Ever since CS:GO was launched, it has already developed a cult following. People gamble on CS:GO, people watch CS:GO for hours, and people just follow the players like they follow other celebrities. This proves how big and popular this eSports game is. CS:GO professional players keep adding up and tournaments get bigger over time.
⚠️ Disclaimer - The views stated on this matter are based on a player's career path and not to promote eSports gaming as a major path of career to young individuals. Additionally, figures given on this page are estimated; only players and their accountants and advisors know of the exact amounts.
10 Highest-Earning CS:GO Professional Players
The community of professional players for CS:GO continues to increase and more players would want to go pro. This makes others wonder how much do CS:GO players earn? To dig deeper into this, read on.
1. Dupreh
Dupreeh or Peter Rasmussen is a Danish professional player of the team Astralis. His player name was owned by his brother which he took for his professional eSports career. At such a young age, he already fell in love with CS:GO which made him want to become the best in this game. He started playing CS:GO in 2012 for the team 3DMAX when he was just 13 years old.
Though started very young, he never failed his team in leading them to victories. His skills in playing have led him to win individual awards and achievements. He has proven that he has become a versatile player over the years. At present, Dupreeh has earnings of 1.89 million dollars and is the highest earner among the professional CS:GO players, and has taken over Xyp9x in the top spot.
Personal Achievements:
- 18th best player of 2013 by HLTV
- 16th best player of 2014 by HLTV
- 12th best player of 2015 by HLTV
- 10th best player of 2017 by HLTV
- 5th best player of 2018 by HLTV
- 16th best player of 2019 by HLTV
- 9th best player of 2020 by HLTV
- 8th best player of 2018 on Thorin's Top 10 CS:GO Players ranking
- MVP of ESL Pro League Season 7 Finals by HLTV
- MVP of BLAST Pro Series: Global Final 2019 by HLTV
2. Xyp9x
Xyp9x or Andreas Hojsleth is a professional CS:GO player from Aars, Denmark. He started playing CS:GO in 2013 for the team Fnatic. His player name came from random typing on the keyword. Currently, he is playing for team Astralis. His team is considered the best in CS:GO for several years now.
Xyp9x is still among the top earners after being number one for quite some time. His current earnings as a professional CS:GO player have already reached 1.87 million dollars.
Personal Achievements
- 20th best player of 2013 by HLTV
- 13th best player of 2017 by HLTV
- 13th best player of 2018 by HLTV
- 14th best player of 2019 by HLTV
- MVP of IEM Katowice 2017 by HLTV
3. Dev1ce
Dev1ce or Nicolai Hvilshoj was born in Vejle, Region of Southern Denmark. He started his CS:GO career with the Copenhagen Wolves in 2013. At present, he is playing for team Astralis where he became a member in 2016. He is also regarded as one of the best players for CS:GO in the world. His awards and achievements made him improve his game even more. He has an earnings of 1.85 million dollars.
Personal Achievements
- MVP of PGL CCS Kick-off Season by HLTV
- MVP of Fragbite Masters Season 4 by HLTV
- MVP of FACEIT 2015 Stage 2 Finals by HLTV
- MVP of PGL CCS Season 1: Finals by HLTV
- MVP of ECS Season 2 - Finals by HLTV
- MVP of ECS Season 5 - Finals by HLTV
- MVP of ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier 2018 by HLTV
- MVP of FACEIT Major: London 2018 by HLTV
- MVP of BLAST Pro Series: Istanbul 2018 by HLTV
- MVP of IEM Chicago 2018 by HLTV
- MVP of ECS Season 6 - Finals by HLTV
- MVP of ESL Pro League Season 8: Finals by HLTV
- MVP of BLAST Pro Series: São Paulo 2019 by HLTV
- MVP of StarLadder Berlin Major 2019 by HLTV
- MVP of ECS Season 8 - Finals by HLTV
- MVP of ESL One: Road to Rio - Europe by HLTV
- MVP of DreamHack Masters Winter 2020: Europe by HLTV
- MVP of IEM Global Challenge 2020 by HLTV
4. Gla1ve
Lukas "Gla1ve" Rossander was born and raised in Copenhagen, Capital Region of Denmark. This professional CS:GO player started his career with Copenhagen Wolves when he was just 17 years old. Today, he is among the best players of the team Astralis since 2016. He is now the captain of his team and is considered one of the best in CS:GO. Together with his team, he has won 4 CS:GO Major Championships and an IEM Grand Slam Champion. His earnings have reached $1,728,517.41.
