 – Manchester: $22.000; 2019 – London: $50.000) ist MSdossary7 unangefochtener Fifa-Preisgeld-Champion.
Was meint ihr? In welchem Esport wird noch so richtig Geld verdient? Wer hat euch bisher überrascht? Wird es noch weitere Überraschungen in den Top 10 geben? Welches Spiel stellt den ersten Preisgeld-Millionär? Schreibt uns eure Meinung auf den sozialen Medien!
