CS:GO and DOTA 2 have become two of the world’s most popular eSports, and both of these great games have been developed by Valve. We do not think that there will be many people out there will disagree with us saying that both eSports are the best in their category. DOTA 2 is the world’s best Multiplayer Online Battle Arena eSport, while CS:GO is the world’s best first-person shooter. In this article, we are going to have a look at how organizations such as Valve make money from eSports and some of the best players for both of these games.
How Do eSports Organizations Like Valve Make Money?
Valve has a net worth of more than $10 billion, which is really impressive when you take into consideration that they were valued at just under $3 billion in 2012. So, in under a decade, they have managed to more than triple the value of their company. This is something that they should be really proud of, but how do companies such as Valve make their money? Well, we are going to look at this right now.
Sponsorships and Adverts
Organizations like Valve and Team Liquid get many sponsorships from different huge companies. These big companies not only bring plenty of attention to eSport organizations, but also to the whole eSports scene. The organization’s sign contracts with different sponsors in order to fund their teams and the sponsors get advertised on gaming equipment and team attire. Some of the huge sponsors that you will come across in the eSports world are Microsoft, Red Bull, BMW, Monster Energy, and Honda.
While organizations get a lot of money from sponsors, it is fair to say that it is beneficial to sponsors as well. In 2019, eSports raked in around $1.1 billion, and sponsors walked away with about $456 million of that.
Ticket Sales
Just like with traditional sporting events, organizations make a lot of money from ticket sales. Live eSports tournaments range in attendance size from 10-15 thousand, with the majority of fans watching the action online. However, there are some eSport events that take place where the attendance numbers are really high.
For instance, in 2017 Beijing hosts the League of Legends World Championship and more than 80 thousand people attended live, while around 90 million people from around the world watch the action on the Internet. Seattle, also in 2017, hosted a DOTA 2 tournament and about 50 thousand people attended, while about one million people enjoyed the entertainment online.
Merchandise
Traditional sports teams sell a variety of merchandise to their fans to make some extra money, and eSports organizations are no exception. eSports fans can go on their favorite team’s website and purchase a variety of clothing and other brilliant accessories. One thing that is unique with eSports merchandising is that merchandise is available to purchase in the actual game.
Fans of great eSports such as DOTA 2 and CS:GO can purchase in-game skins that they can use to show support to particular teams. Players of these games are also able to buy a wide variety of weapons to improve their eSports gaming experience. To highlight just how much can be made from in-game purchases, Activision-Blizzard in 2017 made around $8 billion, and more than half of this was made from in-game purchases.
Media Rights
While there are those fans that will purchase tickets and watch eSports live, the majority of viewers will stay home and watch the action online. Thus, having the streaming and broadcasting rights for huge eSports competitions is important in order to make money. eSports organizations are required to negotiate with streaming and broadcasting services so that they can reach out to online and cable viewers.
The majority of organizations will have to sign contracts with big streaming services if they want their eSports events to be broadcasted. The biggest and most popular streaming service available at the moment is Twitch, which happens to be owned by Amazon. At the end of 2020, there were close to eight million streamers using Twitch, and fans enjoyed over 1.5 million hours of great content. The money that is earned off online viewers is divided between the eSports organizations, streaming services, and the different sponsors.
Best DOTA 2 Players
Now that we have taken a look at how eSports organizations make their money, we are going to have a look at three of the best DOTA 2 players. Whenever you are doing some DOTA 2 betting, we suggest that you pay attention to the players that we are going to speak about. If these players are taking part in an event that you would like to bet on, it would be a wise move to bet on their team because they are just that good.
N0tail
Johan Sundstein, known as N0tail or BigDaddy, is one of the world’s best DOTA 2 players. Yeah, we understand that this is a bold statement for us to make, but when you take the facts into consideration it is something that really cannot be denied. In 2018 and 2019 he helped OG claim The International trophy, and since his first tournament win in 2012, he has won dozens of eSports trophies. He has won the DOTA 2 Majors no fewer than four times, and now has a net worth of around $7 million.
KuroKy
Kuro Salehi Takhasomi, known to DOTA 2 fans as KuroKy, is a DOTA 2 genius, His ability to understand a variety of strategies and drafts as well as his strong leadership skills are the reason why he is one of the world’s best DOTA 2 captains. If you were astonished by the fact that N0tail has won $7 million during his career, you will be pretty shocked to hear that KuroKy has won more. Like N0Tail, he has also won The International has picked up the trophy in 2017 when Team Liquid, his team, defeated Newbee in the final.
Puppey
Clement Ivanov, known as Puppey, is an Estonian Dota 2 player that is the captain of Team Secret. He is one of the most feared captains in the game because he is never afraid to experiment, not even during important matches. He often players Support or Jungler, but he is that good that he is super effective in whatever role he plays. He was the first player to win two Valve events and has amassed closed to $3 million over his eSports playing career.
Best CS:GO Players
Now that we have looked at some of the best DOTA 2 players, we are now going to take a closer look at three of the best Counterstrike players in the world.
S1mple
Aleksandr Kostyliev, known to CS:GO fans as S1mple, is a very talented player and is considered by many to be one of the best players in the world. He had a really good 2019 and 2020, and there were not many who could compete with him in 2021. What makes him such a great player is his pinpoint aim and his aggressive style of play. Even though he sometimes telegraphs what he is going to do next, preventing him from doing it is a different story.
ConoR
Conor McCool, who goes by the player ID of ConoR, is ranked as the best Irish CS:GO player out there. He has participated in 23 CS:GO competitions and has earned himself thousands of dollars. He owes his success to the fact that he spends at least twelve hours a day practicing. Although he is not considered one of the best CS:GO players in the world, if he keeps going on the trajectory that he is going, he might one day be able to claim to be one of the best players in the world, not just the Republic of Ireland.
Ropz
When Karrigans decided to leave Mousesports there were many who were writing them off and predicted that they would not be around for much longer. However, their decline did not come about because Ropz stepped up and delivered – he is the soul of this team now and basically carries them. What makes him so good is the fact that he does not crumble under pressure. He has ice running through those veins of his, and he is so talented that he can turn any team into world-beaters.
eSports Betting
eSports betting used to be a complete niche market, but this is no longer the scenario. Now you can find a variety of markets for many different eSports at all of the best sports betting sites. While gambling on traditional is something that is more popular than betting on eSports, this is something that could change in the next few years.
Many have predicted that come 2023, there will be about 650 million fans of eSports around the world. If this prediction turns out to be true, it means that there will be more eSports fans than other traditional sports like American football, golf, and baseball who have 400, 450, and 500 million fans. If the popularity of these eSports continues on growing at the rate that they are, then in ten years or so eSports could have more fans than sports such as volleyball and tennis that have 900 million and 1 billion fans.
If these predictions are also true, then it is not an exaggeration for us to declare that eSports betting is something that will overtake sports betting when it comes to revenue.
