Cloud9 recently announced a major apparel partnership with Puma, releasing their first collection in October 2019. In 2019, Team Secret took 4th place in The International 2019 winning $2,059,804 dollars in prize money. Esports is a rapidly-growing industry, and Forbes has revealed the 13 richest organizations in the professional gaming scene, including fan-favorite teams like TSM, Cloud9, and FaZe Clan. Kevin Hitt is a business reporter for The Esports Observer that specializes in investigative journalism. In the Forbes annual list of the most valuable eSports organizations, two teams share the top spotSoloMid and Cloud9. This is a BETA experience. They have teams in Dota, Starcraft II, CS:GO and several others - and have $24 million worth of prize money under their belts. Thus revenue and projections could be slashed and the high valuations could tumble. scene and hopes to see, along with many other organizations, Valve revive the scene in 2021. Games go in and out of style, which would mean companies would need to drastically change their rosters. Natus Vincere was founded in December of 2009. However, the Russia-based esports organization also competes in titles such as. 4. Our 12 companies have an average enterprise value of 13 times 2018 estimated sales. Indeed the most lucrative game by far is Dota, and variations thereof. Team Liquid's estimated value is $310 million and they successfully generated $28 million this year. The teams base is in Hangzhou, China. Dota 2 is a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) video game, played in matches between two teams of five players, with each team occupying and defending their own separate base on the map. Looking ahead, companies see a huge opportunity to monetize their fan bases through emerging technologies like blockchain, NFTs and the metaverse. 17 * 4 = 68. Many consider their Counter-Strike team to be one of the best of all-time, having won three CS: GO Majors. The Atlanta FaZe of the Call of Duty League did everything they could to be successful in 2020. Carolina Panthers founder and first-ever team owner Jerry Richardson died at the age of 86 on Wednesday night. Team Secret, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, was able to put together a great year as far as. 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. It has built a series of teams for different games. There are some similarities to traditional sports leagues. Esports companies are constantly buying and selling teams and players to compete in the best leagues and build audiences on Amazons Twitch and Alphabets YouTube. They were regional champs during Stage 2 of the European VCT season and finished top four at Masters: Copenhagen. Since then it has won more than 100 gold, 170 silver and 220 bronze medals in various eSports tournaments. Last month, the company opened the Castle, a funhouse, gamers version of a fraternity house and production studio to churn out digital content that can be sold to sponsors. Of all the biggest eSports organizations, SoloMid and Cloud9 are the most valuable. GH was a relatively unknown commodity prior to his signing with Team Liquid in late 2016. SynerGE (PUBG Mobile) SynerGE is a mobile gaming team where the owner for the team is Sameer Peerjade and the CEO of the team is Dr. Rushindra Sinha, Mohit Israney, Yash Manoj Singh. The top 10 esports companies are worth an average of $353 million, a 46% increase compared to December 2020. The influence of sports on business and culture. At present, teams from the organization compete in CS:GO, Dota 2, League of Legends, and Hearthstone. That stratospheric valuationcomparable to MLBs Miami Marlins or the NHLs Detroit Red Wingsblew past the $305 million that Forbes had estimated FaZe Clan was worth just ten months earlier. as well. They recruited their first Dota2 player in 2012. Getty Images Valued at $190 million, 100 Thieves jumps to the fifth spot on our list, from No. Overwatch is already adding expansion teams, and Riot Games has begun selling franchises for its European league. FaZe would go on to lose to eventual champion Dallas Empire in the Winners Finals. Kabbani became the second-biggest star on Twitch, with 4.1 million followers. Theyre very much Dota 2 specialists. If it were negotiating terms now, it would likely fetch an even higher price. Player costs typically eat up half of a companys operating budget. 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. NRG has a successful content business, including a studio in Los Angeles, where the company is based, and a brand in Full Squad Gaming that targets social gamers as opposed to esports enthusiasts. He has sponsorships with Samsung, Red Bull and Uber Eats. The LCS will host its first fan-attended event since Summer of 2019 in Newark, NJ at the Prudential Center. Team Spirit have divisions in Counter Strike: Global Offensive (2016), Dota 2 (2015), Hearthstone (2016) and League of Legends (2022). Please enter your username or email address to reset your password. Total Winnings: $139,418 Signature Legends . Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. Team Rankings Highest Overall Team Earnings Highest Single Game Team Earnings Top 100 200 300 400 500 Highest Overall Team Earnings This list represents the top ranking teams in esports who won the most prize money based on tournament results, player transfers and team statements published on the internet. Dota2, in particular, appears to be where most of the money is nowadays.Cumulative prizes for Dota 2 nearly reached. Michal Konkol/Riot Games Inc. via Getty Images. Natus Vincere Many of the top eSports players are celebrities to Millennial and Generation Y fans. Winning competitions is arguably the most straightforward way to make money in eSports. Iconic sports namesfrom the New York Yankees and Houston Rockets to Robert Kraft and Magic Johnsonhave bought in. Who is the richest esports player? Revenue flatlined at Los Angeles-based NRG after its CDL and OWL teams had to cancel ticketed in-person events and stage them online for free. What could go wrong? He is betting that an expansion into Fortnite will help take him there. It even supports television coverage, for those who still prefer the big screen, rather than livestreaming via Twitch on their tablet or phone. Its a South Korean team with reach into Seoul, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles. As of 2020, the top five most valuable esports teams according to Forbes are: TSM - Value: $540 million 2021 Estimated Revenue: $56 million Change From 2020: 32% Principle Owner: Andy Dinh 100 Thieves - Value: $460 million 2021 Estimated Revenue: $38 million Change From 2020: 142% Cloud9 finishes second with valuation of US$350m; Team Liquid, Faze Clan and 100 Thieves round out top five. Team Liquid will look to capitalize on its CS:GO, Dota 2, League of Legends, and possibly Valorant teams heading into 2021. When this team was created in 2014, it quickly caught fire. Team Secret, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, was able to put together a great year as far as Dota 2 was concerned taking home $1.017M playing in 12 events that survived the pandemic. A bit later they entered World of Warcraft and the original version of Dota. The way that teams in North America succeed is different from the way that teams succeed in Asia, says Jason Chung, the executive director of esports at the University of New Haven. Most of the companys revenue has occurred outside of competitive play. . That was two months after the company made its first acquisition, buying gaming keyboard brand Higround. The team operates the Dallas Fuel in the Overwatch League, and will compete in the Call of Duty League in 2020 as Dallas Empire. Mainstream sponsors and advertisers involved with traditional sports like football and baseball may not jump aboard the esports bandwagon. With esports events like the 2019 League of Legends World Championships bringing in almost four million concurrent viewers across Twitch and YouTube, its no surprise that competitive gaming is now a multi-million dollar industry, and shows no signs of slowing down. Since Valorant's release in the summer of 2020, competition has soared to . 6 this year. They handpicked skilled players who were highly ranked on the Chinese Dota ladder at the time. The organization will look to its multi-game approach once again in 2021 with the hopes that more events become available as more tournament organizers become comfortable running live events with the permission of local governments. Earlier this year he signed 19-year-old superstar player Ali Myth Kabbani to his team and invested $1.5 million into a 4,300-square-foot house for his Fortnite roster of four to live, practice and stream for hours a day. Electronic Arts has lowered its full-year revenue guidance. In the Losers Final, FaZe would beat the Huntsmen once again, before losing, again, to the Dallas Empire in the championship. Its a multi-game eSports outfit with over 90 players, most of which are from China. TSM, which rebranded to TSM FTX after signing a $210 million partnership with the exchange, is valued at $540 million, the most valuable esports company in 2022. eSports-Teams werden in den Arenen der groen Meisterschaften gefeiert wie Fuballclubs. Team Liquids parent, aXiomatic Gaming, is fresh off raising $35 million in a round announced this week that values Liquid at $415 million. Team Liquid has won various tournaments over its life, over a variety of games. In other words, the former has seen a fivefold increase in a year, the latter a three- to fourfold increase. Virtus.pro is a Russian eSports team, established in 2003. A mere $92M. Alongside N0tail, the TI-winning OG lineup are the all-time top-earning esports players: Johan "N0tail" Sundstein ($6.9 million) Jesse "JerAx" Vainikka ($6.5 million) Anathan "ana" Pham ($6.0 million) Sebastian "Ceb" Debs ($5.5 million) Topias Miikka "Topson" Taavitsainen ($5.5 million) It has dedicated teams for Dota 2, Hearthstone, and League of Legends. On June 10, 2021, FaZe Clan became the first esports team to be featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Global eSports revenues are projected to reach $906 million in 2018. Here are the top 10 teams in terms of prize money won for 2020. 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 London-based company is now building up its products businesses, starting with gaming hardware, including keyboards and mice. These cookies do not store any personal information. 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. Esports players can earn with a regular salary from their eSports team, prize money from eSport competitions, sponsorships and usually also streaming revenue from Twitch or Youtube. Here is a list of the top 10 eSports teams in 2022. Live-event cancellations hit revenue by 23%, and the company began unloading teams. He was the owner of the eSports franchise Echo Fox until his departure from the franchise in October 2019. . sq. And while team sponsorships can be lucrative, other revenue streams often have low margins. He recorded career highs of 15.4 points a game and 2.2 steals a game (fifth in the league) and made 101 three-point field goals in the 1996-97 season . 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. The 10 Most Valuable Esports Teams Of The World 1-10 Who is #1? 2019 - Present Team: TSM Approx. But media rights are growing the fastest and are projected to be more than $320 million by 2021, making it the second-biggest source of revenue behind sponsorships. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. 1 ranking on this list, this is the first time that a single Call of Duty match was the catalyst behind the No. Vici Gaming 11. However, much like G2, Liquid has diversified its team portfolio and brings in money from multiple titles.