With sponsorship booming, prize money larger than ever, and more and more eyes watching esports, here are 13 teams who, according to a report from Forbes, are now worth over $100 million, and bring in millions in revenue every year. Who is the richest esports player? Maroun "GH" Merhej $4.1 Million. Upon learning of allegations against Mr. Dinh, TSM immediately hired an independent investigator to begin a thorough internal investigation, the team said in a statement this week, echoing an earlier announcement in January. Indeed the most lucrative game by far is Dota, and variations thereof. Worth an estimated $210 million, Immortals Gaming Club made headline news in June 2018 when it was announced that they had acquired OpTic Gaming, who will compete for IGC in the 2020 Call of Duty League. Founded in 2014 and hailing from China, Wings Gaming were the second richest eSports team, despite only being . What is the best eSports team. Enter the email address you used for registration. Here are the top 10 teams in terms of prize money won for 2020. T1 - $150 million Record world champion in LoL and with Faker they got a legendary esports player in their squad. The interest in eSports has hit critical mass, ensuring that there are sufficient high-paying tournaments to justify a competitive full-time lifestyle. Big companies approach teams with bids and contracts when they gain notoriety for their skills and a considerable fan base. Before the halt of Dota events, Virtus.pro was able to take home more than $472K in winnings by playing in various tournaments including EPIC League and winning ESL One Los Angeles. 10 spot. The Los Angeles-based company generates 80% of its $40 million in revenue by focusing on creating videos around gaming culture and its stars. Each game listed alongside a company indicates the company fields a competitive esports team in that title, apart from content streamers. On June 10, 2021, FaZe Clan became the first esports team to be featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Misfits also compete in all three of the major franchised leagues, owning the Florida Mayhem in Overwatch, and acquiring the Florida franchise spot for their Mutineers team ahead of the 2020 Call of Duty League season. Front Office Sports covers the influence of sports on business and culture. Andy recused himself from any oversight of the scope, nature and conclusions of the investigation. Their $4 billion value, up 11%, ranks fifth among all sports. is an esport that is looking to scale, having added four teams for a total of 20 that will now be competing in the Six Invitational 2021, which Spacestation will obviously be a part of. The year 2020 wasnt kind to esports competition as many events were canceled or postponed due to health concerns surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic. eSports salaries vary by team and players. Founded in 2016, its become home to over 90 gamers from around the globe. oc. Team OG 3. And while team sponsorships can be lucrative, other revenue streams often have low margins. . Red Bull All Rights Reserved. With that championship, the team took home $1.79M in prize money after defeating the Atlanta FaZe in the finals three maps to two. Over time, the team changed the games they played. Thus far, there have been 63 deals worth $2.34 billion in 2018. With Valve postponing the 2020 Dota 2 International, there just wasnt a chance at taking home the same kind of money as last year when the organization took home $2.06M by virtue of a fourth place finish at the aforementioned International. OAKLAND, CA - SEPTEMBER 09: A cosplay actress poses at the 2018 North American League of Legends Championship Series Summer Finals between Cloud9 and Team Liquid at ORACLE Arena on September 9, 2018 in Oakland, California. This is a BETA experience. In 2021, the total market value of the eSports industry hit the $1 billion mark. Still, that kind of aggregation doesnt reflect the opportunity in any one esporta fan of League of Legends doesnt necessarily care about Call of Duty, the same way an NFL fan doesnt necessarily watch the NBA. It even supports television coverage, for those who still prefer the big screen, rather than livestreaming via Twitch on their tablet or phone. Natus Vincere Simply put, the loss of potential prize pool money, especially in, with its $40M USD that would have come from the canceled The International, saw some teams struggle and others exiting the scene, as was the case with, , too, would feel the crunch as large prize pool events such as the. As a leading figure