When you buy through affiliate links in our content, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Learn 
Esports earnings have exploded in recent years, with some games and tournaments becoming hugely popular. More players watch the action, more sponsors are involved in esports, and the competitive level increases. This also means that the prize pools go up.
Now, esports tournaments that award more than $1,000,000 are actually very common. The highest paid esports players have racked up millions by playing their favorite games.
Let’s delve deeper into esports player earnings, the biggest prize pools, the best paying games, and more.
Highest Paid Esports Players Overall
Tournament earnings often account for most of the income of professional esports players. Below, you can find the top 20 players with the most tournament earnings and the respective games.
| Rank | Nickname | Player Name | Total Esports Earnings | Game |
| 1 | N0tail | Johan Sundstein | $7,184,163 | Dota 2 |
| 2 | JerAx | Jesse Vainikka | $6,486,623 | Dota 2 |
| 3 | ana | Anathan Pham | $6,024,411 | Dota 2 |
| 4 | Ceb | Sebastien Felix Alert Debs | $5,945,842 | Dota 2 |
| 5 | Topson | Topias Miikka Taavitsainen | $5,894,810 | Dota 2 |
| 6 | Miposhka | Yaroslav Naidenov | $5,802,271 | Dota 2 |
| 7 | Yatoro | Illya Mulyarchuk | $5,573,872 | Dota 2 |
| 8 | Collapse | Magomed Khalilov | $5,570,111 | Dota 2 |
| 9 | Mira | Myroslav Kolpakov | $5,555,899 | Dota 2 |
| 10 | KuroKy | Kuro Salehi Takhasomi | $5,295,272 | Dota 2, Artifact |
| 11 | Miracle- | Amer Al-Barkawi | $4,895,085 | Dota 2 |
| 12 | Matumbaman | Lasse Aukusti Urpalainen | $4,873,086 | Dota 2 |
| 13 | MinD_ContRol | Ivan Barislavov Ivanov | $4,701,434 | Dota 2 |
| 14 | TORONTOTOKYO | Alexander Khertek | $4,455,863 | Dota 2 |
| 15 | Puppey | Clement Ivanov | $4,323,822 | Dota 2 |
| 16 | GH | Maroun Merhex | $4,312,387 | Dota 2 |
| 17 | zai | Ludwig Wahlberg | $4,292,756 | Dota 2 |
| 18 | Ame | Wang Chunyu | $4,223,979 | Dota 2 |
| 19 | SumaiL | Syed Sumail Hassan | $4,082,889 | Dota 2 |
| 20 | y’ | Zhang Yiping | $3,997,742 | Dota 2 |
Dota 2 is incredibly popular with not only gamers and fans, but with bettors too. All major esports sportsbooks will have Dota 2 betting, so you can wager on your favorite players.
Why Are the Highest Paid Esports Players in Dota 2?
All of the top 20 players by esports earnings are from Dota 2. In fact, 38 of the top 40 players by total earnings played Dota 2.
Each of them has claimed more than $2,000,000 in prize money, making it the highest paying esports game by a huge margin.
Johan “N0tail” Sundstein tops the charts as the highest paid esports player. He has over $7 million to his name after winning multiple Dota 2 tournaments.
The Danish-Faroese was consistently one of the favorites to win any competition he was in with the best esports betting sites, as the superstar kept winning when he was active.
Why is Dota 2 so High Paying?
So, why is Dota 2 so far ahead of the other high paying esports titles The answer comes from the game developer and from the community.
In 2013, Valve, the developer of Dota 2, introduced The International Interactive Compendium for the first time.
This was a battle pass that players could purchase for real money and receive in-game items like ‘skins’. While these didn’t impact the chances of winning the game, they changed how some aspects looked, such as heroes.
- $2.50 from every bundle sold would go directly to the prize pool for The International (TI) that year.
- By the end of the event, regular players contributed a total of $2,874,381 to the prize pool.
- This made it the biggest esports tournament prize pool at the time.
The trend then continued every year, with increasingly better items and a leveling structure that would encourage players to spend even more on the Compendium, with 25% going to the TI prize pool.
After shattering records every year, the highest esports prize pool was in 2021 worth over $40 million.
Team Spirit won the tournament, bagging more than $18 million. This automatically made the five members of the team some of the highest paid esports players of all time.
In 2022, the Battle Pass made the rewards more accessible and didn’t require players to spend as much for the key benefits. This led to a smaller TI prize pool, which was just shy of $19 million.
The End of Dota 2 Record Prize Pools
In 2023, Valve retired the Battle Pass in an attempt to rework the system, adding instead a Compendium with fewer perks.
- While 25% of sales still contributed to the prize pool, it only resulted in $3,380,455 for the tournament.
- This dropped even further in 2024 to $2,501,606 due to an underwhelming Compendium.
- It remains to be seen if Valve will bring back the Battle Pass that can help create prize pools of over $40 million.
Highest Esports Earnings by Game
Let’s put Dota 2 aside and look at the highest paid esports players in other games. We’ve seen steady growth across the board in recent years and there are some esports titles that quickly stand out.
Big prize pools often indicate what esports are most popular and have the highest viewership since this attracts sponsors and thus more money is involved.
Fortnite Esports Earnings
It won’t come as a surprise to see that Fortnite has some of the highest paid esports players in the world. In fact, Bugha is currently ranked 21st in total esports player earnings.
He is the first one to break the Dota 2 streak. Here is a complete rundown of the highest paid Fortnite esports players:
| Rank | Nickname | Player Name | Total Fortnite Esports Earnings |
| 1 | Bugha | Kyle Giersdorf | $3,727,758 |
| 2 | Aqua | David Wang | $2,192,375 |
| 3 | psalm | Harrison Chang | $1,874,588 |
| 4 | EpikWhale | Shane Cotton | $1,838,487 |
| 5 | Anas | Anas El-Abd | $1,622,840 |
| 6 | Nyhrox | Emil Bergquist Pedersen | $1,543,145 |
| 7 | Kami | Michal Kaminski | $1,483,994 |
| 8 | Wolfiez | Jaden Ashman | $1,368,308 |
| 9 | Th0masHD | Thomas Høxbro Davidsen | $1,321,326 |
| 10 | Kreo | Nate Kou | $1,244,334 |
Counter-Strike Esports Earnings
Counter-Strike has been the go-to first-person shooter in esports for over a decade, especially with the popularization of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.
Since the competitive game has remained mostly the same and we see the same teams, the esports player earnings in this category represent the total across CS 1.6, CS:GO, and the new CS2.
- Counter-Strike is second on the list of highest paid esports games, after Dota 2.
- Players won almost $149 million over the years in CS.
- However, this is across almost 8,000 tournaments, compared to the $327 million awarded by Dota 2 over 2,373 tournaments.
Here are the highest paid esports players from Counter-Strike:
| Rank | Nickname | Player Name | Total Counter-Strike Esports Earnings |
| 1 | dupreeh | Peter Rasmussen | $2,181,164 |
| 2 | Xyp9x | Andreas Højsleth | $2,001,28 |
| 3 | dev1ce | Nicolai Reedtz | $1,981,531 |
| 4 | Magisk | Emil Reif | $1,881,123 |
| 5 | gla1ve | Lukas Rossander | $1,869,042 |
| 6 | s1mple | Oleksandr Kostyljev | $1,718,355 |
| 7 | karrigan | Finn Andersen | $1,651,752 |
| 8 | electroNic | Denis Sharipov | $1,558,058 |
| 9 | Twistzz | Russel Van Dulken | $1,546,793 |
| 10 | rain | Håvard Nygaard | $1,444,216 |
League of Legends Esports Earnings
It is surprising to see that League of Legends doesn’t quite have the same prize pools as the highest paid esports games. While hugely popular and with loads of viewers for the main tournaments, LoL focuses more on season salaries for professional players, instead of big prize pools.
With that being said, there are still some millionaires here from tournament wins. Faker has the most esports earnings from League of Legends and is well ahead of the competition. Here is a complete list of the top 10 players:
| Rank | Nickname | Player Name | Total League of Legends Esports Earnings |
| 1 | Faker | Lee Sang Hyeok | $1,727,084 |
| 2 | Duke | Lee Ho Seong | $954,872 |
| 3 | Bang | Bae Jun Sik | $915,941 |
| 4 | Wolf | Lee Jae Wan | $913,167 |
| 5 | JackeyLove | Yu Wenbo | $863,452 |
| 6 | Ruler | Park Jae Hyuk | $815,773 |
| 7 | Xiaohu | Li Yuanhao | $813,943 |
| 8 | Bengi | Bae Seong Ung | $810,882 |
| 9 | CoreJJ | Jo Yong In | $740,890 |
| 10 | Peanut | Han Wang Ho | $691,326 |
Arena of Valor Esports Earnings
Arena of Valor may not have the same popularity in the USA and Europe as some of the other games covered above, but it is among the highest paid esports games on a global scale.
