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With the sheer number of people that participate in esports and play video games in general, you might assume that there would be far too many esports teams to keep track of. With all the people that compete, it’s also reasonable to think that the prize money awarded is spread out over a huge number of people. This is true to an extent, but there are still a handful of esports teams that take home a ridiculous amount of prize money from tournaments. Below are a few of the highest paid esports teams in the world.
When compiling this list, we took a few things into consideration: the highest overall earnings (obviously), the highest earnings of 2015, and how many tournaments a team has won to accrue their overall earnings. We don’t know what’s more impressive- earning a lot from just a few tournaments, or earning a lot because you’ve won hundreds of tournaments.
Evil Geniuses
Evil Geniuses earned its place at the top of this list by having the highest overall esports earnings by far. They have won over 500 tournaments during their career, and have accrued over $12 million in winnings. They were also the highest paid esports team in 2015, earning $9 million, the majority of their total earnings, within the year. They took 1st place in the 2015 International Dota 2 Tournament, and they also participate in other esports games like StarCraft 2, League of Legends, and Counter Strike: Global Offensive, to name a few. However,
Dota 2 has been the source of the vast majority of their earnings.
Cloud9
Being a relatively new esports team, Cloud9 is an American team with players specializing in a surprising number of games. Cloud9 competes in League of Legends, Dota 2, Counter Strike: Global Offensive, Hearthstone, Super Smash Bros, and other games. They ranked 10th in
Red Bull’s highest paid esports teams of 2015 list, and have made over $3 million in the 3 years they have been competing. Cloud9 will even be competing in the upcoming
first-ever ELeague.
Vici Gaming
Vici, like many esports teams, actually, makes a majority of their prize money from Dota 2 competitions. They took 4th place in the 2015 International Dota 2 tournament, taking home over $1.5 million and landing themselves in the top 5 highest paid teams of 2015.
Newbee
Newbee takes 2nd place on
esportsearnings.com’s highest overall team earnings list, yet doesn’t seem to have been very active in 2015. Another Dota 2 team, Newbee has made over $5 million in earnings, and
took 1st place in the Dota International 2014. Made up mostly of players in China, Newbee has competed in League of Legends, Hearthstone, and Heroes of the Storm.
CDEC Gaming
CDEC Gaming is an all Dota 2 team, and was the 2nd highest paid team in 2015. According to esportsearnings.com, they have made $3,359,112.31 over the course of 19 tournaments. That’s over $175,000 per tournament, which is much higher than any other esports team can boast. That’s higher than even Evil Geniuses’ per tournament earnings, which only comes out to a little over $20,000 per tournament. Sure, they are the highest paid, but it took them a lot of work to get there. Impressively, CDEC Gaming has climbed the ranks very quickly. At this rate, they seem like a team you’ll want to keep an eye on.
This list is really just the tip of the iceberg. There are hundreds of esports teams, and as this sport is growing, there are more and more teams being formed. These lists can (and do) change frequently, and this is by no means a “Top 5.” However, these are some of the most accomplished teams to date, and they will continue to be forces to be reckoned with.
