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Competitive online gaming or eSports is one of the fastest growing industries in the world today. With better internet services throughout the world, live streaming of games is now a full-time profession.
There are 162 million frequent watchers of eSports, with another 131 million who watch occasionally. Those numbers are expected to rise to 286 million and 303 million by 2020.
With this mega level popularity comes money; and lots of it. eSports organizations have team owners, contracts, and partnerships that fund multiple teams for a variety of games. They often pay for amenities such as housing, water and electricity, coaches and trainers, and the team's food and gaming peripherals. Dota 2 remains the best game in terms of reward money. Dota 2's premier tournament - The International - in its eighth season has a prize pool of $23,435,231 and counting (http://dota2.prizetrac.kr/international2018)
Who are the Top 5 Highest-Earning eSports players?
(spoiler - all 5 are Dota 2 players)
All figures are taken from: esportsearnings.com
#1 Kuro Salehi Takhasomi - $3,740,4780
Player Profile
Player id - KuroKy
Age - 25
Nationality - German
Game - Dota 2
Current Team - Team Liquid
Role(s) - Support
Signature Heroes - Rubick, Visage, IO
KuroKy is widely regarded as one of the most intelligent Dota players of all time. He was a kid when he was diagnosed with a medical condition which kept him from being an active child and he thus gained the love of video games,
He dreamed of being the best Dota 2 player in the world and lead a team to the top and win a TI championship. After a disappointing run through various international tournaments, KuroKy formed is own team in 2015 - Team 5 Jungz. After seeing their potential, the team was picked up by Team Liquid. Liquid became an elite team in Europe.
KuroKy's hard work and dedication paid off as Team Liquid won The International 7 and swept Team Newbee in the Grand Finals becoming the only team in TI history to do so.
#2 Amer Al-Barkawi - $3,313,890
Player Profile:
Player id - Miracle
Age - 21
Nationality - Jordanian
Game - Dota 2
Current Team - Team Liquid
Role(s) - Solo Mid Carry
Signature Heroes - Invoker, Shadow Feind, Anti Mage
Miracle is one of the best Dota Players in the world but just a few years ago, as a teenage boy living in Jordan, Amer had no idea that Dota 2 even had a pro scene. He was just a guy who loved playing Dota.
Only around 12, Amer got hooked on Dota 2. He became so good at Dota in so little time, the local scene in Jordan dubbed him - Miracle Boy - and the name stuck.
Miracle- joined Balkan Bears at the beginning of 2015, only to be removed from the team about four months later.
He began gaining recognition again as in the European scene by climbing the matchmaking rating leaderboards in pub games. Miracle- eventually became the No.1 player by MMR in the European division and the world, surpassing w33
After achieving the No.1 MMR ranking, he was invited by N0tail to join his team (monkey) Business, to compete in the upcoming Majors. The team reformed as OG later. Miracle and OG were one of the favorites to win TI 6 but were sent home by Team TnC in the 2nd Round of Lower Brackets.
After TI 6, Miracle joined forces with KuroKy and GH and joined Team Liquid. After a shaky start, Miracle proved his mettle and carried Liquid to a championship in TI 7.
#3 Ivan Ivanov - $3,080,960
Player Profile:
Player id - MinD_ContRoL
Age - 23
Nationality - Bulgarian
Game - Dota 2
Current Team - Team Liquid
Role(s) - Offlaner
Signature Heroes - Nature's Prophet, Dark Seer, Beastmaster
Mind_Control started his professional Dota career with Vast Cast in 2014. The team was picked up by Aftershock Gaming and managed to win a few major tournaments. Later that year, the roster left Aftershock and started playing as Basically Unknown.
Despite MinD_ContRoL kept changing his roster but managed to qualify for Dream League Season 3. Mind Control left Basically Unknown in 2015 and became a mercenary for other teams. He had short stints with Oslik Gaming and Burden United.
But in 2016, he joined KuroKy's aforementioned team - Team 5 Jungz which was later sponsored by Team Liquid. Mind_Control destroyed opponents in TI 7 with his signature Nature's Prophet and became a World Champion.
#4 Lasse Urpalainen - $3,080,665
Player Profile:
Player id - Matumbman
Age - 23
Nationality - Finnish
Game - Dota 2
Current Team - Team Liquid
Role(s) - Carry , Solo Mid
Signature Heroes - Necrophos, Lycan, Lone Druid
With team Veni,Vidi,Vici , Matumbaman made a name for himself by winning Assembly Summer 2014. Matumbaman caught the eyes of many Dota fans worldwide as he showed off his skills with complex heroes such as Tinker and Ember Spirit. He earned himself a tryout with team Fnatic but snubbed.
He was scouted by KurokY and just like Mind_Control, team 5 Jungz and Team Liquid became his new home. Matumbaman dominated throughout TI 7 with Necrophos and Lycan as Team Liquid were crowned Champions of the World.
#5 Saahil Arora - $3,000,700
Player Profile:
Player id - UNiVerRsE
Age - 28
Nationality - American
Game - Dota 2
Current Team - Fnatic
Role(s) - Offlaner
Signature Heroes - Faceless Void, Dark Seer, Earthshaker
VeRsE is one of the best veterans of the game. He is a common contestant at the biggest stage of Dota - The International.
UNiVeRsE is a legend in the North American Dota scene as he is one of the best offlaners from the West. His gameplay with Faceless Void and Dark Seer will be immortal as folklore. Saahil Arora's tournament-sealing 5-man Echo Slam on his Earthshaker in Game 4 of the Grand Finals of TI 5 for team Evil Geniuses against CDEC Gaming will forever be one of the most iconic plays in Dota history. He became a world champion and the best player in the world at just 19.
He quit EG and joined Team Secret. After a short stint with Team Secret, he was reunited with EG. However, on 13th January 2018, he became a member of Fnatic.
