Reflectzyn

For those that don’t know, I often reference competitive gaming as a cross between the PGA and Professional Poker Tour in terms of its relevance as a sport.  One thing that has yet to come to fruition is prize payouts for the world’s best gamers.  Even scarier is Major League Gaming’s top Pro player earnings in comparison to Poker’s top earners.   I compare these two because Poker, like “Professional Gaming” is often referred as a hobby over a sport mostly because it is very difficult for Pro Gamers to make a sustainable career on gaming.   I decided to put this information together as a reference point for anyone wondering why Professional Gaming is still considered a hobby to the masses.

Top 25 MLG Pro Player Earnings 2009 (Halo and Gears of War Combined)

1. Cloud, Clutch, Demon D – $28,700
2. Maniac – $26,000
3. Hysteria, SK, Heinz, Pistola  - $23,000
4. Walshy – $19,000
5. Ghostayame – $18,500
6. Soldier187, Best Man, Chig – $17,800
7. Defy – $15,400
8. Naded, PrisonDeath – $15,000
9. Tsquared, ElamiteWarrior, Snip3down, Legit – $14,300
10. Neighbor, Roy, Lunchbox, Predator, Nick, Killa – $13,500
11. Fearitself – $11,000
12. Ogre 2, Victory X – $6,000
13. EtE, Wingos – $5500
14. Franchise, Puff – $5,250
15. APG – $4,400
16. Enable, Destin – $4,300
17. Strongside, Sypher, Prospect, Jaemercs, Zkiller – $4,000
18. Tizoxic – $3,900
19. Fallout - $3,750
20. Affinity, Dpoints, Cinellz - $3,500
21. Mackeo – $3,000
22. Skyllus, arCtiC, Calinorth, Orange - $2500
23. Terrorr, Perfect Uno, Ribs – $2,250
24. High Distortion, Fritzley - $2,000
25. Rain – $1,750

Top 25 Pro Poker Player Earnings 2009

More detailed information can be found here.

1. Phil Ivey – $12,799,787
2. Daniel Negreanu – $12,483,065
3. Jamie Gold – $12,187,854
4. Peter Eastgate – $11,132,939
5. Joe Hachem – $10,670,474
6. Scott Nguyen – $10.4 Mil
7. Allen Cunningham – $9.9 Mil
8. John Juanda – $9.5 Mil
9. T.J. Cloutier – $9.4 Mil
10. Erik Seidel – $9.3 Mil
11. Juan Mortensen – $8.9 Mil
12. Phil Hellmuth Jr- $8.8 Mil
13. Joseph Cada – $8.8 Mil
14. David Pham – $8.3 Mil
15. Jerry Yang – $8.2 Mil
16. Men Nguyen – $7.77 Mil
17. Paul Wasicka – $7.73 Mil
18. Chris Ferguson – $7.6 Mil
19. J.C. Tran – $7.3 Mil
20. Gus Hansen – $7.2 Mil
21. Barry Greenstein – $7 Mil
22. Michael Mizrachi – $6.9 Mil
23. Gregory Raymer – $6.7 Mil
24. Erick Lindgren – $6.6 Mil
25. Ivan Demidov – $6.5 Mil

Despite the rapid growth and popularity of Major League Gaming, it is still quite a ways away from truly rewarding the professional gamer on a monetary level.  Perhaps the word “sport” isn’t quite the correct term; the evidence is hard to dispute otherwise.  In my Money Motivated or Love for the game article, I discussed the motivational attitude gamer’s portray while gaming at a competitive level – it is safe to say most do it for the love of gaming.