CS:GO's highest earners of 2015

Below you will find an overview of events that teams participated in, the ones that contributed the most and those that contributed significantly to the impressive gains of the top CS:GO teams.

*Figures mentioned below are not official figures for annual incomes of teams, as factors such as sticker revenue and endorsements are not accounted for. The amounts purely reflect monetary gains from professional tournaments.

In 2015 we saw the Swedish organisation absolutely dominate the CS:GO scene and the pay they received definitely reflected it. Their success saw two major tournament victories, as well as a plethora of first places at smaller events. $500,000 which equates to 71% of all earnings for the year came from five tournaments with a $100,000 1st place prize and needless to say the Swedes made sure to secure these.



The five tournaments that landed the $500,000 are as follows:

ESL One: Katowice - 1st place (15/03/2015) - $100,000

ESL ESEA Pro League Season 1 Finals - 1st place (05/07/2015) -$100,000

ESL One: Cologne - 1st place (23/08/2015) - $100,000

FACEIT 2015 Stage 3 Finals - 1st place (29/11/2015) - $100,000

ESL ESEA Pro League Season 2 Finals - 1st place (13/12/2015) - $100,000

The rest of the prize money was accumulated through various smaller events that were scattered throughout the year. Fnatic consistently landed top spots at these events which landed them the rest of the $250,599, making them the highest paid organisation of 2015.

The boys in blue had a good run, so much so that they are the second highest paid organisation of 2015. They butted heads with the best of the best and made sure they were compensated dearly for their efforts. The Frenchmen’s highlight of the year is undoubtedly first place at DreamHack Open Cluj-Napoca, which alone secured them 19% of their total winnings for the year.



Other events that heavily contributed to their impressive money bag:

Gfinity Masters Summer 1 - 1st place (28/06/2015) - $40,000

Intel Extreme Masters Season 10 @Gamescom - 1st place (08/08/2015) - $45,500

ESL One: Cologne - 2nd place (23/08/2015) - $50,000

Gfinity Champions of Champions - 1st place (27/09/2015) - $50,000

Make sure to be on the lookout for the Frenchmen next year, as they seem to be giving other top teams a run for their money. We will be closely following their performance next year and perhaps they will supersede their nemesis, Fnatic, in 2016.

In 2015 Virtus.Pro managed to plow the cash fields of CS:GO, yielding an abundance of crop. Over the course of the year we saw the Poles take first place at the ESL ESEA Pro League Invitational @Dubai tournament which accounted for 20% of their total winning. They also consistently performed at a high level, landing them a pretty cool $405,683 in addition to the Dubai jackpot.



Below are some other events which contributed to Virtus.Pro’s admirable pay check:

ESL One: Katowice - 4th place (15/03/2015) - $22,000

ESEA Season 18 Global Invite Division - 1st place (19/04/2015) - $70,000

ESL ESEA Pro League Season 1 Finals - 4th place (04/07/2015) - $25,000

CEVO Season 7 Professional Division - 1st place (12/09/2015) - $30,000

ESL One: Cologne - 4th place (23/08/2015) - $22,000

CEVO Season 8 Professional Division Finals - 1st place (08/11/2015) - $40,000

The Poles are definitely a force to be reckoned with and given they up their game next year it is quite possible that they will continue to be one of the most monetarily successful rosters in CS:GO, if not the most successful.

Team Question Mark (ex-TSM) demonstrated a stellar performance throughout 2015 cutting themselves a nice big slice of the money pie that the CS:GO organisers had to offer. Unfortunately for the Danes, they didn’t actually win a major event or any tournament that netted over $60,000, however, this didn’t stop them from coming out as the 4th biggest earner of 2015. The event that contributed most to their purse was the ESL ESEA Pro League Invitational, where they secured 2nd place and $60,000, which accounted for 13% of their total prize money for the year.



Some other financially significant events were:

PGL CS:GO Championship Series Kick-off Season - 1st place (26/04/2015) - $40,000

Fragbite Masters Season 4 - 1st place (07/06/2015) - $26,783

FACEIT 2015 Stage 2 Finals - 1st place (18/07/2015) - $40,000

PGL CS:GO Championship Series Season 1 - 1st place (04/10/2015) - $40,000

FACEIT 2015 Stage 3 Finals - 4th place (28/11/2015) - $25,000

Team Question Mark, better known as ex-TSM, have shown this year that they are capable of snatching the throne. Given the team improves on its ability to stay level headed and close out matches, we might even see them at the top of next year’s list of highest earners.

Natus Vincere have undoubtedly stepped up their game in 2015. The CIS mix has demonstrated time after time that they deserve to be in the top 5 earners of the CS:GO scene. Throughout the year they have upset various top teams at significant events. What’s more, they managed to win the finals match against TSM at the Intel Extreme Masters 10 - San Jose, securing themselves first place at a prestigious event, as well as $56,250, 15% of their total winnings for the year. Another event that heavily contributed to their aggregate prize pool was their 2nd placement at the ESL ESEA Pro League Season 2 Finals, where they lost to Fnatic, but secured $60,000 which accounted for another 15% of their annual purse.

Following are events that partly constituted Na’Vi’s monetary success over 2015:

StarLadder StarSeries 13 - 1st place (21/06/2015) - $22,000

Electronic Sports World Cup 2015 - 1st place (12/07/2015) - $30,000

DreamHack Cluj-Napoca - 2nd place (01/11/2015) - $50,000

The CIS mix has made colossal progress this year in terms of their gameplay. It is safe to say that if the beasts from the east keep it up, work on controlling their emotions during matches, keeping a cool head, we will see them climb further up the list next year.

Banner sources: Fnatic, Team EnVyUs, Virtus.Pro, Na'Vi. Headline source

