New data suggest China will Overtake United States in highest esports earnings in 2019

Feb 5, 2019

The following text was taken from a press release provided to Inven Global.

New data predicts top five eSports champions will earn $3,169,957 in the next year.
Highest-paying game, Dota 2, set to award $42,932,232 in prize winnings in 2019.
Most profitable team, Team OG, netted $11.5m in 2018 alone.
China set to overtake United States as the highest-earning country in 2019.
New tool compares eSports prize-pools and winnings to predict the earnings of future eSports champions.
Historical data sourced from Esports Earnings.
All data correct as of 21 January 2019.
All percentages have been rounded to one decimal place.

Are you looking to be the next Most Valuable Player? A new tool could be what you need to become the next eSports title-holder.

How To Become An eSports Champion uses detailed market data from the last 20 years to predict the average winnings for the next five years, including the exact amount players, teams and countries are likely to win, as well as how much games, genres and events will pay out.

Via a bespoke algorithm that monitors trends, the tool feeds historical data on earnings and tournament payouts through a recurrent neural network to unveil what’s really worth playing in 2019 and beyond.

Player earnings: Projected earnings from 2018 to 2019

Player	Highest earnings 2018 ($)	Predicted highest earnings 2019 ($)	Percentage change
1st	2,290,632	3,293,996	43.8%
2nd	2,282,717	3,273,849	43.4%
3rd	2,280,217	3,178,682	39.4%
4th	2,249,842	3,106,845	38.1%
5th	2,249,136	2,996,415	33.2%

2018 proved to be a successful year for the top five highest-earning eSports players, who took home an average of $2,270,509 in tournament winnings.

Dota2 Player Jesse Vainikka, known as JerAx, was the highest earner in 2018, pocketing $2,290,632.

2019 appears to be a particularly profitable year, with the top-earner predicted to pocket $3,292,966 in winnings.

In fact, the average winnings of the top five players are set to rise 39.6% from $2,270,509 in 2018 to $3,169,957 in 2019.

Team earnings: Projected earnings from 2018 to 2019

Team	Highest earnings 2018 ($)	Predicted highest earnings 2019 ($)	Percentage change
1st	11,465,456	17,930,804	56.4%
2nd	6,959,312	7,542,920	8.4%
3rd	5,362,637	7,091,574	32.2%
4th	4,183,271	6,854,611	63.9%
5th	3,957,915	6,449,381	62.9%

2018 saw the top five highest-earning teams earn an average of $6,385,718 from tournaments. Team OG proved to be the most successful team, netting a staggering $11,465,456.

Meanwhile, 2019 looks to build upon this staggering sum even more, with the top team tipped to take home a hefty $17,930,804.

Teams will be preparing for upcoming clashes in 2019, particularly with team earnings set to increase by 43.7% to $9,173,858 in 2019.

Country earnings: Projected earnings from 2018 to 2019

Country	Highest earnings 2018 ($)	Predicted highest earnings 2019 ($)	Percentage change
1st	28,202,681	45,750,768	62.2%
2nd	16,196,204	34,369,132	112.2%
3rd	13,662,922	27,563,430	101.7%
4th	10,455,654	11,989,372	14.7%
5th	7,315,113	9,715,199	32.8%

In 2018, the United States earned the most from eSports, winning $28,202,681. However, in 2019 it’s China that’s predicted to make the most money - $45,750,768 to be precise.

2018 saw the most talented countries take home an average of $15,166,515. In 2019, a predicted increase of 70.6% suggests that the top-earning countries will earn an estimated $25,877,580.

Highest paying games: Projected winnings from 2018 to 2019

Game	Highest earnings 2018 ($)	Predicted highest earnings 2019 ($)	Percentage change
1st	41,395,452	42,932,232	3.7%
2nd	22,620,367	14,889,274	-34.2%
3rd	20,074,787	12,458,714	-37.9%
4th	14,448,877	4,507,453	-68.8%
5th	7,054,681	4,068,943	-42.3%

Dota 2 has further cemented its popularity as the highest-paying game in 2018. In the last year, Dota 2 awarded $41,395,452 in prize winnings. Predictions forecast Dota 2 as the highest-paying game for the next five years!

Through 2018, the five leading game titles paid an average of $21,118,833 to winners. However, an average predicted percentage change of -25.3% suggests that this figure will fall to $15,771,323 in 2019 among the games placed 2nd to 5th as Dota 2 continues to dominate.

Highest paying genres from 2018 to 2019

Genre	Highest earnings 2018 ($)	Predicted highest earnings 2019 ($)	Percentage change
1st	70,936,085	83,768,792	18.1%
2nd	61,209,681	30,749,112	-49.8%
3rd	6,190,134	6,072,446	-2.0%
4th	5,376,839	5,027,990	-6.5%
5th	4,977,551	1,813,499	-63.7%

2018 has revealed the multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) as the highest-paying genre, as $70,936,085 was paid out to top teams.

2019 will be a less profitable year for eSports champions specialising in MOBAs, first-person shooters, sports, card games and strategy games. The average payouts are set to change by -25.3% from $29,738,058 in 2018 to 25,486,368 in 2019.

Highest paying events from 2018 to 2019

Event	Highest earnings 2018 ($)	Predicted highest earnings 2019 ($)	Percentage change
1st	25,532,177	46,779,332	83.2%
2nd	9,985,500	11,265,746	12.8%
3rd	8,038,350	7,178,802	-10.7%
4th	6,450,000	6,830,911	5.9%
5th	3,921,000	6,749,588	72.1%

The International 2018 was the highest-paying tournament last year, with winners receiving $25,532,177. In 2019, the same tournament is forecasted to pay out a whopping $46,779,332 - an increase of 83.2%.

In 2019, tournaments will pay 46.1% more than the previous year, with payouts set to rise from $10,785,405 to $15,760,876.

To find out what’s really worth playing in 2019, visit: https://www.esports-champions.com/