What's in it for the players?

In 2013 with CS:GO just starting to become huge with the first major held at DreamHack Winter, more than $750,000 was already paid out in prize money, with NiP grabbing the most out of anyone.

This year has made its predecessor look silly in comparison with over $1,300,000 having been on the line by the time the year draws to a close, including three major events spread from March to November.

There's practically no way 2015 will not top the ongoing year, unless Valve stops hosting majors - which is unlikely as they're very profitable to the company - which makes CS:GO's future even brighter.

Of course, the prize money is - these days - just the tip of the iceberg for the players who make most of their money via stickers, salary, streaming income and donations. Let's take a look at some of those.

The paydays have certainly grown from back then 

 

Stickeronomics, continued

I first wrote about how much money the stickers were bringing in in August, in an article called "The Stickeronomics of CS:GO." Now that the numbers are in for the most recent major, ESL One Cologne, it's been proven the success of the stickers wasn't a one-off and will likely continue going forward as long as Valve keep implementing more uses for them, such as the ESL One Cologne Pick'Em Challenge.

At EMS One Katowice, the teams in the Legends capsule - the top eight finishers from the previous major, DreamHack Winter - made roughly $18,000 per team. The Challenger capsule, composed of teams who qualified for the event, or were invited, but had not made the top eight in Jönköping - made just under half of that, though the exact sums varied slightly by region.

By simple math we see that teams were then paid out $210,000 or so from stickers for the first major that featured them. Considering the fact Valve takes two thirds from the top of the purchase price in the market - as well as their cut from each deal made in the market later on - they must have made at least $630,000 from the second major's sticker sales.

In August ESL One Cologne, the third CS:GO major, was held in Germany. Stickers were once again featured, this time with a betting competition held to increase the sales. Cologne topped Katowice with significantly more stickers sold - in fact, the numbers were boosted five-fold, with Legends capsule teams making more than six figures, up to $120,000, from the stickers, and Challengers half of it.

If teams were paid as much as, or more than, $1,3 million from the stickers, it means Valve must have pocketed more than $2,6 million. Compare that to what now seems like chump change - the $750,000 they've shelled out so far in prize money - and it's obvious these majors aren't going away anytime soon - they're essentially a license for Valve to print money.

Many already expected the sticker sales to decline for ESL One Cologne, and that once again seems to be the consensus among the eSports crowd going into DreamHack Winter. However, now that the player stickers have been introduced, it's very possible that all players cumulatively will make even more money - especially if team stickers also show up - than ever before.

What will Valve come up with next? 

Player stickers

Earlier today it was announced that Valve would introduce player specific stickers for DreamHack Winter. Aside from the huge opportunity this creates for the game's biggest names who may be able to make huge amounts of money off of their virtual signature, it also comes with certain issues that may not be a big problem in the first run, but will likely continue building up as more time goes on.

It seems obvious that the big star names, such as Christopher "⁠GeT_RiGhT⁠" Alesund, Jesper "⁠JW⁠" Wecksell and Richard "⁠shox⁠" Papillon, will see their stickers outsell those of less celebrated teammates such as Adam "⁠friberg⁠" Friberg, Markus "⁠pronax⁠" Wallsten or Fabien "⁠kioShiMa⁠" Fiey. It's only fair - fans should pay for the stickers of their favorite players, and hard work should be rewarded.

However, it does open up another discussion. If you were a player on one of the teams competing for a top eight spot, but not truly in contention of winning the whole thing, you can easily - presumably - make more money from your own personal sticker sales than playing in the tournament. That completely changes the players' incentives around.

All of a sudden it may be monetarily beneficial - as sticker money is no longer split evenly - to try to make yourself look better, even at the cost of losing a round or two. Score a very memorable highlight at the major? No way that does not correlate with sticker sales. Get three kills and fall back, or try to go for the ace? How many sticker purchases would that highlight with 100,000 views get you?

It's a very simplified version of the argument, but in a game of stars, in teams where some already struggle putting the team above themselves in priority, this is yet another incentive - as long as prize money isn't increased - that only focuses on the stars, thus leaving the sometimes underappreciated roles also underpaid in a game where most of the time players have received equal pay all across the board.

DreamHack Winter will feature player specific stickers 

More tournaments, higher prize money

It's obvious the majors will keep coming in, and it wouldn't surprise me if Valve were to announce a million dollar-plus tournament for 2015 with the way things are going for CS:GO. But even beyond what Valve does and can do for the CS:GO scene and its community, the scene is doing great - and maybe just a tad too well for things to continue as they are.

Currently there are - realistically - too many online leagues going on at once. Most top teams play on an almost daily basis, which both makes each match less exciting and important, and damages online Counter-Strike's attractiveness as a whole for the hardcore fan.

