Make no bones about it, E-Sports is big business. It may not be mainstream, but it has a colossal following and successful players can make large sums of money.
Research from 2013 concluded that 700 million people worldwide played online video games and it was an activity that crossed both gender and age boundaries.
It is no surprise that the playing of video games has grown to be professionalised and it has become a career choice for some, rather than just an addictive hobby.
The likes of Dota 2, Counter Strike, League Of Legends, Call Of Duty, Halo and FIFA are all mainstays of the E-Sports world, where players have the chance to earn big bucks from tournament success.
Pro gamers compete around the world on the Major League Gaming circuit to test their skill and talent, with hours of practice, plenty of motivation and being active in the E-Sports community all helpful towards the goal of achieving success.
The best are even sponsored to ensure they have the most up to date and vital equipment to boost their prospects of victory.
So who is the most successful in the E-Sports business? We have used our own system as an attempt to uncover the answer.
The criteria we used were as follows:
- * Total Prize Money
- * Biggest Single Payday
- * Tournament Wins
- * Tournaments Played
- * Win %
- * Twitter Followers
A Coefficient Score created from our soon-to-be-not-secret formula
The Formula
The formula involved ranking a selection of eSports players based on the above criteria, with
a different weighting given to each (total prize money was considered the most important), then each player was ordered and allocated points for each metric.
This was done for every criteria and then each player had their total score totted up. The below graphic shows the final finishing order and more crucially, who can rightfully claim to be the most successful E-Sports player in existence:
