Casters making money off games - Page 5

On January 20 2011 06:15 Erandorr wrote:


Well what could possibly go wrong ? ^.^

On January 20 2011 06:50 iNcontroL wrote:


Yeah the programs associated with casting alone cost nearly dozens of dollars. Have you guys factored that in at all?

On January 20 2011 07:02 Alizee- wrote:
I'll just make a clear post to address this and why I believe many of you are wrong. Right now there is a disparity between what casters and players are making. That's clear as day as the "stars" of the game should be the ones making the most. Secondly, esports, sc2, yadda yadda is all at an infant stage where you need money to support things and keep it goin. While some casters have actual insight, most are very average, you can always get another John Madden who says blatantly obvious things in a near comical way.

If players don't end up being compensated well enough you get people who eventually say well that was fun, but I need to move on with "real life" now and grow up because making even $10,000 a year is not enough. Casters can come and go and things will largely remain the same because as much as one would argue they give exposure to the "sport" the players provide the true appeal. Think of it like this: would you watch a tournament knowing the players were no better than yourself? Watch sports on tv or the radio and the announcers are very pleasant yet at the same time go to a live game, guess what, people enjoy it for what they see, not about what they're told by some babbling guy behind a mic. While people may disagree with my use of the analogous use of sports in reference to e-sports, it boils down to people wanna see the games ultimately. The commentary is a plus, but not the main draw.

Frankly, things are in a weird situation. Days of the past you'd have some players making a lot, most making very little. Casters nowadays can make a buck no matter what direction this game goes which is concerning. When it comes to money in sc2, this isn't broodwar where even the pro teams can dish out a relatively small chunk of money to pay for kids, not adults, to play all day and get good. People that have been with gaming or even the bw community for a long while are getting older, they either have to make enough or they'll move on to devote their time to other sources of income. If this became as big as say NFL proportions, if you have an announcer getting paid as much as top players, people would say WTF. Lot lot easier to find someone who can talk about what they can see compared to what the players can do. That's reality and compensation needs to be more appropriately considered going forward even right now its not completely in control due to things like youtube and the sort. There's a reason why in every sport players make the most, because without them you don't have the great games they produce.

On January 20 2011 06:50 iNcontroL wrote:


Yeah the programs associated with casting alone cost nearly dozens of dollars. Have you guys factored that in at all?

On January 20 2011 06:55 TotalBiscuit wrote:


Because they're fucking jealous. Let's just put it right out there in the open, that ugly truth. They are jealous because they don't get to do what they love for a job. I feel for em, really, life sucks, but good luck changing an unfair world.

"It's much easier to hate, than to create"

On January 20 2011 06:33 TotalBiscuit wrote:


No you're right.

I only have 216,000 subscribers and produce the most viewed World of Warcraft videos on the entirity of Youtube on a daily basis. Since WoW is such a tiny, unpopular game, I'm clearly living on 2 dollars a week and should be out picking rice.

More to the point, they work for the same company as I do, so of course I know how much they earn.

It is unwise to try and discuss things you know nothing about.

On January 20 2011 07:05 MDew wrote:
A person with 100k subs can live in his own small condo, buy food, support himself, etc..

Husky and HD are around 400k now, they probably make more money with those 15 minute-a-day casts than most people on this forum. They certainly make more than the average pro gamer.

On January 20 2011 07:08 MythicalMage wrote:

Source? Since we don't actually have numbers, it's hard to say something like that.

On January 20 2011 07:09 MDew wrote:


I watch a few people on youtube with around 98k subs, who got fired from his job and is living off adsense revenue, and has been doing so for many months now.

They are not allowed to say how much they make.

On January 20 2011 07:09 Torpedo.Vegas wrote:


Well take into account the cost of the software/hardware, the time spent casting and not out doing other things for money, and all the other ancillary costs with spending a significant time putting together and doing everything associated with casting. I don't think they are rolling in the dough off of ad money or even the few sponsors some have.

How much do you guys think the top casters make? At least to get a starting baseline for the discussion.