Esports Earnings: Bigger Prizes = Better Plays?

TrAiDoS

Germany203 Posts

November 27 2025 10:51 GMT

Hey there! A new week, a new episode.

Offline esports events are a dime to watch, whereas online tournaments are typically perceived as less prestigious. One reason is the amount of prize money (tournament structure). This incentive for players and teams may impact their performance. Here's what the science says.

[DISCLAIMER]: The article is written for my weekly newsletter, and published on my website. A new episode comes out every Sunday (directly into your inbox and on my website).

Have a nice one,
Christian

Yurie

11998 Posts

November 28 2025 19:14 GMT

I thought of three things on the topic...

1. Nerves of the lower tier terms is likely shot at LAN tournaments. They also often have worse preparation for the event. Leading to the better teams getting better scores regardless of their own strength/weakness.

2. Being on LAN forces the team to play together in a structured format while a lower tier of competition has people playing from wherever and getting distracted by stuff around them. Especially what you do between games is likely to be different. Things like voice communication issues, connection problems etc being a focus of the participants.

3. Even in things that are less competition focused people like having physical workshops since it forces people to actually be present and compromise on issues. I think comparing online performance when in a team house vs teams playing from home could be an interesting follow up on the topic.

TrAiDoS

Germany203 Posts

December 04 2025 07:51 GMT

On November 29 2025 04:14 Yurie wrote:
I thought of three things on the topic...

1. Nerves of the lower tier terms is likely shot at LAN tournaments. They also often have worse preparation for the event. Leading to the better teams getting better scores regardless of their own strength/weakness.

2. Being on LAN forces the team to play together in a structured format while a lower tier of competition has people playing from wherever and getting distracted by stuff around them. Especially what you do between games is likely to be different. Things like voice communication issues, connection problems etc being a focus of the participants.

3. Even in things that are less competition focused people like having physical workshops since it forces people to actually be present and compromise on issues. I think comparing online performance when in a team house vs teams playing from home could be an interesting follow up on the topic.

Hey there.

Interesting thoughts. Regarding 1. I think that's probably right for some tournaments. However, most major tournaments are always offline and most low-tier events online. There's (I'm guessing) a middle ground where only top 8 or something is offline. I can imagine, however, that this is likely the case when a team brings in new players. However, this also happens in the top top teams.

Regarding 2. Absolutely agree. I think I remember an interview from pro CS teams saying that playing from their team house (during covid) made them play better because they are in a comfy environment. So yeah, offline always adds an additional layer of stress. Fun fact, there is something called the "first-night effect": when people spend the first night sleeping somewhere else (friend's house, hotel etc.), their sleep quality drops because of the new environment. You don't know the environment, that makes you more stressed, you may wake you earlier and more easily etc. I think I also read that your brain doesn't really go into deep sleep (which would explain the poor sleep quality)... So yeah, all I'm getting at is that the environment definitely has an impact on humans.

3. I'm not 100% certain but I think I read a study on that a while ago... have to dig a bit. There's, however, one study I've covered before compared online and offline.

Cheers,
Christian

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