ESports are becoming increasingly popular around the world and have even reached the normal TV grid. ESPN has already presented a programming dedicated to the theme since February and SporTV has recently broadcast the CBLoL 2017 final.
The growing popularity of e-sports is directly related to the increase in tournament prizes, and even though the figures are lower than those paid to traditional sports athletes, the incomes of these competitors are nothing short of incredible.
Based on the most up-to-date data on the subject, we have separated the five highest paid players from the competition and a little personal and professional history of each in their respective games.
5 - Li ''iceice'' Peng - One of the top five without any connection to the famous Evil Geniuses Team (EG), the Chinese player Li Peng, known as "iceice", is only 22 years old but has managed to collect approximately 2 million of dollars in his career as a competitor of Dota 2.
Li started playing professionally on the Big God team, but gained worldwide recognition for his wins with the Wings team, highlighting the team's first place in The International 2016. Despite the success, "iceice" decided to take an indefinite pause in the competitions since the end of May this year and his place on the list probably should change soon.
4 - Clinton "Fear" Loomis - With nearly $ 2.4 million in prizes and twenty career podiums, Clinton Loomis, known by the nickname "Fear", is considered one of the best and most versatile North American players of Dota 2 and Defense of the Ancients of the last decade.
After winning The International in 2015 with Evil Geniuses, Fear had retired in 2016 and was coaching the team ever since. In the last few months EG lost some of its competitiveness, which made the player think better to leave retirement to return to the main lineup.
Being able to play in various positions makes him one of the best trumps in the team and ensures that he maintains or even improves his position on this list in the future if he does not decide to retire definitively.
3 - Syed "Suma1L" Hassan - Another winning member of the fifth edition of The International with EG, young Pakistani Syed Sumail ("Suma1L") Hassan is recognized even outside the mainstream of e-sports competitors.
Syed's incredibly successful Dota 2 career has earned him an appearance in TIME magazine in 2016 and a mention in Guinness as the youngest player to surpass the $ 1 million prize pool. Suma1l accumulates more than 2.5 million and shows no sign of stopping, which indicates that he is a strong candidate the first positions of this index in the coming years.
2 - Peter "ppd" Dager - Captain of EG at The International 2015 and notorious for his tactical genius, the American Peter "ppd" Dager, nowadays acts as manager and administrator of the team. Between Dota 2 and Heroes of Newert, Peter has played more than fifty tournaments and has put together an estimated $ 2.6 million.
Due to retirement, the "ppd" position in this table should also drop. Still, the player is known to be one of the humblest of his spending, preferring to save his winnings, which suggests that this will not make much difference in his lifestyle.
1 - Saahil "UNiVeRsE" Arora - With more than 2.8 million dollars in prizes, 27-year-old Saahil "UNiVeRsE" Arora is the highest-paid player in e-sports today.
Unlike most of the others mentioned here, UNiVeRsE exclusively played Dota 2 throughout his career, having participated in 64 tournaments with 26 podiums to date.
Although starting with the Dignitas team in 2013, most of its major victories, including the fifth edition of International, came from Evil Geniuses. The trader shows no sign that he intends to retire in the near future, which makes his position on the list assured for the time being.