Personal Achievements
- EVP of Dreamhack Masters Marseille
- EVP of ESL Pro League Season 7
- EVP of ECS Season 5 Finals
- EVP of ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier 2018
- EVP of FACEIT Major
- EVP of BLAST Pro Series Istanbul
- EVP of IEM Chicago 2018
- EVP of ECS Season 6 Finals
- EVP of ESL Pro League Season 8 Finals
- MVP of IEM Beijing 2019
5. Magisk
Magisk or Emil Reif was born in Risskov, Aarhus. This professional CS:GO player started a floating career with low-level Danish teams. He started playing in 2015 with the team stfuNerd. After getting unsuccessful journeys with different teams, he has finally landed with his current team Astralis where his real skills and talents came out. Magisk has earnings of $1,492,615.30.
Personal Achievements
- 14th best player of 2016 by HLTV
- 7th best player of 2018 by HLTV
- 5th best player of 2019 by HLTV
- 11th best player of 2020 by HLTV
- Honorable mention on Thorin's Top 5 CS:GO Players of 2019 ranking
- MVP of BLAST Pro Series: Lisbon 2018 by HLTV
- MVP of Intel Extreme Masters Season XIII - Katowice Major 2019 by HLTV
6. Stewie2k
Jacky Yip better known as Stewie2k is an American professional CS:GO player who is currently playing for Team Liquid with a role as a rifler. He got his player name when he and his friends decided to use the names of characters in Family Guy. He started his professional career with the team Cloud9 back in 2016. Together with his team, he has won the CS:GO Major Champion and IEM Grand Slam Champion. Stewie2k is the first non-Astralis to enter the top earners of CS:GO. He is among the most popular players of Team Liquid. His total earnings so far have already reached $1,132,840.
Personal Achievements
- MVP of DreamHack Open Denver 2017 by HLTV
- MVP of iBUYPOWER Masters 2017 by HLTV
7. FalleN
Fallen or Gabriel Toledo de Alcântara Sguario is a well-known Brazilian CS:GO professional player. His player name came from a game card with fallen angel as name. he decided to drop the angel and left him with fallen. He started playing with Team Crashers back in 2005. He has joined different teams where he has improved his skills and gameplay. After switching with several teams, he is now with Team Liquid playing the role of AWPer. Fallen already has won 2× CS:GO Major champion. At present, Fallen has passed over the one million marks where his total winnings have reached $1,081,241.
Personal Achievements
- 2nd best player of 2016 by HLTV
- 6th best player of 2017 by HLTV
- 6th best player of 2016 by Thorin
- eSports Personality of the Year by eSports Industry Awards in 2016
- MVP of DreamHack Open Austin 2016
- MVP of ESL One: Cologne 2017
- MVP of BLAST Pro Series: Copenhagen 2017
- MVP of ZOTAC Cup Masters 2018
8. TACO
Epitacio "TACO" de Melo is a popular Brazilian CS:GO professional player playing for GODSENT as an in-game leader. Fans thought his player name was after the Mexican food. The name TACO was given by his aunt since she did not like the real name given to him by his parents. This was the first name he thought of when he needed to choose a player name. He started his career with MIBR and also had a brief stint with Team Liquid. Throughout his career, TACO is known to be one of the best role players who sets up his teammates for better gameplay. His total winnings have already reached $1,040,003.
Personal Achievements
- Founding board member of the Counter-Strike Professional Players' Association or CSPPA
9. Fer
Fer or Fernando Alvarenga is a Brazilian CS:GO professional player who first started his eSports career with Counter-Strike. In 2011, he joined the Action Team eSports to compete for Counter-Strike. In 2013, he started his CS:GO career with the team PlayArt. Currently, Fer is playing for MIBR as a rifler. His approximate total earnings are at $1,042,114.
