(Joint) Cloud9 (Valued $400 million)1. For Spacestation, it was its. They have teams in Dota, Starcraft II, CS:GO and several others - and have $24 million worth of prize money under their belts. Cloud9 is tops from a competitive standpoint as well. World's Most Valuable Sports Teams 2021 - Forbes Immortals own both OpTic Gaming and MiBR. Team Liquid began as a gaming community website. Here is a list of the top 10 eSports teams in 2022. Top 10 best esports teams - CQ-Esports However, much like G2, Liquid has diversified its team portfolio and brings in money from multiple titles. The valuations were rooted in actual 2021 performance, with multiples applied to each revenue stream individually and adjusted somewhat to reflect future projections. Esports news, interviews, and analysis, plus live tournament coverage. Valued at $190 million, 100 Thieves jumps to the fifth spot on our list, from No. While the team made most of its money from Dota 2, Brawl Star, and Rocket League, it also dabbles in League of Legends and has a strong affinity for FIFA 17, 18, and 19. Ranking The Top Esports Teams 10. 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. The company, founded by former Call of Duty champion Matthew Nadeshot Haag, 28, expects to make $16 million in revenue this year, a leap of 60%. Copyright 2012-2023 Esports Earnings. They sponsored a Dutch StarCraft: Brood War team in 2010. The first Dota team grew out of the team For The Dream, which LGD sponsored in 2009. 1 ranking. Founded in 2016, its become home to over 90 gamers from around the globe. 10 spot. A single tournament can yield hundreds of thousands of dollars in prize money, but almost all of it goes to the players. To them, eSports is as legitimate a sport as football and basketball are to the more athletically oriented. Another CIS team from top 10 best esports teams of our list is Team Spirit. For instance, Overwatchs viewership numbers are plummeting, just a few years after companies shelled out $20 million for the initial franchise slots in the Overwatch League; esports insiders believe they would sell for a fraction of that price now. Fnatic launched an NFT-based membership program for fans in March; despite some backlash around it, the company signed up 200,000 members for the free version, beating its target of 50,000. The 10 Highest-Earning Esports Organizations of 2020 - DMarket With a diversified team fielding structure, TSM participated and won money in 11 different games including League of Legends, Fortnite, and Valorant. NRG Esports (Valued $150 million)10. Fnatic also qualified for both Dota Majors this year and Dota's season-ending championship: The International 2022. . Teams not only have to pick the right games to compete in but also have to hope those titles stay relevant. Esports revenues will grow 38% this year, to $906 million, and reach $1.65 billion by 2021. It may also look to launch consumer products around its famous personalities. It was also a signal that the esports industry had resumed its ascent after a couple of years in which team values had largely flatlined. umbrella teams were able to take home a significant amount of money. 10 in 2019. Evil Geniuses is a subsidiary of GoodGame Agency, owned by Amazons Twitch division. 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. Many of the top eSports players are celebrities to Millennial and Generation Y fans. League did everything they could to be successful in 2020. There are some similarities to traditional sports leagues. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, too, would feel the crunch as large prize pool events such as the ESL One Rio Major and its $2M were lost to the pandemic. Theres a broad-based agreement that esports as a stand-alone doesnt work as a business, one team executive says bluntly. The team makes an estimated $9 million per year and is valued at $185 million. Team Liquid became part of the entertainment and sports management company, aXiomatic, in 2016. (Joint) Team SoloMid (Valued $400 million), Florida Mayhem compete in the Overwatch League. 100 Thieves emerged as the second-most valuable esports company with a $460 million valuation. 68 - 46 = 22, so the average value of the non-USP guns would need to be (22 / 3) 7.33 or more for this to make sense. Alexander Garfield originally founded the team as a Canadian Counter-Strike team in 1999. 10 Team Liquid . That was two months after the company made its first acquisition, buying gaming keyboard brand Higround. Who are 5 of the biggest esports teams? This is a BETA experience. Its a page borrowed from FaZe Clans playbook. Vici Gaming 11. 1 ranking on this list, this is the first time that a single Call of Duty match was the catalyst behind the No. The next frontier is on the digital side. What you have seen in the last year is other esports companies are catching on to what has been our philosophy from Day 1, which is to explore the outer reaches of what gaming can be, says FaZe Clans CEO, Lee Trink. Once again, TSM, owned by Andy Dinh, leads the way, rising 32% to $540 million. Not only are they valued at more than $320 million with a revenue on par with Cloud9, but they also hold the title of most tournament winnings ever. Simply put, the loss of potential prize pool money, especially in Dota 2 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 Ninjas in Pyjamas. ESL Shop offers a wide range of merchandise from CS:GO and Dota2 merch to official clan wear of teams like Virtus Pro, FaZe, ENCE, BIG, fnatic, G2 Esports and Ninjas in Pyjamas. Dallas Cowboys (NFL) Value: $5.7 billion Five-Year Change In Value: 43% Owner: