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Comment by oacgnol | Hacker News Reader

It seems like there's a huge drop off in prize money after about the top 11. I wonder how the drop off in salary is, if they are paid one at all. eSports is still growing and I don't forsee it being a viable career path unless you're a top 1% tier talent, which loosely mirrors professional sports as well.

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Forget that shit. Basically if you are the TOP 10 players in the world or so, you will make what an average programmer will make or greater.

If you are in the top 23 players in the world, you will make a decent salary, comperable to a secratary at a decent company.

If you are in the top 50 players in the world, you will make just above the poverty line.

If you are anywhere below that, you will work at McDonalds.

AND NOTE: the best players play all day to practice. It is work for them.

EDIT: Compare that to anyone in the NFL. This is absolutely worthless as a money-maker. Maybe if you are in Korea and 10 bucks a month will sustain you.

You know not of what you speak. This is only prize money, and only for the 2 years that Starcraft 2 has been out (and even within those 2 years, the prize money has significantly increased recently). Some players have more regular sources of income, like sponsorships, salaries, coaching, or ad revenue from streaming. More live in team houses (mostly in South Korea) and thus get room and board. Sure, it still doesn't compare to the NFL, but it's probably comparable (or close to getting there) to professional athletes in sports without big TV deals.

That's prize money, not sponsorship money. If Tiger Woods has made $60 million in prize money, and about 15 times that much on sponsorship.

But any sport is a terrible career if you aren't the best. There's probably a million of guys in internet cafes wasting their time and money trying to get that good.

This is a good point. But my main point is: Being a developer (if you have the aptitude) you are pretty much guaranteed a decent salary, usually a good one. Playing video games and making cash is more of a pipe dream. Everyone would LOVE to play their favorite game and make money on it, truth is that those who do play that game like it's a job.

I'd even argue that those people winning at SC2 are probably the same who were winning in SC1, and possibly other games, so they may wind up being the few lucky ones. It's like hackers, not everyone will be the next Zuckerburg, but the average pay is damn good, whereas with gamers, not everyone will be the best, but the average pay sucks.

Why is the jab at Korea necessary? Have you had experience living in Seoul for $10 a month?

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