Top 10 highest-earning teams of 2019

1-10

Who pocketed the biggest prizes last year?

Tasho Tashev

Other - May 3rd 2020, 19:34 GMT+2

G2 Esports — 10. G2 ESPORTS: $2,757,241 - G2 have been around for some time and their teams in both League of Legends and CS:GO have been quite successful, but their biggest winning came from Rainbow Six as the team took first place in February and grabbed $800,000. G2 also have teams in Hearthstone, Rocket League, Paladins, PUBG and Super Smash Bros Melee.

Gen g — 9. GEN.G: $3,080,136 - Formerly known as KSV, the team rebranded as Gen.G in May 2018. Their main source of income for 2019 proved to be PUBG where they won the PUBG Global Championship and earned $2 million. The team also had a very successful roster in Heroes of the Storm back when the game still had a competitive scene. Currently they’re also represented in Overwatch as Seoul Dynasty and Gen.G in League of Legends. Towards the end of 2019, the team also acquired a CS:GO roster.

Faze clan — 8. FAZE CLAN: $3,166,731: One would usually associate FaZe Clan with their Call of Duty or CS:GO rosters, but 2019 was different. The team did really well in the battle royale genre, scoring high in both PUBG where they took the first spot in three tournaments and Fortnite where their winnings came close to a million. Meanwhile their performance in Call of Duty has been lacking while in CS:GO they managed to win both BLAST Pro Series Copenhagen and Miami.

Cooler esport — 7. COOLER ESPORT: $3,169,066 - Cooler is definitely one of the lesser known organizations on this list and the reason it takes the 7th place is solely Fortnite. Emil “nyhrox” Bergquist Pedersen and David “aqua” Wang won the Duos at Fortnite World Cup and brought home $3 million. Whether the influx of money into the team will make them reach out to other games remains to be seen.

6. SENTINELS: $3,268,094 - The North American organization, much like the previous entry is on this list, you guessed it, thanks to Fortnite. While Sentinels had a Hearthstone team in the past and show some degree of success in Apex Legends, their biggest cash in came from Fortnite. Based entirely on the winnings of Kyle “Bugha” Giersdorf who won the Fortnite World Cup Solos and netted in $3 million for the team.

Team secret — 5. TEAM SECRET: $3,349,959 - With their roots in Dota 2, the team was founded by Clement “Puppey” Ivanov, who also captained the team’s roster. Secret soon branched out to Apex Legends, Rainbow 6, PUBG Mobile and Age of Empires. In 2019 the main source of income for the team remained Dota 2 as they reaped over $3 million throughout the season, two of which solely thanks to their placement in The International 9.

Psg lgd — 4. PSG.LGD: $3,551,112 - It comes as no surprise that yet another Dota 2 powerhouse is on this list. Previously known as LGD, the team rebranded after signing a deal with football giants Paris Saint-Germain. Placing a step higher than Team Secret, namely third place, PSG.LGD took home a little over $3 million from The International alone. Besides Dota 2, the org has teams in FIFA and Rocket League.

3. LAZARUS: $4,175,116 - Lazarus is a Canadian esports organization with teams in CS:GO, Hearthstone, PUBG and Fortnite. Six of Lazarus’ players qualified for the Fortnite World Cup, but only four of them made it to the end. Placing high in the Fortnite World Cup Duos brought the team $2.35 million, combining that with additional earning from tournaments over the year their spot at the top three on this list is well-deserved.

Team liquid — 2. TEAM LIQUID: $9,453,314 - Team Liquid are probably one the best-known organizations worldwide and their spectrum of games is truly wide. The team has rosters in most of the popular titles like CS:GO, League of Legends, Dota 2, PUBG, Fortnite, Apex Legends, Hearthstone, Rainbow Six, StarCraft II and others. 2019 was a really good year for Liquid as they finished second at Dota 2’s International which meant they over $4 million just for that. Additionally the team’s performance in CS:GO was also on a high level, bringing more than $2 million for the season. Finally, their League of Legends roster also earned a fair amount, putting the org on the second place of this list.

1. OG: $15,840,373 - You probably knew this was coming so it comes as no surprise that OG are taking the first spot. The winners of the Dota 2 International 2019 earned over $15 million which in addition made every single member of the roster the highest-earning player in esports history. While OG have representation in Super Smash Bros and they even acquired a CS:GO team their main focus in 2020 remains Dota 2.

1-10

2019 was a great year for esports as it broke a record for the amount of money paid in tournaments, standing at $211 million. As the COVID-19 situation casts a shadow of uncertainty over this year’s economic prospects, we look back at the highest-earning esports teams of 2019.

Dota 2 once again broke its own record at The International, accumulating $34,330,068 in prize money. The biggest reason for the high numbers in 2019 though was Fortnite as it added $79 million into the competitive year. Naturally, that led to many organizations forming a Fortnite team as everyone wanted a piece of it. The ranking you’ll see is based on Esports earnings, so without further ado let’s take a look at who made the most of last year.