Jerry Jones Year Purchased: 1989 Price Paid:. Below are the 12 most valuable esports companies in the world. Another team steeped in esports history, FaZe Clan started life as a Call of Duty sniper team, but now operate teams in the franchise CoD League and CS:GO, and are home to some of the biggest Fortnite streamers and professional players in the world. If it were negotiating terms now, it would likely fetch an even higher price. Some around the industry express wariness about the Los Angeles-based companys leadership, however, with CEO Andy Dinh accused late last year of bullying. Player costs typically eat up half of a companys operating budget. Since the pick up, NRG have locked down the Chicago Call of Duty spot, and continue to operate in many of the worlds biggest esports, such as Fortnite, Smash, Apex Legends, and more, valued at $150 million with $20 million in estimated revenue. Team SoloMid has topped . Fnatic (Valued $175 million)6. The No. Video games might be all the rage during the pandemic, but pro video game teams are not. Team Liquids parent, aXiomatic Gaming, is fresh off raising $35 million in a round announced this week that values Liquid at $415 million. Since Valorant's release in the summer of 2020, competition has soared to . 5 - Spacestation Gaming: $1.36M Coming in at No. match was the catalyst behind the No. A report last month by gaming data firm Newzoo found that the global esports audience was on track to reach 532 million this year, including 261 million esports enthusiasts who watch esports content more than once a month. Aster match roster is . TSM's League of Legends team is one of the most successful in the game. TSM and Gen.G have launched training apps while companies like ReKTGlobal and LOUD run successful marketing agencies. Fnatic has also started to gain traction in Japan. The team finished second at The International 2014. Steam Community :: Guide :: [UPDATED] MAKING PROFITS FROM TRADE UPS The 25 Richest eSports Players (And How Much They Are Worth) - TheGamer Wayne Gretzky net worth: What was his highest salary and which NHL team But its bottom line is still ugly, the SPAC climate has grown more perilous, and the companys recently disclosed agreement with partner Snoop Dogg suggests it might be lowering its own valuation. Virtus.pro is a Russian eSports team, established in 2003. Importantly, eSports are not just some niche fad, likely to become old news by next year. The worry now is that esports companies might be swept up into a metaverse bubble. The organization also brought home more than $25K from Fortnite and $4.6K in Electronic Arts Apex Legends. 10 spot. Their League of Legends team won the first League of Legends World Championship in 2011. 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 . WSCs highlight automation improved the speed of ESPNs content creation. 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. 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. 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. 2019 - Present Team: TSM Approx. One of Team Secrets major accomplishments occurred in 2016 when they welcomed an international female Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team. 2 earner last year by receiving more than $9M in prize money. Capitalizing on the growth of the eSports industry | Deloitte Insights Newbee 13. nc. Top Esports Teams Earnings 2020: 10 Highest Overall Ranked Activision Blizzard began selling franchises for $20 million for its Overwatch League around the same time. He is betting that an expansion into Fortnite will help take him there. Seeking to broaden their appeal, esports companies are now morphing into broader entertainment companies. 80 Pine Street, Suite 3202 New York, NY 10005, Start and end your day with FOS in your inbox. One particularly notable partnership is with cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb as Gen.G ties itself to Web3 technologies. Team Liquid are the dominant force in North American LoL. 8. Thats rich. Sumails father gained a job in the USA, and Sumail joined Evil Geniuses in January 2015. With that championship, the team took home $1.79M in prize money after defeating the Atlanta FaZe in the finals three maps to two. 6 this year. Team Liquid is a professional eSports team founded in the Netherlands in 2000. 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. Highest Earning Esports Players and How They Got There (2021) ot gs bu. as well. G2 Esports, the highest-ranked company outside of Los Angeles County, with its headquarters in Berlin, is branching out from esports with video content around its teams and a record label, G2 Music. NBA teams have made the most dramatic moves this decade. Team Envy (Valued $170 million)7. We have previously discussed the rise of eSports influence on brands. Esports Industry in 2022: Market Stats & Viewership Growth Trends While it is typical in esports that one event, such as the, International, is usually the cause of a teams No. By creating a plan and pivoting to online events. Vici Gaming began operations in October 2012. Games go in and out of style, which would mean companies would need to drastically change their rosters. However, Team Secrets prize winnings are tied to its Dota 2 squad. 100 Thieves Estimated Value: $190 million Richest Esports Organizations 100 Thieves, LLC is an American lifestyle brand and gaming organization based in Los Angeles, California. Invictus Gaming was launched by businessman Wang Sicong. And for Team Secret, Dota 2 is a staple. Team Liquid belongs on any list featuring the biggest or best esports organizations. Top-10 Biggest Esports Sponsors Ranked In 2021 | SportyTell He is also the highest paid eSports player that doesn't play Dota 2, however, he is ranked 41st in overall earnings. in the finals 4-2 to take home the lions share of the prize money. By 2020, four of the top 10 were valued at more than $300 million. Disney's Marvel 10. Cover image by Woohae Cho. 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. Their reach spreads far and wide in esports, including teams in PUBG, Fortnite, Apex Legends, and even a League of Legends Academy squad. TSM is valued at $540 million, the most valuable esports company in 2022. Team OG 3. Until finalized, we cant comment on specifics., Lance Skundrich/Riot Games Inc. via Getty Images. Its a shootout to see who can be the biggest and baddest brand. The World's Most Valuable Esports Companies - Forbes By estimation, it will be worth around $1.62 billion by 2024. We included only companies that compete in gaming and excluded game publishers and arena builders. This resulted in winnings of $5 million, giving it the Guinness World Record for most prize earnings at the time. T1 - $150 million Record world champion in LoL and with Faker they got a legendary esports player in their squad. 10. Fnatic was founded in 2004 with a Counter-Strike team. Reach Mike Ozanian at mozanian@forbes.com. However, the Russia-based esports organization also competes in titles such as Fortnite and Apex Legends. North America is projected to account for approximately 38% ($345 million) of global eSports revenue in 2018. When a team or player gets a large enough following, selling merchandise is also a good way to earn extra money. The organization also brought home more than $25K from, brought home the bulk of its 2020 prize money from. Andy recused himself from any oversight of the scope, nature and conclusions of the investigation. For Spacestation, it was its R6 team that carried the day, winning two out of the four events they played in, taking home $1.1M in prize money. Huge prize pools in this industry are common. Some of the gap was filled with its higher-margin online content business, including sponsored streams on Twitch and videos on YouTube. (Picture: Forbes) The statistic at the top of the chart is . Perhaps the biggest surprise is despite Fortnite being the name video game of 2018, it doesnt appear anywhere near the top of the high-earning tournament games. The top 10 esports companies are worth an average of $353 million, a 46% increase compared to December 2020. For gaming and trivia enthusiasts, Natus Vincere is also referred to as NAVI, which is borrowed from James Camerons blockbuster success Avatar. The year 2020 wasnt kind to esports competition as many events were canceled or postponed due to health concerns surrounding the, pandemic. Team Liquid (Valued $320 million)1. The team earned more than $35 million in 2019 and has a net worth of around $400 million. Cloud9 recently announced a major apparel partnership with Puma, releasing their first collection in October 2019. 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 club was founded in 2015, in Moscow, Russia. This year? Indeed the most lucrative game by far is Dota, and variations thereof. But the pivot comes at a cost as investors have shredded the multiples they are willing to pay for competitive teams while valuing the newer businesses at even less. We have accumulated data from a few dependable sources, for example, Forbes and ESports Earnings to decide the total assets of the most extravagant Esports players living in the world. This would give the team a bye all the way into Winners Round 3 where it would face off against the, , which it eventually defeated 3-2. With a net worth of $1.7 billion, esports is a small part of his portfolio, but one with a lot of space to grow. He was the owner of the eSports franchise Echo Fox until his departure from the franchise in October 2019. . Paris Saint-Germain Esports is a French professional eSports brand. All others in the ranking are private companies. Team Envy are one of the most legendary Call of Duty teams ever but have branched out to become a true powerhouse in esports, valued at $170 million. Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest updates on Esports, Gaming and more. Team SoloMid, the second-most-valuable company ($225 million) and the only one known to be cash-flow positive, is the winningest North American team in League of Legends, with six championships. And while team sponsorships can be lucrative, other revenue streams often have low margins. Thus far, there have been 63 deals worth $2.34 billion in 2018. Capital raises and asset sales were taken into account but were not always considered determinative of a teams value, for various reasons. In July, Activision Blizzard signed a multiyear deal with Walt Disney to broadcast the Overwatch League on linear television. Invictus Gaming burst onto the scene in 2011 with its win of the 2011 World Cyber Games. scene and hopes to see, along with many other organizations, Valve revive the scene in 2021. Ill be rooting for them, says one rival team executive. Fnatic has assembled dedicated teams for a range of games, including Dota 2, Hearthstone, and League of Legends. But having a rich owner can change that. Traffic cop at the intersection of money and sports. How much is an eSports team worth? - Quora League. Ninja is the type of gamer every esports company and their sponsors covet. Intel invests in IEM and the Overwatch League Net worth: $200 billion Kabbani became the second-biggest star on Twitch, with 4.1 million followers. Carlos ocelote Rodrguez ability to develop competitive teams in multiple titles helped propel, to No. List of Top 10 eSports Teams 1. 