Millenium 'Illyes Satouri' Stephano, who currently is the most popular player of all foreign players, has found his way to Korea. Last year, in 2011, Stephano came to Korea to attend the Blizzard Cup. This time however, Stephano is here purely for intensive training. For the past seven days, Stephano has been staying with TSL, whom Millenium have a partnership with. Stephano will be staying in Korea until August 19th, then after going back home to France, he will head over to America for the upcoming MLG.
This Is Game met with Stephano and told him about his major Korean fan base which he had no idea even existed. As soon as Stephano heard that he had a lot of fans in Korea, he was pleasantly surprised and responded with "I am going to show performances from here on out that is going to make my fans proud of the fact they they are my fans." Also, as of right now, it will be difficult for Stephano to attempt the GSL Code S but Stephano stated that he thinks he will be available for the GSL that is opening up in November.
It is very nice to meet you like this. This is your second time in Korea. How do you feel about it?
The last time I came here I did not know much about Korea. I didn't really understand the Korean SC2 scene. I stayed with team oGs last time but it was very unpleasant for me and there was no one in that team that spoke decent English so I was very lonely. Right now, the TSL team house has players who speak decent English and the coach so it's a lot better than last time.
You are practicing with the TSL teammates. What is the atmosphere like?
The people there are really great people and really great practice partners. I really like the Korean food. I am a fan of Korean food now.
How are you getting along with the TSL teammates? Have you befriended anyone?
TSL has really great people like Polt and Symbol. Within the Protosses, inori is really powerful. As practice partners they are fantastic. Compared to other Korean players I think the TSL people are really nice.
You have encountered Polt several times and you have even lost to him. You must be good friends with him.
You could say that. I enjoy playing against him and it is fun for me. He is a player I admire. As far as I can remember I have won three times against him and he has won four.
Your last televised match in Korea was the Blizzard Cup. How was your performance back then?
During the Blizzard Cup I faced DongRaeGu, HerO, MC, and Mvp. I beat DRG and HerO. It was such a difficult group for me that I was content with my 2-2 score.
You have a lot of fans in Korea. Were you aware of this?
Are there? I really didn't know. I've only participated in American and European tournaments so I didn't know about any fans in Korea. Thank you very much for letting me know.
A lot of KeSPA players who have just recently switched to SC2 have stated that they analyze your play a lot.
I haven't seen their BW performances but I have heard that all these players are incredibly famous. I didn't really know about them but I did hear that JaeDong was extremely famous. I am so grateful that a player like that likes me.
It's been said that you practice with a different regime than Korean players do. But even so, you have still managed to stay on par with the Korean players. What is your secret?
It's because I try not to think of them as Korean players. Whether they are Korean, European, or American players, the secret is to just do my own plays.
How much do you practice?
Currently, during my stay at the TSL house, I've been practicing 8 - 9 hours a day. But as of late because I participate in so many tournaments I didn't really have a lot of time to practice. When I'm in France, I practice about 3 - 4 hours a day and I stream a lot.
Within the foreign players out there, you have the best results. Is it okay to ask how much you've made?
I've made about 120,000 dollars right now. And that's just my winnings.
How famous is SC2 in France? How famous are you in France?
France is not home to the best SC2 players. There aren't many opportunities for people to watch great games. Aside from the Iron Squid there aren't many tournaments. For the fans, they enjoy watching SC2 more than playing it. As for my fame? (laughs). I'm quite famous.
You are deemed worthy of a GSL Code S seed. Don't you want the seed as well?
I had the opportunity to participate in the upcoming Code S but I turned it down. There are so many tournaments to attend in this world and if I attempted the GSL it would consume too much of my time that I wouldn't be able to attend all those other tournaments. In my current situation, it's difficult for me to even stay a month in Korea.
The Korean fans all say that Stephano is a Code S player. How far do you think you would go if you attempted Code S?
I haven't really thought about it. For the GSL, you play about a match a week. I'm not really used to tournaments like that. Focusing on only one opponent is not really my style. So it's hard for me to answer this question.