Don't get me wrong, it's great for the casual fan to be able to turn in any day of the week and see some high quality CS being played, but for the more active follower - and for both the teams and the players - there's too much going on, as proven by teams deciding to skip over online tournaments, even ones with a lot of prize money, more and more often.

There's also certain months when it seems borderline impossible for teams to even attend all tournaments - which is something that could be addressed by Valve if a proper tournament circuit was built. Past four weeks featured four tournaments for teams such as fnatic and LDLC, and though surely the players enjoy it, it's a bit too much.

Next year MLG will dabble in Counter-Strike, and with the game's seemingly ever-growing popularity it seems unlikely they will be the only new player in town in 2015. At some point someone must start organizing the events calendar in a way that allows the teams to take some breaks, put in proper practice, and not stuff the fourth quarter with tournaments every week.

With that being said, it seems likely that in 2015 - assuming different major winners, and three different majors - around three to four teams could make a reasonable living from CS in prize money alone. That's a great sign, and will certainly be a big part in making CS grow even bigger, and help more and more players dedicate more time to the game.

Majors offer big payoffs, but they aren't alone 

Stream revenue, donations

Streaming revenue has been off the hook for some other games for some years now, but in 2014 some Counter-Strike players have surfaced with reported monthly earnings of up to $10,000 from streaming alone. That means some top players can make six figures from simply streaming the games they would play anyways from home - a great incentive for more players to start streaming in the future.

Many top players with huge earnings potential, such as GeT_RiGhT and shox for example, haven't been streaming much in 2014. It could be a fair assumption that it will change in the future, and we will likely notice a trend of more and more top players, à la Jarosław "⁠pashaBiceps⁠" Jarząbkowski, spending more and more of their time streaming matches online - even official matches, as pashaBiceps has done.

Add in huge donations, of which pashaBiceps has been the most celebrated receiver, and it's very much possible to make a living from simply streaming in 2014, and it should only get better in 2015. The only problem is crowding in the sector. It doesn't exist yet, but how long can you expect some of the game's biggest superstars to ignore streaming once they realize how much money there is to be made from allowing others to see you playing the game you'd play anyways?

It's obvious the scene's number one streaming duo, RoomOnFire, is practically rolling around in cash these days, and it should also serve as motivation for other people to try to challenge Anders Blume and Auguste "Semmler" Massonnat, but they'll have a long way to go with how popular those two have become. Either way, it should bring on more competition.

pasha has probably made more money streaming than playing this year 

Issues?

Of course all the money coming in doesn't come without issues. It never does. Most recent issue that has been brought up is who gets sticker money after roster changes? It may not be as big of an issue anymore if team stickers were to cease to exist, but assuming they will still be around, the problem won't be completely wiped out.

Take dignitas for example. Giancarlo "⁠nico⁠" Arróspide helped the team, under the Copenhagen Wolves brand, qualify for EMS One Katowice. In all likelihood he probably should have been allowed to collect that sticker money, regardless of it existing then. Of course it doesn't help that dignitas essentially stole the money from the CS:GO team, but in theory it seems that nico should have been entitled to it.

What about NiP then? Obviously Robin "⁠Fifflaren⁠" Johansson helped his previous team qualify for DreamHack Winter, and essentially he should get his share of the sticker money as opposed to Mikail "⁠Maikelele⁠" Bill, who simply hopped in at the right time. There's no information on whether that's already happening to begin with, but it does bring forth an issue that needs addressing.

Certain organizations, such as dignitas and compLexity, have been extremely greedy when it comes to the sticker money. It will cost them in the long run, but this is a good chance for the young players to learn the power of contracts and how important it is to take all of these things into account when they sign the next ones. Money never comes easy.

The issue of too many tournaments was already mentioned above, and it probably doesn't need to be talked about more. The scene needs to be better organized in terms of schedule, and at some point each sponsor will realize they can't get their own tournament for the current going price, and will have to pitch in with others to form a smaller number of bigger events. It's natural evolution.

Finally, and this is the biggest issue in terms of Counter-Strike as a competitive title, is the streaming revenue. If multiple top players start making six figures from streaming alone, there's a good chance the competitive side of things may become a side thing, a way for players to stay relevant, so they can continue streaming and making bank.

There's nothing wrong with that, but the tournaments should combat that as best as they can - by trying to attain bigger prizes to make sure streaming doesn't override what CS is truly about - competition.

Fifflaren should probably get a share of NiP's DH Winter team sticker cash

 

DreamHack Winter is the next $250,000 major tournament announced, and will be held in two weeks time, on November 27-30, in Jönköping, where HLTV.org will be on-site for full coverage.

Tournaments such as ESEC Finals and ESEA Finals will be held in December, and the off-season will be cut short by MLG's initial tournament at X-Games in Aspen, CO on January 23-25.

Follow HLTV.org's @lurppis_ on Twitter.