Who wants to be a millionaire? A Dota 2 pro player, that’s who.
You might be under the impression that Dota pro players who win in big events like The International (TI) walk away with millions of dollars in their pockets, but that is not the case. Alas, the illusion has been shattered.
Recently, a conversation has started about how the Dota pro take-home is nowhere near the big, flashy numbers. The origin of this is ‘Sneyking’ or Wu Jingjun, captain of TI11 champions Tundra Esports. While on stream, he declined to mention the exact number he received but did give a clue as to the estimate.
“I received less than a million dollars. TI win looks nice, but on paper, there’s so many fees and taxes, and you don’t end up with that much,” he said.
Mind you, the prize pool for TI11 was US$18,930,775. Nearly US$19 million. The grand prize for the champions was set at US$8.5 million. Split between five team members, the “less than a million” payout has got to hurt.
The reason behind this reduced winning is seemingly taxes, which checks out. Factoring in federal and state taxes, as well as Tundra and its coaches taking a cut, it’s no wonder the final sum is way smaller than expected.
Since his stream, fans have been speculating online about how the money is split, or how it should be split.
Sneyking previously mentioned that he was going to use his prize money to buy a new house for his grandparents. We hope it’s on the higher end of less than a million dollars, so they can get the nice house they deserve.
On the other hand, it seems that we’re already on the side with greener grass.
According to Qojqva from Team Liquid, the average Dota pro salary is much lower than one would think. Responding to a comment on his Twitch stream, Qojqva mentioned that Dota pro players earn less than US$20,000 per month. This figure is allegedly the average for League of Legends pros. However, Dota pro teams still earn more on average because of TI.
This news has no doubt shattered some fans’ idealistic dreams of becoming Dota pro players and winning big at The International. If this is you, our advice is to not let this dampen your dreams. If you want to go for it then go for it, just maybe save up a little first.