In your opinion, what is the level of the Korean GSL league?
If it's a league where I have to face multiple players at a time I am confident. If I have to practice to prepare for only one player then I'm not very confident. It's hard to say what their level is. There are just so many players in the GSL.
People say Stephano's 200/200 roach play is considered a very unique style. Do you yourself think so?
Of course I think my play style is unique. I analyze a lot of players' play but I don't really imitate it.
Lately in Korea, there is a notion that Zergs have gotten a lot harder to beat. Do you think so?
Zerg is stronger than Protoss. Against Terrans, it's 50/50. In my opinion, the current balances are not that bad. It's bad for Protoss and good for Zerg. Of course, this is just my opinion (laughs).
What are your future plans?
I'm going to leave Korean on the 19th, head to France, then head over to the upcoming MLG. After attending MLG I'm thinking about going back to Korea around November or December so I can practice again. It's not finalized but if I am in Korea by that time I think I'll be able to attempt Code S.
Anything to say for your Korean fans?
I really had no idea so many Korean people liked me. I am so happy that I found this out through this interview. In order to make them feel proud of the fact that they are my fans I am going to show great performances.
*Oh, and someone should point out MC to Stephano. Though he participates in GSL, he manages to partake in as many foreign tournaments as any foreign player and to be more successful than any of them. Do it!
that interview sounded like it was an interview of a random korean player and not stephano lol. all those "i will try to do better" and "i will practice harder", and the overall humble tone of the interview are so unlike stephano and so like the usual korean answers. i guess its just the way they do their interviews
Interesting. While not too long, it will be interesting to see results in the upcoming MLG. Wonder if his opinion on Inori is honest since a lot of people call him cheesy to say the least
On August 14 2012 03:32 Lokerek wrote: Interesting. While not too long, it will be interesting to see results in the upcoming MLG. Wonder if his opinion on Inori is honest since a lot of people call him cheesy to say the least
he played him a couple of times on stream... lost barely one game. since he is no match i don't think he has any problem with him. also i don't think that stephano has a personal problem with anyone who cheeses, at least not because of that
*Oh, and someone should point out MC to Stephano. Though he participates in GSL, he manages to partake in as many foreign tournaments as any foreign player and to be more successful than any of them. Do it!
On August 14 2012 03:28 Demonhunter04 wrote: I wonder how famous he really is in France.
I don't know. I walk in Paris with my winged horse T-shirt on a weekly basis and nearly no one ever looked like they knew what it was, so SC2 isn't really.... I guess maybe someone should recognize him once in a while, somewhere, by chance.
On August 14 2012 03:28 Demonhunter04 wrote: I wonder how famous he really is in France.
I don't know. I walk in Paris with my winged horse T-shirt on a weekly basis and nearly no one ever looked like they knew what it was, so SC2 isn't really.... I guess maybe someone should recognize him once in a while, somewhere, by chance.
obviously not as famous as like tv stars, but i think it was more refering to him within the starcraft 2 scene over there and not in "general" popularity.
If you doubt that france has a huge following for starcraft 2, go check the latest Iron Squid finals. I think it was one of the biggest esport events ever outside of korea.
On August 14 2012 03:28 Demonhunter04 wrote: I wonder how famous he really is in France.
I don't know. I walk in Paris with my winged horse T-shirt on a weekly basis and nearly no one ever looked like they knew what it was, so SC2 isn't really.... I guess maybe someone should recognize him once in a while, somewhere, by chance.
I think it depends on if you consider french people in general or just the french SC2 community. In the first case, he is a rich unknown, in second case he is a superstar.
On August 14 2012 03:28 Demonhunter04 wrote: I wonder how famous he really is in France.
I don't know. I walk in Paris with my winged horse T-shirt on a weekly basis and nearly no one ever looked like they knew what it was, so SC2 isn't really.... I guess maybe someone should recognize him once in a while, somewhere, by chance.