in the global ascent of electro house, Aoki defined a generation of pop music hits. Beyond this, their estimate for 2021 is looking at a further year-on-year growth of 14.5%. FaZe Clan 14. Founded in 2010, this team has exploded from a group of teens with video cams and a love for video gaming and into a multinational army of gamers. So what makes an eSports team? What kinds of money have they been making, and what games are the most popular? For the first time since 2014, Fnatic comes in under the $1M mark, through no real fault of its own, riding its. No team in Forbes ranking has appreciated more than 100 Thieves, which was fifth on the 2020 list at $190 million. In 2020, 12 organizations who stumped up $25 million dollars will compete in the first season of the franchised Call of Duty League, while many have already paid millions in buy-ins to other franchised competitions like the Overwatch League and the LCS. Gen.G looks set to enter a period of rapid growth; the company says it signed more sponsorships in terms of total deal value in the first quarter of 2022 than in all of 2021, putting it on pace to grow revenue 100% year over year. TSM and Gen.G have launched training apps while companies like ReKTGlobal and LOUD run successful marketing agencies. 6 this year. However, much like G2, Liquid has diversified its team portfolio and brings in money from multiple titles. This is in stark contrast to the $753K the organization took home in 2019, and the $524K in 2018. also made up a large portion of the organizations 2020 winnings, with Fnatic taking home $214K, with $101K of that coming from its 5th-8th finish at the World Championships. 1 ranking. In second on this years list is Cloud 9, another LA-based company that is valued at $350 million, down 13% from 2019. Media rights revenue hasnt caught up with those viewership numbers, in no small part because of a lack of competition, with Twitch and YouTube still the only platforms all that interested in esports content. NRG eSports NRG eSports is a popular eSports team that is based in Los Angeles, California. Leading eSports players worldwide as of February 2023, by overall earnings (in million U.S. dollars) Characteristic. Steve Aoki An incredibly interesting figure, this EDM musician, DJ, and producer is no stranger to technology. Gamer Murat "Arbalet" Zhumashevich created an open invite for all like-minded players to form a team. Carolina Panthers founder and first-ever team owner Jerry Richardson died at the age of 86 on Wednesday night. almost four million concurrent viewers across Twitch and YouTube, 100 Thieves CouRage leaves Twitch to stream on YouTube, acquisition of former OpTic Gaming chief Hector H3CZ Rodriguez, About Dexerto: Editorial staff, standards and policies, We may earn an affiliate commission from links on this page. This month, the five-year old company, which is owned by Jack and Paullie Etienne, raised $50 million in Series B funding. Most of the companys revenue has occurred outside of competitive play. Disciplines. Team Liquid is a professional eSports team founded in the Netherlands in 2000. Invictus Gaming burst onto the scene in 2011 with its win of the 2011 World Cyber Games. Overwatch franchise valuations are $60 million to $80 million, depending on country and city. Here are some of the largest esports investors, organized by net worth. If your goal is just to be the Dallas Cowboys and just operate in competitive gaming, that is cool, but its a long way off, says Andy Miller, CEO of NRG and co-owner of the NBAs Sacramento Kings. Since Valorant's release in the summer of 2020, competition has soared to . It may also look to launch consumer products around its famous personalities. LGD Gaming 15. It has built a series of teams for different games. Michal Konkol/Riot Games Inc. via Getty Images. While team Aster performs with 40.00% winrate. League operations during the pandemic was instrumental in making sure the North American esports scene remained relevant. Fnatic has assembled dedicated teams for a range of games, including Dota 2, Hearthstone, and League of Legends. Viewers of certain streams may donate money to their favorite players. Their most successful player, Sumail Hassan, began his successful Dota playing days in Pakistan. Monetization remains the principal challenge for literally every esports team, says Bobby Sharma, a private equity investor and the managing partner at advisory firm Electronic Sports Group. In other words, the former has seen a fivefold increase in a year, the latter a three- to fourfold increase. While it is typical in esports that one event, such as the Dota 2 International, is usually the cause of a teams No. Team Envy own the Dallas Fuel Overwatch League team. Cloud9 topped the first two editions of the Forbes ranking, in 2018 and 2019, and has historically been the dominant pure-play esports brand. 