If someone told you ten years ago that people can earn millions of dollars just by playing video games, you wouldn’t believe it. However, that is exactly what happened. In the last decade, the gaming industry became big business, which makes a revenue of billions of dollars in the latest years. Esports has grown tremendously, and video game competitions evolved to the professional level. Those competitions now stand side-by-side to established traditional sports leagues. Three major governing bodies have been created, and eSports competitions are taking place all around the world. Gamers can participate in lots of leagues and tournaments, while the prizes depend on the popularity of the competition or the type of video game. As reported by Ken Johnson from https://www.evolutionofesports.com/, the last year’s most popular video game on Twitch is League of Legends.
But how professional gaming rose so dramatically? The interest of the audience started to grow rapidly, and it continually increases. South Korea became well-known in the eSports industry as the most significant player and audience base. Thanks to a huge fanbase, the concept of professional gaming attracted many sponsorship partners. Esports organizations and tournaments got lots of financial backers, and all conditions for storming the industry. Elite gamers managed to land base salary, and other endorsement deals close to those earned by the traditional athletes. According to the Forbes list, ten highest-paid players pocketed more than $120 million in the last year. Let’s dive into different revenue sources that professional players can count on.
Revenue Sources of eSports Teams and Players
Professional teams and gamers have numerous possibilities of making their professional profitable; however, the most basic ones are team salaries and cash prizes. Players can be a member of a particular team, or they can act as individuals. In the first case, team participants have regular salaries, which can average from $3.000 to $5000 a month in the US and China. Wages of the best players can rise up to $15.000 for a single tournament, not including the bonuses. eSports gaming participants can count on cash prizes, which can go from $100.000 to $10 million at highest-level competitions such as Dota 2 International.
We already mentioned sponsorship deals since the major global brands got into the picture. There are different kinds of deals, and some of them are related to team sponsorship. Media rights also play a decent part in teams’ and players’ revenue, although the majority of that money goes to tournament organizers and game developers. However, some cash gets passed to the prize money pool.
Last year’s top-earning gamer, Tyler “Ninja” Blevins made $17 million; however, he earned only $100.000 in prizes. His primary source of income comes from influencing, rather than being the most successful gamer. He has 2.8 million followers on Mixer, more than 22 million YouTube subscribers, and around 15 million followers on Instagram. Mainstream gamers can count on significant revenue just by increasing their followers base and growing the audience.
How to Become an eSports Player?
It would be nice to get money from professional gaming without making any investments. But we all know that it isn’t so easy. At first, you need to set yourself up with the professional gaming equipment, from buying a mouse or chair, to choosing components for your gaming PC. However, that is just a basic start.
You should pick one game and try to specialize in it. Like in traditional sports, you won’t see athletes playing soccer and basketball at the same time and the same level. Becoming a gamer means that you will undoubtedly lose games, but don’t be afraid of it. The best players testify that they learned the most by analyzing their losses and trying out new strategies.
After you get off from the practice range, you should test your skills by entering tournaments. It will give you more insights into where you are among other players. Eventually, if you get successful in different competitions, you may attract some sponsors and start making real money from gaming.
The Future of Gaming Revenue
Predictions from various sources say that eSports revenues will have a staggering +25% increase year after year. It means that more reputable brands will enter the market, either by sponsoring the industry or taking it to the next level in terms of a technical perspective. Advertising opportunities will get more prominent, and the games could get broadcasted more often on television. These trends are very positive, they can make the industry healthier, and the future of professional gaming should be very bright.