Aside people into gaming/starcraft, he is unknowned. Anyways "E-sport" isn't that big in France, videogames are considered as a hobby and getting serious about it is often misconsedered.
*Oh, and someone should point out MC to Stephano. Though he participates in GSL, he manages to partake in as many foreign tournaments as any foreign player and to be more successful than any of them. Do it!
Well, maybe Millenium can't afford it.
What Mill do or don't do is not very often tied to money.
Am I correct in thinking that this is a french person speaking english being translated into korean and then back into english? Thanks for the translation anyway though Funny seeing Stephano's words being Koreanised.
Any source that Stephano have many Korean fans? I did not think Star2 was that popular in Korea, and Stephano is even a foreigner which would mean even less people know of him. I am curious, it is great if he do have a large fanbase in Korea, but watching the GSL, most of the audience seem to be foreigners. However, I have been off the grid for two months, so perhaps the OSL Star2 had a large crowd?
On August 14 2012 03:31 shabby wrote: Stephano is the only progamer that says that his race is better off than others. If its true or not doesnt matter, its just refreshing.
On August 14 2012 04:16 Derrida wrote: "I've made about 120,000 dollars right now. And that's just my winnings."
So if I get this right, his contract with Millenium says that he gets the whole prize money + salary? damn.
yes millenium lets all the cash prize money to the players, plus u have a bonus on your earning
Afaik this is the case on most SC2 Foreign team or I am wrong? In Stephano's case, his yearly salary for now isn't that much (maybe 15K after taxes a year if really he has minimum salary on a term contract) but he also get the entierty of the streaming revenue.
Cool interview :o I like how he seems to be "positivley surprised" about having korean fans. Maybe this could tip him over to not just settle for top 3 or something, but instead always aim for first place
Great interview. Thanks for the translation, SeeKer and for sharing it here with us.
Good to hear that he is making friends with the TSL players. Coach Lee is the boss there, right?
Sounds like Stephano had a bit of an awkward time in the OGS House. I assume the situation was complicated by the fact that Stephano was there to compete in Blizzard Cup and he had MC and Hero in his group. Obviously the OGS boys would be supporting those two players over Stephano.
I hope he does try for Code S later this year. That would be epic.
*Oh, and someone should point out MC to Stephano. Though he participates in GSL, he manages to partake in as many foreign tournaments as any foreign player and to be more successful than any of them. Do it!
On August 14 2012 04:53 Windwaker wrote: this would be the perfect code-s season for him with ro8 and the finals at ipl5
Well actually, if he participated and won that one GSL, people will forever say that this GSL was not a normal GSL, therefore, it doesn't count as a win (and it would actually be kinda true..).
On August 14 2012 03:29 WiljushkA wrote: that interview sounded like it was an interview of a random korean player and not stephano lol. all those "i will try to do better" and "i will practice harder", and the overall humble tone of the interview are so unlike stephano and so like the usual korean answers. i guess its just the way they do their interviews
"I've made about 120,000 dollars right now. And that's just my winnings."
Don't really know, I just think he's finally getting the chance he has, but he still had no ideas about his korean fans and didn't picture himself as code S champion even if every foreign fans dreams about it
I really respect Stephano's comments about balance. It's so good to see a guy who isn't crying, not many of those around..
I hope he can show some good games in the GSL if he attends, but as he said he's not the type to prepare for his games. I'm not really sure he can do well in the GSL, but we'll see.
On August 14 2012 05:27 BathTubNZ wrote: Heh, that really did read exactly like one of the Korean interviews.
Agreed - I think some of it was sanitized when it went from English to Korean (maybe just a language translation thing?) and then when it came back out, it became Korean-sounding because of the translations.
On August 14 2012 03:31 shabby wrote: Stephano is the only progamer that says that his race is better off than others. If its true or not doesnt matter, its just refreshing.
Well DongRaeGu does too, actually.
And they are both zergs, who would have noticed that :p
I think Stephano is excited to hear that he has korean fans. Now maybe we will see him in a GSL.
