Back in 2001, when Quake 3 was extremely popular, there were numerous tournaments for it, but more importantly, there was a lot of prize money to be given away.

I look at what's given away now, and I couldn't help but think that it's somehow gone downhill. I decided to look up some stats, and see for myself how good, or how bad, it's progressed.

It seems that Quake is becoming more and more of a pipedream (Thank you Fooki!) and to even consider quitting school, not going to school, or not working, just to compete in Quake, is extremely naive, and idiotic (From a logical business and life sense).

So, here is just a general summary of what I found. I'm not hiding anything really. I'm simply posting the big tournaments results, as well as prize money. No bullshit here.

I've included an image for those people who prefer graphs.



Razer CPL 2000
1 - $40,000 - Jonathan ‘Fatal1ty’ Wendel
2 - $20,000 - Victor ‘Makaveli’ Cuadra
3 - $10,000 - Min Woo ‘PowerK’ Kim
4 - $7,000 - Ryan ‘dethstalker’ Brown
5 - $6,000 - Henrik ‘Blue’ Björk
6 - $4,000 - Scott ‘Sector’ Evans
7 - $3,000 - Tomi ‘DOOMer’ Kärnä
8 - $2,000 - Dan ‘vise’ Larsen

WCG Challenge 2000
1 - $25,000 - Johnathan ‘Fatal1ty‘ Wendel
2 - $15,000 - Oskar ‘LakermaN‘ Ljungström
3 - $6,000 - John ‘ZeRo4‘ Hill

Babbage’s CPL Event 2000
1 - $25,000 - John ‘ZeRo4‘ Hill (San Diego):
2 - $15,000 - Oskar ‘Lakerman‘ Ljungström (Swe):
3 - $10,000 - Tomi ‘DOOMer‘ Kärnä (Stockholm):

QuakeCon 2001
1 - $30,000 - John ‘ZeRo4‘ Hill
2 - $10,000 - Johnathan ‘Fatal1ty‘ Wendel
3 - $5,000 - Tyler ‘ReVeNaNt‘ Bentz

WCG 2001
1 - $20,000 - John ‘ZeRo4‘ Hill
2 - $10,000 - Alex ‘n^LeXeR‘ Nesterov
3 - $5,000 - Stephan ‘[sk.SteLam]‘ Lammert

WCG 2002
1 - $20,000 - Alexey ‘uNkind‘ Smaev
2 - $10,000 - Alvaro ‘Akiles‘ Romero
3 - $5,000 - Jason ‘socrates‘ Sylka

QuakeCon 2002
1 - $20,000 - Alex ‘LeXeR‘ Nesterov
2 - $10,000 - Sean ‘Daler‘ Price
3 - $5,000 - Johnathan ‘Fatal1ty‘ Wendel

-----------------------------------
(Fast Forward 5-6 years)
-----------------------------------

ESWC 2007
1st Place - $10,000
2nd Place - $6,000
3rd Place - $3,000

ESWC 2008
1 - $12 000 - srs`Cypher
2 - $7 000 - k1llsen
3 - $4 000 - SK-Rapha

Quakecon 2008
First Place: $5,000
Second Place: $3,000
Third Place: $1,500

Gamegune 2008
1st - $4,000 - serious/Av3k
2nd - $2,700 - <RazerJ>
3rd - $1,400 - fox*LLL

ESWC Masters 2008
1 - $2500 - Alexey "fnatic.Cyph3r" Yushanevsky
2 - $1500 - Magnus "LLL.Fox" Olsson
3 - $1000 - Maciej "srs.av3k" Krzykowski

Can anyone really say that E-sports has progressed over the years? Sure, more companies are interested in advertising, and teams can obtain company sponsors more easily, but what's the point if we're competing for barely anything?

Cypher won around $20,000 - $30,000. Sure, that's great, but that's nothing compared to 2000, or 2001. He could of won that in ONE tournament. A player could of went to 3 or 4 tournaments, and placed 3rd, and would of won the same amount of money as him, if not more. Someone like Rapha who has been doing very well lately, hasn't been receiving that much money in terms of winnings. Him placing 3rd in three tournaments in 2000 or 2001 would make his winnings more than Cypher this year.

I'm not trying to put any form of negativity on the leagues or tournaments. They do what they can to stay alive and functioning.

My main problem is that at this rate, and looking at the financial aspect of it, E-Sports isn't going anywhere but downhill. Sure, the leagues and tournaments have become extremely impressive in terms of presentation, and ceremonies, etc, but if everything is all show, and the players get nothing, that isn't balanced. The only viable league we have at this moment that promises any form of realistic winnings (That means something you could live off of) is the CGS. $25,000 a year for a player, plus winnings. Trust me, I don't really like the CGS (Mostly the games it chooses) but right now, it's the only realistic method of competing in games, and keeping it as a 'job'.

I can't see leagues like WCG and ESWC obtaining more money as the years go along. Look at the statistics. Everything is going downhill from here. Back in 2001, it would have made realistic sense to drop out of school to compete in Quake (assuming you were actually good). You could place third in a tournament and receive $7,000 or even $10,000. Now? Maybe $3000, maybe $1000.

Even Dreamhack this year doesn't offer that much prize money (I'll give them the benefit of the doubt because they have it split between 3 tournaments).

So where do we go from here? Do we keep running tournaments with mediocre amounts of winnings that look fantastic, or try harder to get more money towards the players?

I’m not trying to offend anyone running leagues and tournaments. I know they try as hard as they can to produce the best tournament possible (The people running ESWC, WCG, etc) but I’m just disappointed that in terms of ‘pro-gaming’, and making a living of games, we’ve gone nowhere but downhill.