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. 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. 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. 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. With a background in law enforcement and administration, Kevin uses his learned skill set to get an inside look into the happenings of the esports space. Fnatic - $15.39m in 903 tournaments. An eSport player salary usually ranges from 1.000 to 5.000 a month, with some highly skilled players earning a salary of a stunning 50.000 a month. Indeed the most lucrative game by far is Dota, and variations thereof. In the meantime, though, new sponsors have found their way to teams as the pandemic has supercharged online viewership numbers, with esports young male audience long considered a desirable but hard-to-reach demographic among advertisers. team and the $321K it made in 2020 to the No. Team Liquid, owned by aXiomatic Gaming, is the third-most valuable esports company at $440 million. According to their annual report, Cloud9 is now worth an incredible $400 million. But it, too, is diversifying, looking to bolster its entertainment business and the esports academy it launched last year. G2 Esports sole franchise team competes in League of Legends, and have become one of the biggest names in the game in 2019, winning the Mid-Season Invitational, and landing themselves in the 2019 Worlds Finals. 4, Spacestation Gaming more than tripled its esports prize money earnings from last year where they earned $436K. 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. The Kraft Group 9. All other titles are listed alphabetically. They were regional champs during Stage 2 of the European VCT season and finished top four at Masters: Copenhagen. Last year, Team Secret was fifth on this list with $3.36M. Johan "N0tail" Sundstein. Please enter your username or email address to reset your password. They also have teams playing other games, including League of Legends, StarCraft II, WarCraft III, FIFA, Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. A bit later they entered World of Warcraft and the original version of Dota. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. Electronic Arts has lowered its full-year revenue guidance. Tundra doing well by winning over 40.00% of their recent matches. That is why eSports players stream as well. Esports has its first crossover star in Tyler Blevins, better known as Ninja; in an ESPN interview, Blevins suggested he earned seven figures a month. Top 7 ESports Teams, Players & Their Salaries - Business Insider Its a multi-game eSports outfit with over 90 players, most of which are from China. Virtus.pro 9. | T1 Clubs have a certain value, not only in conventional sports. Earnings in million U.S. dollars. Valued at $160 million, 100 Thieves, founded by former CoD pro Matt Nadeshot Haag, are more than just an esports organization, operating a hugely successful streetwear and apparel business, while also snapping up some of the most popular streamers in the world. They are known for their League of Legends, Dota 2, and StarCraft II teams but have recently expanded into CS: GO and Hearthstone. The police have back . Facebook and Amazon go for 7.4 and 3.8 times this years estimated revenue. It is highly competitive, and there are tournaments offering sizeable prize earnings around the globe. That said, it's extremely hard to win consistently enough to make eSports a primary source of income. Zai's net worth is thought to be around $2,459,054 US dollars. As shown in Figure 3, global revenue for eSports is projected to reach $1.65 billion in 2021. Let's take a look at the highest-earning individual players along with the top teams that are raking in big bucks. Rodriguez has been able to weather the pandemic and dwindling esports prize pools by fielding multiple teams, with some not requiring a lot of overhead expenses. FaZe now boasts over 230 million followers across all its related social platforms and is worth $305 million to rank No. The Esports team will test how the game is designed to be highly competitive, using tournament-style gameplay that will be put to the test by top players. TSM was playing chess while some were playing other esports titles. Following this, the market saw immense growth going into 2020 with a 15% rise on the previous year. The announcement last month that the company, based in Santa Monica, California, is returning to competition in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive may reinforce that image, but even C9 is creating new lines of business with Training Grounds, a coaching app, and with Stratus, a subscription service for super-fans. GH was a relatively unknown commodity prior to his signing with Team Liquid in late 2016. Team Liquid will look to capitalize on its CS:GO, Dota 2, League of Legends, and possibly Valorant teams heading into 2021. So what makes an eSports team? Influencer Marketing Hub Influencer Marketing Top 15 eSports Teams, Earnings, and Salaries. Top 10 Biggest eSports Teams in 2022 - AfriTechNews What kinds of money have they been making, and what games are the most popular? How Do Esports Companies Compare with Sports Teams? - Visual Capitalist We leaned on PitchBook and other public documents to buttress our reporting. The fanfare around the sky-high valuation assigned to FaZe in the fall masked some fundamental concerns about its businessissues that became more acute when, in an amended SEC filing last week, it revised its forecasts downward.