The game has another version known as Honor of Kings that is available in Asias. However, these are basically the same and feature the same players.
Given the game’s popularity in China, all of the highest paid esports players in Arena of Valor / Honor of Kings are Chinese.
| Rank | Nickname | Player Name | Total Arena of Valor Esports Earnings |
| 1 | HuaHai | Luo Siyuan | $1,819,686 |
| 2 | Fly | Peng Yunfei | $1,664,713 |
| 3 | Alan | Wang Tianlong | $1,508,589 |
| 4 | Pang | Li Daheng | $1,488,972 |
| 5 | 1dao | Zhong Letian | $1,465,813 |
| 6 | Yu | Cai Youqi | $1,432,474 |
| 7 | QingRong | Huang Yaoqin | $1,412,916 |
| 8 | Fanfan | Fan Yang | $1,355,556 |
| 9 | Yinuo | Xu Bicheng | $1,347,325 |
| 10 | Cat | Chen Zhengzheng | $1,336,719 |
PUBG Mobile Esports Earnings
It is interesting that the mobile version of PUBG is more popular than the original desktop version. In fact, PUBG Mobile is currently fifth in total prize pools with over $92 million. As a result, we can see several names here that have surpassed the $1,000,000 mark in esports player earnings.
| Rank | Nickname | Player Name | Total PUBG Mobile Esports Earnings |
| 1 | paraboy | Zhu Bocheng | $1,393,954 |
| 2 | Order | Zeng Zehai | $1,321,100 |
| 3 | Jimmy | Xu Yin-Jun | $1,251,375 |
| 4 | King | Lin Yi-en | $1,062,992 |
| 5 | qc | Xu Jiajun | $734,838 |
| 6 | Suk | Feng Shujie | $731,279 |
| 7 | Beizhai | Ma Run | $658,414 |
| 8 | Ming | Chen Haoming | $639,125 |
| 9 | 33Svan | Zhong Hongsen | $513,845 |
| 10 | coolboy | Zeng Ronghua | $513,159 |
PUBG: Battlegrounds Esports Earnings
While the desktop version of PUBG is a bit lower down the list and has had fewer tournaments than PUBG Mobile, it is still one of the highest paid esports games. It awarded more than $56 million over the years and the top earning players are:
| Rank | Nickname | Player Name | Total PUBG: Battlegrounds Esports Earnings |
| 1 | Loki | Park Jung Young | $1,245,451 |
| 2 | Pio | Cha Seung Hoon | $905,337 |
| 3 | TGLTN | James Giezen | $875,268 |
| 4 | ESTH3R | Go, Jeong-wan | $871,439 |
| 5 | hwinn | Hunter Winn | $869,511 |
| 6 | Shrimzy | Tristan Nowicky | $850,115 |
| 7 | MMing | Chen Yinan | $706,523 |
| 8 | ubah | Ivan Kapustin | $671,953 |
| 9 | Inonix | Na Hee Joo | $657,690 |
| 10 | M1ME | Austin Scherff | $641,320 |
Valorant Esports Earnings
Valorant is a relatively new addition to the esports scene and so the top esports earnings may not seem as impressive as what we’ve seen in other games.
However, Valorant definitely shows promise given its competitive play and large viewership.
The 2024 Valorant Champions 2024 had a prize pool of $2,250,000 and the winners received a cool $1,000,000.
C0M has the most esports earnings in Valorant after winning the 2023 Championships and finished 3rd in 2024.
| Rank | Nickname | Player Name | Total Valorant Esports Earnings |
| 1 | C0M | Corbin Lee | $327,366 |
| 2 | Ethan | Ethan Arnold | $288,266 |
| 3 | Chronicle | Timofey Khromov | $282,571 |
| 4 | Boostio | Kelden Pupello | $273,136 |
| 5 | aspas | Erick Santos | $261,619 |
| 6 | jawgemo | Alexander Mor | $258,906 |
| 7 | Boaster | Jake Howlett | $258,422 |
| 8 | Derke | Nikita Sirmitev | $255,482 |
| 9 | nobody | Wang, Senxu | $252,540 |
| 10 | CHICHOO | Wan, Shunzhi | $251,295 |
Most Successful Esports Players of All Time
Success in a game isn’t just about having the highest esports earnings, it is about winning. This means that there are stars that are regarded as the best of their time and in their game, even if the prize pools don’t always show it.
