We often get to see that people from all over the world label professional gamers as the new modern-day pro footballers. However, this is not the case yet. But it is quite true that a professional Esports athlete can earn good money. We see in the statistics that an Esports athlete can make millions of dollars each year. It is true not only a few have managed to rise to that level. So in this article, we will have a comprehensive look at the average salary of pro players.

It is no surprise that the Esports industry is on the rise. In 2019, Riot reported that the average number of viewers of the League of Legends World Cup crossed 21 million viewers per minute. Their peak audience was 44 million. But what impact do these figures have on the salary of professional Esports athletes?

As a general comparison, 100 million viewers watch the Super Bowl annually. So the Esports industry has somewhat made its mark. Yet differences still exist in the overall structure of both industries that make the comparison a bit difficult.

It essentially depends on the individual skills, league, and the game that what levels of salaries are received by the players, just like in traditional sports.

A glimpse into monthly salaries of Esports athletes

League of Legends

According to one of the most credible platforms, Forbes revealed that an average NA LCS player earns 320,000 US dollars in one season. Meanwhile, in Europe, the average player earns 260,000 US dollars per season.

FIFA

Some sources have revealed that FIFA Pro gamers earn up to 10,000 euros per month. So it is evident that the average income is quite low, and the players look up to international tournaments to claim the big prize money. In 2019, the winner of the FIFA Interactive World Cup received 250,000 euros, and 2nd place was awarded 100,000 euros.

Fortnite

The first World Cup hosted by Fortnite attracted plenty of attention from the Esports industry. In terms of prize money, the tournament broke plenty of records, as $30 Million were distributed amongst the competing athletes. The major chunk of the prize pool was taken by the American Kyle “Buhga” Giersdorf who took home $3 million.

Dota 2

Only Dota 2 surpassed Fortnite World Championship 2019, in the prize pool department. The competition hosted $34 Million and was distributed amongst the 18 competing teams. The current reigning champions OG claimed $15.6 million.

Conclusion

It is pretty evident that in Esports the players heavily rely on the premier tournaments in each genre to earn a great living for themselves. The case is similar to traditional sports where only the best have the opportunity to earn millions. Yet there is still plenty of development to take place in the competitive landscape of Esports so we can expect a boost in the general salaries in the future.