17 * 4 = 68. FaZe Clan also plays Rainbow Six Siege, COD: WWII, and Valorant, and are the 2021 Call of Duty League Champions. The company,. Here is an interesting visualization of the top 15 Esports Games by Prize Money below. 7 on the list. Team Liquid has won various tournaments over its life, over a variety of games. Sources: company executives, investors, investment advisors, public documents. NRG Esports (Valued $150 million)10. 1 seed for playoffs, having accumulated the most points during regular season competition. TSM's League of Legends team is one of the most successful in the game. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. For Spacestation, it was its. TSMs forward thinking brought in $125K in chess winnings to go along with monies won from playing in many different titles that dont require a ton of expenses. sq. Coming in at No. When a team or player gets a large enough following, selling merchandise is also a good way to earn extra money. The ESPN cover boy has 3.5 million followers on Twitter, 19 million subscribers for his YouTube channel and 11 million on Twitch.TV, and has showed up on mainstream talk shows including Ellen. In July, its London Spitfire became the first ever champion of the Overwatch league. TSM is valued at $540 million, the most valuable esports company in 2022. 8. Last month, it sold its CDL franchise to 100 Thieves and its OpTic Gaming brand name, worth $10 million by Forbes estimates, to its original creatorHector HECZ Rodriguez, now NRG Esports co-CEOto use for that companys Chicago-based CDL franchise. While many companies are expanding beyond esports, Forbes chose not to consider for this ranking Luminosity Gaming parent Enthusiast Gaming, which derives just 3% of its revenue from esports, according to its filings as a public company. To compile this ranking, Forbes spoke to two dozen esports organizations, investors, advisors to investors, and analysts. TSM are one of the biggest names in League of Legends. Earlier rankings relied on capital raises and asset sales, which were limited in 2020; the sole major transaction was the sale of IGCs CDL franchise to 100 Thieves at cost. This team was able to still compete in various online events, even taking a third place finish in Flashpoint Season 2. Number one on our list of best esports teams is Team Liquid. This year, the team made $29 million in revenue. Cloud9 Cloud9 was the first and only North American team to win a CounterStrike: Global Offensive Major in 2018. Getty Images Valued at $190 million, 100 Thieves jumps to the fifth spot on our list, from No. Topping the list: Los Angeles-based TSM (formerly Team SoloMid), with a value of $410 million. In addition, 100 Thieves is dipping its toes into traditional sports; in November, it signed YouTube stars 2Hype, who have amassed a following of 18 million subscribers through their basketball-themed challenge videos. Titles include Age of Empires II, Apex Legends, and Fortnite. The company, which has offices in both Los Angeles and the Netherlands and is considered especially brand-safe for advertisers, is diversifying in several directions at once. Our company appraisals are based on the valuations that were applied during each companys most recent capital raise, comparable esports transactions and their prospects. Of Tournaments - 474 Total Prize Money - $11.1 million Natus Vincere, also called Na'Vi or NaVi is an Esports team based in Ukraine. Team Roster Positions for Top eSports. Thats a key difference with traditional sports, where no one owns the idea of, say, baseball. Games go in and out of style, which would mean companies would need to drastically change their rosters. (Joint) Overactive Media (Valued $120 million)13. Here are the Top 5 Richest Esports Organizations: 5. But it, too, is diversifying, looking to bolster its entertainment business and the esports academy it launched last year. Fnatic is London-based, although many of its best players are Swedish. The San Francisco Shock, champions of Season 3 of the Overwatch League, took home $1.55M in prize money out of a total prize pool of $3.05M over the course of the regular season and playoffs. What could go wrong? Sources include news articles, forum posts, live report threads, interviews, official