by in
Having won the Intel Grand Slam after only five events and pocketed $1,000,000 prize money, Team Liquid have cemented their status as the highest-earning esports organization in the world.
Liquid lead the pack with US $28,199,060, which is more than $4 million above second-placed Evil Geniuses. While that should come as no surprise given Liquid own 24 professional gaming teams, it is the franchise’s recent performances in the Counter-Strike esports scene that has pushed that figure towards the $30m mark.
Out of all their teams, Team Liquid’s Dota esports squad is by far the most successful when it comes to bringing home prize money. While they are now a far cry from their impressive 2017 season, they boast with an impressive $17,999,599 in earnings across seven years.
The second-most profitable esport for Team Liquid is Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, where their team has earned $3,703,875 across four years. Over half of that (50.18%) has come in 2019 alone, amounting to $1,858,700. Four title wins in the span of a month have earned the team $1,475,000 since June, which has made Liquid’s CS:GO roster one of the richest in the world.
Jonathan “ELiGE” Jablonowski currently sits 15th in the CS:GO player earnings list with $766,096 in winnings to his name, while Nick “nitr0” Cannella is ranked 13th with $775,451. In 11th place is Keith “NAF” Markovic on $802,611, almost $100k short of 10th-placed Jake “stewie2k” Yi – TL’s highest-paid player with $917,790 in career prize money. It is worth noting that stewie2k is only $22.4k short of MIBR star Epitacio “TACO” de Melo in sixth place.
Team Liquid and their players could make another jump in the standings with further success at the upcoming BLAST Pro Series Los Angeles, IEM Chicago, or by winning their first-ever CS:GO Major at the StarLadder Berlin Major at the start of September.
Should Liquid’s good form continue, stewie2k and others could eventually surpass their Astralis counterparts who hold the top five places in the CS:GO money rankings.
Andreas “Xyp9x” Højsleth leads the way with $1,474,921, ahead of Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen ($1,471,722), Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz ($1,439,223), Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander ($1,305,984) and Emil “Magisk” Reif ($1,065,281).
Astralis also top the pops for total CS:GO team earnings with $6,687,418 to their name, with Team Liquid still around $3m behind despite their recent boom.
