The CS:GO Players Drowning in Prize Money
By Nicholas Barth ·
The professional scene for Valve's first person shooter has been around for years. This had led to many events and tournaments with enormous cash prizes being held, which has helped fatten up many players' checkbooks.
With the massive rise of the popularity for esports, prizes for tournmanets have quickly rose from mere thousands of dollars to now millions for the biggest events. The winningest players in any esports title are living very good lives, as they have collected their fair share of prize money over the years. This is no different for players of Counter-Strike, as the top earners for the franchise have collected sums of prize money that would have the majority of the mainstream public jaws drop, as they hear these players earned the money by "just playing a video game". Here are the top 5 players with the most green in their pocket for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.
5. Olof "olofmeister" Kajbjer
One of the star players that make up the current juggernaut of FaZe Clan, olomeister has been a vetrean of the professional CS:GO scene for many years. During this time, he has seen massive success as a member of Fnatic and now with FaZe Clan. Once considered to be the very best player in the world, olomeister has won his fair share of events and prize money. He currently sits at 6th all time for CS:GO with $637,511.61 earned from 101 tournaments. With over $600,000 of prize money earned, olofmeister is one of the wealthiest players in the world. 2017 was his highest earning year, as the talented player won a total of $264,300 from 19 tournaments. Compare that to the $188.22 he made in 2011 and you can truly see the growth that esports have gone through.
4. Epitacio "TACO" Pessoa
TACO is a pillar of the SK Gaming roster and has helped his team collect some of the biggest cash prizes that CS:GO has to offer. Mostly known for playing with both Luminosity Gaming and SK Gaming, TACO has collected $711,381,85 in 56 tournaments played. 2016-2017 were his highest earning years, as the star player would collect $365,794.79 in 2016 and then $311,554.88 in 2017. Seeing that TACO only earned $12.81 in 2014, it is safe to say that his years of hard work have payed off.
3. Marcelo "Coldzera" David
Another SK Gaming and former Luminosity Gaming player makes their way into the top five with coldzera. In contention for being the best player in the world currently, coldzera's talent has helped him secure some of the biggest cash prizes in CS:GO. With his most notable one being his heroic AWP play against Team Liquid at MLG Columbus 2016, which led his team to capturing the $100,000 grand prize, it is easy to point to coldzera being one of the highest earning players of all time. The star player has earned $721,273.42 from 60 tournaments. 2016 was his highest earning year with $366.194.79. Not many people would complain about jumping from earning $12.81 in one tournament to earning over $360,000 from 19 in a span of only two years.
2. Fernando "fer" Alvarenga
Pointing to the fact of how dominant the core lineup that currently makes up SK Gaming has been, fer is the third player from this group in the top five of highest earning CS:GO players. Beginning with a sum of $1,349.93 in 2014, the extremely talented player has skyrocketed to earning $311,554.88 in 2017. As with his teammates on this list, fer's highest earning year was 2016, as he pocketed $365,794.79 from 18 tournaments. His career totals $731,167.48 earned from 65 tournaments. It is safe to say that the past couple of years for this lineup have been extremely fruitful.
1. Gabriel "Fallen" Toledo
What would a list of the highest earning CS:GO players of all time be without the leader of the highest earning lineup. Fallen is regarded as the most influential player in the Brazillian esports scene, and has put the region in the spotlight with his leadership of his talented teammates.The star AWP player and in-game leader has earned a total of $740,539.64 from 77 tournaments played. Seeing the rewards of his and his teammates success on both Luminsoity Gaming and SK Gaming, Fallen saw his most money earned in 2016 with $368,494.79. Jumping from $3,020 earned in 2010, it is obvious that Fallen chose the right career path as an esports player.
Talent and hard work brought these five players to being highly successful at the game they love, and the ability to make it a career that could support them. With CS:GO only getting bigger prize pools every year, do not be surprised to see these five players continue to add their already impressive earnings.
(All figures shown were collected from esportsearnings.com)
Interested in more CS:GO content? Check out who was crowned the champion of StarSeries i-League Season 4.