United States leads the globe in esports average revenue

As the years go by, the esports industry continues to experience significant growth. Chief among these areas of growth is that of average revenue. Strong trends for the entire market, combined with surges in the number of viewers and size of tournament prize pools has led to 30% year-on-year growth for average revenue. According to data accrued by GoldenCasinoNews, the top three highest-earning esports countries across the globe brought in $338.9 million in prize money so far. The United States leads that push with $139.6 million, which equates to more than 40% of the total amount.

United States earnings

Looking back at 2019, professional esports players from the United States earned $40.6 million in prize money. This comes according to Statista and EsportsEarnings.com. Among the top-earning professionals were Kyle “Bugha” Giersdorf at $3.06 million, Saahil “UNiVeRsE” at $3.05 million, and Peter “ppd” Dager at $3.02 million.

Additional statistics showed that esports tournaments attracted a crowd of more than 16,000 US players, nearly four times the turnout of any other country in the world.

China earnings

China comes in as the second highest-earning esports country globally, with approximately $109.1 million in total prize money. During 2019, 1089 professional esports players won a total of $19.6 million in prize money. And finally, more than 4,300 players competed across numerous tournaments. Dota 2 players Lu “Somnus M” Yao and Xu “fy” Linsen lead the charts as top-earning esports players, netting $2.94 million and $2.84 million in total prize money.

South Korea earnings

South Korea followed in a close third with $90.1 million in total prize money. Statistics indicated that more than 3,800 esports players competed in tournaments across the country. Last year, 1083 players actively competed for and won $16.91 million in prize money. The leading earner for this demographic is Lee “Faker” Sang Hyeok with $1.25 million in total prize money.

Sweden earnings

When it comes to the top-earning country in Europe, Sweden leads the pack with $37.1 million in total prize money. It also ranks fourth globally. 2019 data show that Swedish esports players won $6.25 million last year. The top earners for this region included Dota 2 players Gustav “s4” Magnusson at $2.5 million and Ludwig “Zai” Wahlberg at $2.5 million.

Close behind in the rankings were Denmark at $35.2 million, France at $27.8 million, Canada at $27.1 million, and Germany at $25.1 million.

Looks like there’s a lot of opportunity to make money in the United States. But if you’re a Dota 2 player, you won’t have The International to bank on in 2020. How will this affect earnings for this year? We’ll have to wait til 2021 to find out.

Ryan Goodrich

Ryan has been writing since long before he could even write. He's written resumes, software user guides, consumer electronic reviews, and myriad web content spanning a variety of industries. But now he's writing about video games, which is much more interesting.

View all posts