Personal Achievements
- MVP of Esports Championship Series Season 3 - Finals by HLTV
- 15th best player of 2016 by HLTV
- 3rd best player of 2017 by HLTV
- 6th best player of 2017 on Thorin's Top 10 CS:GO Players ranking
10. NAF
NAF or Keith Markovic is a professional CS:GO player from Canada. In 2012, he joined the team mouseSpaz. This was his first-ever team playing for CS:GO. He has joined several teams more and currently is the rifler player for Team Liquid. His total earnings are now at $1,035,549.
Personal Achievements
- MVP of StarLadder i-League Invitational #2 by HLTV
- MVP of cs_summit 2 by HLTV
- MVP of SuperNova Malta 2018 by HLTV
- MVP of iBUYPOWER Masters 2019 by HLTV
- MVP of BLAST Pro Series: Los Angeles 2019 by HLTV
- 6th best player of 2018 by HLTV
- 7th best player of 2019 by HLTV
- 4th best player of 2018 on Thorin's Top 10 CS:GO Players ranking
How do CS:GO professionals earn money?
It is noticeable that there are professional CS:GO players that can earn millions in just a year. There are many ways for professional players for CS:GO to earn money.
Salary
Since they are professionals, they get salaries from their teams. The salaries of players may vary. The best ones may get bigger salaries than the others. They may also get a different salary for every game they play or for a tournament they compete in. If the team keeps winning, their salaries can also increase.
Prizes
Every tournament and competition has a pot prize money. The more wins the team gets, the more money they earn. Winning games is the biggest source of earnings for CS:GO professional players. Keep in mind that some tournaments can give millions as their pot money. The prizes usually get distributed to the team members. This is why professional CS:GO teams would join as many competitions as they can to earn more.
Sponsors
When teams win competitions and tournaments, they get a bigger fan base. Teams that are popular get lots of sponsorships. This is a huge money-earning activity for CS:GO players. The sponsors can vary from different companies and businesses that offer computer equipment, clothing, energy drink to gaming furniture and equipment. These companies can offer huge money as the player's sponsorship. Sponsors choose players that have a big following. With more wins, the team becomes more attractive to sponsors.
Live Streaming
Online streaming of the games can mean big business for many CS:GO players as they get to earn from the number of views they get. The more viewers mean more money for them. Aside from the views, some fans are willing to pay for the subscription base. This is why many of the most popular players go live streaming whenever they play especially in big competitions and tournaments.
How much does the average CSGO Pro make?
CS:GO is one of the most generous eSports games when it comes to prizes. A CS:GO pro can earn the biggest from the competitions they join and win from. Winning in different CS:GO tournaments can already bring millions to a team. On average, a minor cash prize given by a CS:GO tournament could be around $11.5 million while the major cash prize plays around $15 million. Some tournaments can even bring the pot money up depending on how big the competition is. World and regional tournaments can have bigger cash prizes as more teams compete for the pot money.
Is being a CS:GO professional a stable career?
Any professional career is worth pursuing if you want it to be stable. However, you have to put in years of hard work, time, and dedication. For the top-earning CS:GO professional player Dupreeh, he started his career in 2012 earning only $25.03 and now he earns millions per year. However, this did not happen overnight. It took him almost ten years to reach where is now. And that is a lot of hard work.
It could be a stable career if you have a lot of time and energy to improve yourself as a player and go pro. This is always the process even in other careers. You have to study and learn to be good at what you do. In being a professional CS:GO player, if you cannot enter the mainstream, then you might end up with a few bucks. Then the stable career you want will not just be what you are going to get.
CS:GO gives professional players the biggest pot money and salaries in the world of eSports gaming. This is why the pro players can make millions in a year. The total earnings that these professional players make are based on several factors such as the number of tournaments competed, winnings, sponsorships, and popularity.
This article was published on April 26, 2021, and last updated on October 26, 2022.