statements, reliable databases, VODs and other publicly-accessable sources that preserve "historical" information. The Los Angeles-based company, which is developing a lifestyle brand at the intersection of apparel, entertainment and esports, in December announced a $60 million funding round at a $460 million valuation. The deal also saw them snap up OpTics LCS spot, which will be rebranded to Immortals, and operate the Los Angeles Valiant OWL team and the MiBR CS:GO squad. FaZe would go on to lose to eventual champion. The eye-watering valuations for the rest of the top ten similarly belie the reality of the industry right now: Esports is a tough business, and in some ways getting tougher, and the rise in these companies valuations is largely being driven not by their esports teams but by their other divisions. According to Forbes, the team brings in $35 million in estimated revenue, and are currently worth an eye-watering $240 million. The police have back . This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. 4, Spacestation Gaming more than tripled its esports prize money earnings from last year where they earned $436K. That team came third in The International 2012. Facilities are being built where gamers can train. Teams had 3 encounters in the past, Aster won 1 times. The team was formed in 2015 by Mark Mastrov and Andy Miller who are co-owners of Sacramento Kings. JerAx (Jesse . KATOWICE, POLAND - MARCH 02: General view of Spodek Arena during Counter-Strike: Global Offensive quarter-final game between Cloud9 and FaZe Clan on March 2, 2018 in Katowice, Poland. Her new Redebut 2D model, which she unveiled on January 10, 2022, has received praise from her followers in particular.Shylily merch plush. eSports teams tend to have similar components. In January its Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team became the first North American squad to take top honors at a major tournament. It is highly competitive, and there are tournaments offering sizeable prize earnings around the globe. But having a rich owner can change that. The top 10 esports companies are worth an average of $353 million, a 46% increase compared to December 2020. That recognition has sent teams scrambling to expand to broader gaming culture and beyond, treating esports more like a customer acquisition funnel as they seek to justify their lofty valuations and continue to scale. Johan "N0tail" Sundstein. More recently, the team bagged the 2018 Demacia Cup Winter and came in at second place in the 2019 Spring Split regular season. Many esports companies raised capital based on inflated expectations of how the market will come together, particularly in the U.S., says Jens Hilgers, founding general partner of esports investor Bitkraft Ventures and co-owner of G2 Esports, which ranks No. They were regional champs during Stage 2 of the European VCT season and finished top four at Masters: Copenhagen. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. The esports companies that end up winning this shootout will likely be those that have arenas and multiple teams in multiple leagues. With a diversified team fielding structure, TSM participated and won money in 11 different games including League of Legends, Fortnite, and Valorant. The average value of the top ten teams flatlined at $240 million in 2020, following a 54% rise in 2019, according to our exclusive annual ranking of the most valuable esports companies. Were starting to see valuations become more in line with realities, says Bobby Sharma, an investment advisor for New York-based esports advisory firm Electronic Sports Group. The team won the Dota Asia Championships a month later. NBA teams have made the most dramatic moves this decade. Giant companies and wealthy individuals alike have invested in esports, from organizations and teams to tournaments and events. By Mike Ozanian, Christina Settimi and Matt Perez. League did everything they could to be successful in 2020. The modern battlefield in gaming is for larger social media and YouTube talent, says John Robinson, COO of 100 Thieves, a Los Angeles-based game outfit that owns franchise teams competing in League of Legends and Call of Duty. 22 when compared to last years list. The ad-supported app, which has 10 million active monthly users and offers playing analysis and training sessions, now accounts for half of the companys $45 million in revenue. Virtus.pro is a Russian eSports team, established in 2003. A lack of stadium-packing tournaments had knock-on effects on merchandise sales, as well as forfeited media rights and