Of course, the matches in South Korea are also broadcast on television and streamed on countless websites. Politics even runs its own eSports section at 22Bet and Naver, South Korea’s search engine, has introduced its own tab for eSports, where you can find all the important news and links to events.
What is surprising is that despite these aspects and the biggest top companies in South Korea as sponsors, e-sports is only a small part of the industry. This is due to the great pursuit of perfection that many Asian countries have in them. Education is seen as a top priority in South Korea, with school days often going from 9am to 9pm, and because that’s not enough, there are even vacation schools. There’s not much time left to establish yourself in e-sports. Some drop out of school for this, but they also take a big risk, because the number of participants in the championships is of course limited.
However, if you make it that far or wait until after your education, you can achieve a lot of fame as a pro gamer in South Korea, be present in all the popular media and earn an incredible amount of money, especially by South Korean standards. The prospects for German pro gamers are far from rosy, but that doesn’t stop them from becoming part of the e-sports scene.
MOST SUCCESFULL PLAYERS
In the early days of Esports, it was mainly players in South Korea who brought in high prize money. In the game Starcraft, top stars secured
such as “Flash” and “Jaedong” secured large sums of money. The latter had already earned over half a million US dollars in 2013. One of the most famous faces on the esports scene today is the South Korean superstar Faker. He is the most successful player of all time in League of Legends and has already won three world titles with his team SKT T1. Although the prize money in LoL is not as high as in other games, the top stars are still among the top earners. Allegedly, “Faker” has signed a contract with SKT T1 that pays him over 2.5 million US dollars per year.
In terms of prize money, the German Dota2 player “Kuroky” is probably the top dog. As one of the best players on the scene, in August 2017 he won the
The International 7″ tournament, with a prize pool of over 24 million US dollars. This puts the millionaire ahead of all other professional gamers in terms of prize money.
GERMAN E-SPORTS PLAYERS
There are now several well-paid German players, especially in League of Legends and CS:GO. German organizations like SK Gaming and Schlake 04 play in the LEC, Mousesports and Big are active in CS:GO. The number of German professionals has increased again in recent years. Players like “Upset” in LoL (Schalke 04) or “tabseN” in CS:GO (Big) are now well-known stars of the scene. At the FIFA World Cup 2018 (FIFA eWorld Cup 2018), the German representatives disappointed. But just recently, 16-year-old German Dylan “DullenMike” Neuhausen won the major tournament FUT ChampionsCup (FIFA 2019) in Bucharest and secured $50,000 in prize money. Furthermore, three German players reached the semifinals. It is possible that a German player will finally win the world championship in 2019.