Credit: ESL/Helena Kristiansson
Mentioned in this article
League/Tournament Brands:
With more than $50M USD awarded between just the top 10 highest-prizing games so far in 2019, many prominent esports organizations have already amassed significant winnings ahead of the second half of the year.
According to data collected by Esports Earnings, the top 10 winningest teams (by total prize earnings) have each earned more than $625K apiece, with three teams surpassing the million-dollar mark in six months or less. There’s still a lot more potential money ahead, especially with Dota 2‘s 
record-breaking (and still-growing) The International 2019 prize pool and the $30M Fortnite World Cup—but for now, these are the top-earning teams when it comes to prizing this year.
- Virtus.pro: $627K
Virtus.pro’s success in 2019 thus far has primarily come via Dota 2, and its largest winnings are from non-victories: the team earned $170K each from second-place finishes at The Chongqing Major 2019 and DreamLeague Season 11, respectively, and added another $100K from a third-place result at this past weekend’s EPICENTER Major 2019 . The once-dominant Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) team has earned just $27K from that game so far this year, along with $16K from Fortnite.
- Ninjas in Pyjamas: $693K
Ninjas in Pyjamas took a large percentage of its 2019 prize pool earnings from Dota 2, as well, with $440K of its $693K total coming from the game. The team’s two biggest wins came from the StarLadder ImbaTV Dota 2 Minor Season 2 and OGA Dota PIT Minor, each of which earned the team $125K. The team’s next-best game was CS:GO, which has accounted for $181K so far in 2019 including $45K for a third-place finish at BLAST Pro Series: Miami .
- TnC Gaming: $703K
TnC Gaming’s 2019 earnings come almost entirely from its Dota 2 team, which earned $500K by winning the WESG 2018 tournament in March. The team earned another $75K by topping the Asia Pacific Predator League and $80K for finishing fourth at the EPICENTER Major 2019, but otherwise had modest winnings in other tournaments—fourth place at the ESL One Mumbai 2019 ($20K) and 9th-12th at The Chongqing Major ($15K), for example.
- NRG: $744K (Includes Shock)
With the San Francisco Shock’s Overwatch League winnings factored in, NRG has pulled in $744K from prize pools so far this year. The Shock commanded the largest amount of that, $300K, from finishing second in Stage 1 and winning Stage 2. NRG’s CS:GO team has earned $220K so far from tournaments, including a pair of recent third/fourth-place finishes at the ESL Pro League Season 9 Finals ($40K) and ECS Season 7 Finals ($50K). Its Rocket League team, meanwhile, has earned $93K so far this year.
- Team Vitality: $747K
June was very kind to Team Vitality , as a pair of major wins—the CS:GO ECS Season 7 Finals ($225K) and Rocket League Championship Series World Championship ($200K)—more than doubled the team’s earnings so far this year. CS:GO has been the organization’s largest source of prize money at $437K total, while its Rocket League total this year stands at $259K. The organization’s next-highest game, Hearthstone , isn’t even close at $21K.
Related Article: The 10 Highest-Earning Esports Organizations of 2018 by Total Winnings
- Astralis: $782K
Astralis plays CS:GO and CS:GO alone, and the team has been extraordinarily successful at it—in 2018, the team earned $3.65M in prizing from a series of major wins. The team hasn’t been as dominant over the last couple of months, but its $500K grand prize for winning March’s Intel Extreme Masters Katowice 2019 Major forms the bulk of its earnings, with a BLAST Pro Series: São Paulo win soon after adding another $125K to the tally.
- Vici Gaming: $993K
Vici Gaming’s trio of big Dota 2 tournament wins helped it jump up the list, amassing $993K so far in 2019. The team earned $932K of its $993K 2019 haul to date from the game, including $350K each for winning DreamLeague Season 11 and The EPICENTER Major 2019. Another $125K came from winning the StarLadder ImbaTV Dota 2 Minor. The rest of Vici’s prize earnings came from games such as PLAYERUNKNOWN’S BATTLEGROUNDS (PUBG) ($17K), League of Legends ($29K), and CS:GO ($15K).
- Team Secret: $1.13M
Team Secret is quite good at Dota 2, and has already extended its streak to five straight years of winning at least $1M from the game. The organization has competed in just six Dota 2 events so far in 2019 and won four of them: The Chongqing Major ($350K), MDL Disneyland Paris Major ($350K), ESL One Katowice ($125K), and ESL One Birmingham ($125K). Team Secret’s non-Dota 2 earnings come from games such as Rainbow Six Siege ($36K) and Fortnite ($20K).
- G2 Esports: $1.73M
How lucrative is Rainbow Six Siege in 2019? It’s lucrative enough for G2 Esports to net $800K from winning the Six Invitational 2019, February’s de facto world championship. G2 has also earned $490K in prizing from League of Legends so far this year, including $400K for winning May’s Mid-Season Invitational. The team also has $227K from CS:GO, as well as $162K from Rocket League following a runner-up finish at the RLCS World Championship.
- Team Liquid: $2.17M
Team Liquid’s 2019 earnings are pretty diversified, although its $734K haul from CS:GO leads the pack by a fair amount. Winning the recent ESL Pro League Season 9 Finals earned the team $250K alone, plus it earned $100K each from winning DreamHack Masters Dallas , IEM Season XIV – Sydney, and iBUYPOWER Masters IV. Elsewhere, the team earned $533K from Dota 2, $145K from PUBG, $105K from Hearthstone, $97K from Magic: The Gathering Arena , $94K from Rainbow Six Siege, and $79K from Fortnite.