BoxeR – StarCraft Legend
First on the list is BoxeR, arguably the greatest esports player in the early 2000s. While esports weren’t that big yet in the US, South Koreans would fill up stadiums to watch StarCraft players battle it out in large tournaments.
And with over 100,000 screaming fans, BoxeR was often the center of attention. He won his first tournament in 1999.
He even came back the next year and became the first player to win back-to-back Starleague titles in South Korea. This achievement wouldn’t be done again until 2009.
- BoxeR also won the World Cyber Games StarCraft title in 2001 and in 2002, and continued to dominate tournaments until 2004.
- All of this earned him around $170,000 in tournament earnings and an extra $180,000 contact, the highest at the time.
- His charisma also helped push him beyond the simple “gamer” tag and made him a true celebrity with a fan club of over 500,000 members.
Fatal1ty – The First Celebrity Gamer in the US
While South Korea had BoxeR and StarCraft, esports in the US saw Fatal1ty rise to glory in the early 2000s. His game of choice was Quake 3, winning 12 major tournaments, including five world championships.
For his first international tournament, he won 18 straight games against 12 of the best players in the world.
He then used his success to become a true celebrity, appearing in Forbes, 60 Minutes, Time, New York Times, and even on MTV for the True Life series.
Fatal1ty played a huge role in pushing the esports industry forward when it was just starting out in the US. While he doesn’t have the most earnings in esports, his impact on the North American scene is huge.
We’ve seen the rise of esports betting, televised tournaments and the career of ‘gamer’, become widely accepted.
Moon – Greatest Warcraft 3 Player
Jang “Moon” Jae-Ho is a five-time world champion in Warcraft III and was one of the best players in the game for years. This is at a time when Grubby and Sky were also playing.
However, Moon shined in South Korea, which was the go-to location for esports. In addition to his great success in Warcraft III, Moon also opened doors for other esports players that would follow on this route.
- The Korean dominated the scene for years
- Moon then signed a record-breaking contract in 2009 that landed him $500,000 while playing for WeMade FOX.
- This was the biggest salary in esports at the time and showed just how much the industry had grown in only a few years.
GeT_RiGhT – Counter-Strike MVP
While Counter-Strike has definitely seen its fair share of stars, GeT_RiGhT stands out from the history books as one of the best.
He made his debut in the competitive scene in 2007 while playing Counter-Strike 1.6. Two years later, he found a spot on the Fnatic team and saw immense success.
- GeT_RiGhT is credited with inventing the “lurking” strategy, which is now hugely poplar.
- He acted alone, away from his team, in order to find openings, confuse the enemy, and collect information.
- In fact, he did this strategy so well that he was the MVP in 10 different tournaments.
The success in 1.6 continued for several years, winning tournament after tournament in Fnatic and then in SK Gaming. With the launch of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, GeT_RiGhT continued to dominate and was quickly regarded as the best player in the game.
N0tail – Most Esports Earnings of All Time
Of course, we can’t talk about the most successful esports players without mentioning the one with the most esports earnings.
N0tail has won over $7 million playing Dota 2. He created his own team with a combination of friends from Heroes of Newerth and promising players in Dota 2.
The captain of OG led his team to four Dota 2 Major titles and was the first team to win back-to-back titles for the prestigious annual event known as The International.
The first TI win was in 2018 for over $11.2 million, followed by another dominating performance in 2019 for another $15.6 million.
Add the $1 million prize for each Major won and another $1 million for placing 7th-8th at TI in 2021, and the total earnings for OG are very impressive.
Of course, the list of successes is much longer than that and N0tail didn’t do it alone.
The four other players with the most esports earnings of all time (JerAx, ana, Ceb, and Topson) won most of their prize money on the same team as N0tail.
Betting on the Next Big Esports Winners
Esports is now bigger than ever and we can see a growth in tournament prize pools and frequency across major titles.
You can get in on the action and win alongside your favorite players. Offshore sportsbooks are available throughout the USA and provide betting options for all major games.
If you’re new to it, however, a good place to start it with our how to bet on esports guide, which takes you from the complete start to placing a bet.
