STYKO reveals 2023 earnings

The Slovakian's base salary represented just a third of his company's total income this calendar year.

Martin "⁠STYKO⁠" Styk has posted a video on YouTube in which he revealed his total esports-related income for 2023.

The total came to €461,253, a third of which came from his base monthly salary of €12,500 (€150,000 for the year) which means that the majority came from other sources: performance-based incentives in his contract with Apeks, his YouTube and Twitch channels, personal sponsorships, prize money, and, most importantly, sticker money.

STYKO could not reveal the exact figure he made from having his signature and Apeks their team sticker in the game for the BLAST.tv Paris Major, where he and Apeks made an underdog run to the semi-finals, because of a confidentiality agreement all players sign with Valve before the Major.

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But it is clear that the payout from the Major makes up a large portion of his earnings. STYKO points out that the last Major played on CS:GO was the only Valve-sponsored event of the year, and came at a perfect point just two months after the announcement of Counter-Strike 2 piqued interest in the franchise.

"2023 was my most successful year when it came to earnings," he began, "but despite that, when you look at prize winnings, it's not that great."

The rifler revealed he earned €13,500 from prize money this year, 7.14% of the cash earned from tournaments while he was on Apeks' starting roster. 50% went to the organization, with the remainder split between the five players and two coaches equally.

He compared this total to 2018, where he won three tournaments with MOUZ to help STYKO's lineup to an annual total of $603,900 (€546,557) in prize money to be split between the organization and staff. That figure is nearly five times higher than what Apeks earned as a team with STYKO this term, but 2023 remained the most lucrative year of his career thus far.

The big factor behind that was sticker money, and, €297,753 of his income came from sources other than base salary and prize money — a significant portion of which is likely to have come from the in-game items.