sponsorships. LGD Gaming is a Chinese multi-gaming team sponsored by Guizhou Laogandie Food. Ranking The Top Esports Teams 10. Dallas Cowboys (NFL) Value: $5.7 billion Five-Year Change In Value: 43% Owner: Jerry Jones Year Purchased: 1989 Price Paid:. . That is already starting to pay off. Sponsored teams make ads, wear sponsored merch, and share. Take a look at the diversified winnings with Team Liquids, Team Liquid will look to capitalize on its, Activision Blizzards ability to maintain its. The team operates the Dallas Fuel in the Overwatch League, and will compete in the Call of Duty League in 2020 as Dallas Empire. He bought 10% stake back in May 2000 and became the team?s coach from October 2005 to September 2009. Most of the ad revenue from a streamers videos is returned to the streamer. Team Spirit is now stationed in Belgrade, Serbia. Its a page borrowed from FaZe Clans playbook. He is also the highest paid eSports player that doesn't play Dota 2, however, he is ranked 41st in overall earnings. If youre interested in selling products, becoming an Amazon influencer can be a good 2023 is shaping up to be a big year for advanced RFP software solutions. It holds the record for the most League of Legends Championship Series split titles in the EU LCS. Paris Saint-Germain Esports 10. Teams are also constrained in how they can make their money because they dont own the intellectual property of the games they compete inthey cant, for example, sell a special gun in Call of Duty without the consent of the games publisher, Activision Blizzard. Lee Aik Soon/Riot Games Inc. via Getty Images, TSM has the richest sponsorship deal in esports, a ten-year, $210 million naming rights agreement with crypto exchange FTX, but its real selling point is its tech businesses: Blitz, an app that trains users in popular video games, and Dyno, which offers a moderation bot for Discord servers. 10 in 2019. Fnatic's Apex Legends team is worth mentioning too for finishing top four at the ALGS Championship. For the first time since 2014, Fnatic comes in under the $1M mark, through no real fault of its own, riding its CS:GO team and the $321K it made in 2020 to the No. 5 - Spacestation Gaming: $1.36M Coming in at No. Once again, Johan "N0tail" Sundstein has managed to amass the biggest prize purse of awards thanks to his commitment to professional Dota 2 and string of successes in 2018 and 2019 with his team, OG. Cloud9 finishes second with valuation of US$350m; Team Liquid, Faze Clan and 100 Thieves round out top five. Team Liquid. The Atlanta FaZe of the Call of Duty League did everything they could to be successful in 2020. They also operate in games like Fortnite, Smite, and StarCraft 2, and according to Forbes, their estimated revenue sits at $5 million, with a total valuation of $120 million. are the winners of the inaugural season of Activision Blizzards. Team Spirit have divisions in Counter Strike: Global Offensive (2016), Dota 2 (2015), Hearthstone (2016) and League of Legends (2022). Gen.G are a Korean-based esports organization. Take a look at the diversified winnings with Team Liquids Dota 2 squad taking home $414K, CS:GO $292K, Starcraft II $95K, Player Unknowns Battlegrounds $83K, League of Legends $81K, Hearthstone $75K, Fortnite $64K, and Arena FPS coming in at $49K. League. Total Prize Money Earned: $18,385,456.79. U.S. Air Force 8. At present, teams from the organization compete in CS:GO, Dota 2, League of Legends, and Hearthstone. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. 2 earner last year by receiving more than $9M in prize money. In the Forbes annual list of the most valuable eSports organizations, two teams share the top spotSoloMid and Cloud9. March 2, 2023 4:45 pm ET. Report: Mobile Legends teams could be forced to drop Wild Rift due to exclusivity contract, Report: Ninjas in Pyjamas merging with ESV5, Australian federal court gives Epic lawsuit against Apple the green light, TikTok appoints Nobru as global ambassador, Ninjas in Pyjamas signs multiyear deal with Razer, Andbox signs USAA as New York Subliners partner, Path and H20 join forces to bring gaming to cinemas in the Netherlands, LOUD announces Brazilian e-commerce Submarino as sponsor, The possible legal peril facing Save The Kids endorsers, Prudential Center to host LCS Championship Delivered by GrubHub, Esports Entertainment Group secures exclusive deal with Hall of Fame Resort and Entertainment Company, Golden Guardians returns to WoW raid race with next BDGG event, Riot Games announces in-person finals for first Wild Rift official tournament in Brazil.