How do professional eSports gamers make money?

[Nova]

I know that some gamers who casually play games make money off twitch and the youtube. But that being said, there seems to be lack of the information on how some of the professional gamers who play in tournament make the money. Does any company sponsor them or they get some sort of benefit for playing the games apart from the prize money? How does this process works?

 

[Bravosi]

Primary by streaming, actually. You can't rely purely on winning contests, because you don't always win them and competition is tough.

 

[Gopnik]

I can give an example with the CS:GO pro players. They are streaming and getting money from donations, subscriptions, bits, etc. Also, they upload their videos to YouTube where they also get paid for. On tournaments, they have companies sponsoring them and they get a lot of money for it. Plus the tournament prize if they win.

 

[TopSilver]

They can get money from ad revenue on twitch, youtube, mixer. They can get paid a certain amount by a sponsor. Also like @Gopnik above is saying people buy subscriptions on twitch with their twitch prime account (you get one free with amazon prime). Also donations. There are tons of ways for these gamers to make money. But a big one is ad revenue which pays a lot depending on how many viewers or views your content is getting

 

[Martin Berisford]

Yeah I'd have to agree with the above posters really. I've been reading lately about how much 'professional' gamers actually make from tournaments and whilst I'd still love to have that kind of money dropped in my lap it wasn't what I was expecting. Suppose it does depend on the actual game as well but from what I can see most look to make money through streaming and the various methods attached to that. Wish I was that good to do this though!

 

[Nova]

I have mostly noticed the youtube streamers getting paid on the stream with the option of the donation. There is also streamlabs but never noticed that on the twitch. I guess it could be different option.

 

[yuckster]

The top professional esports pros play for franchised teams. League of Legends has (LEC, LCS, LCK, LPL etc.) some of these players make 300,000+ USD yearly, they get a chef and paid rent and more perks too. Other leagues such as the Overwatch League, Call of Duty League and certain CSGO teams have salaried pros as well.

 

[RedmondG]

If you watch them on Twitch (and pro's do get pushed more by Amazon to be shown) they are constantly getting donations and subscriptions which adds up to ridiculous amounts of money. Like you say though, you could be pro and not stream a lot but if you're gaming all day anyway, then why not?

 

[Alexander.]

With CS: GO pro players, for instance. Individuals who stream and get cash from donations, memberships, bits, and so forth. Content creators also upload their videos on the internet, where they're getting paid ad revenue from Adsense. They have companies sponsoring them at the tournaments and the jackpot in the contest if they win.

 

[Excommunicado]

If you’re good enough at a game to play at eSports level, there are plenty of ways to make money if you’re smart. Besides from tournament prize money, streaming is your best friend. People will watch you simply because you’re good; if you become a big streamer you will most likely get a lot of donations and companies will start paying you too. You could also get accepted into an eSports team. I’m pretty sure a lot of eSports teams pay you just for representing them.