On August 14 2012 03:51 Nelz wrote: Nice interview , Stephano doesn't even know how much he won in prizemoney, more like 160k according to sc2earnings!
Stephano to stay with Millenium, 100% sure, he seems too happy with the TSL guys.
sometimes teams take cuts of your prize winning at tournaments.. since you know they pay for your flight/hotel etc
On August 14 2012 03:28 Demonhunter04 wrote: I wonder how famous he really is in France.
I don't know. I walk in Paris with my winged horse T-shirt on a weekly basis and nearly no one ever looked like they knew what it was, so SC2 isn't really.... I guess maybe someone should recognize him once in a while, somewhere, by chance.
If I run into a dude wearing that T-shirt in Paris, I'll make sure to ask if it's you then. :D But yeah, so far I've met only one guy wearing an Iron Squid shirt.
I really had no idea so many Korean people liked me. I am so happy that I found this out through this interview. In order to make them feel proud of the fact that they are my fans I am going to show great performances.
Only a few weeks in korea, and now already a korean answer. Way to go, stephano! :D
On August 14 2012 03:04 SeeKeR wrote: This Is Game met with Stephano and told him about his major Korean fan database which he had no idea even existed.
On August 14 2012 03:31 shabby wrote: Stephano is the only progamer that says that his race is better off than others. If its true or not doesnt matter, its just refreshing.
Well DongRaeGu does too, actually.
And they are both zergs, who would have noticed that :p
I think Stephano is excited to hear that he has korean fans. Now maybe we will see him in a GSL.
On August 14 2012 08:04 scsequeL wrote: It's quite astounding that Stephano likes to practice 4-5 hours in his own time and is still the best foreigner out there.
Im pretty sure he lies about how much he practices. It's just not possible to be as good as he is off only 3-4 hours a day. he doesn't practice as much as the Koreans for sure, but 3-4 hours a day is just too few.
On August 14 2012 08:04 scsequeL wrote: It's quite astounding that Stephano likes to practice 4-5 hours in his own time and is still the best foreigner out there.
I figure it's partly due to Zerg. Not that it's not hard, but that there are less in the way of builds and styles that need practiced, especially in Stephano's case he's found a really good style, with a few variations that he can use over and over again. Got to be ingrained by now.
Enjoyed the interview, nice to see he's acknowledging the GSL issue and his strengths/weakness in terms of the formats, plus his practice regime. 3-4 hours at home, 8-9 hours in Korea, sounds pretty reasonable, now I don't think he's a complete freak of a man
On August 14 2012 08:04 scsequeL wrote: It's quite astounding that Stephano likes to practice 4-5 hours in his own time and is still the best foreigner out there.
it's more than most foreigner if it's dedicated practice so it's not that surprising.
Lol i knew that when he took that picture with Jaedong, stephano did not know how famous Jaedong is, and was probably thing "this is just another fanboy" hahaha glad to know that he is at least aware now
On August 14 2012 03:31 shabby wrote: Stephano is the only progamer that says that his race is better off than others. If its true or not doesnt matter, its just refreshing.
I think it's the best mindset to have. You pick your race because you think it's the best no? At least that should be why. Wether it's true or not, it can only help your mindset.
On August 14 2012 08:04 scsequeL wrote: It's quite astounding that Stephano likes to practice 4-5 hours in his own time and is still the best foreigner out there.
Im pretty sure he lies about how much he practices. It's just not possible to be as good as he is off only 3-4 hours a day. he doesn't practice as much as the Koreans for sure, but 3-4 hours a day is just too few.
I am pretty sure you are wrong. Do you honestly think he plays for 3-4 hours on his main account and afterwards switches to another one that noone has found out about so far? If so you underestimate how closely some people are following him.
On August 14 2012 03:28 Demonhunter04 wrote: I wonder how famous he really is in France.
I don't know. I walk in Paris with my winged horse T-shirt on a weekly basis and nearly no one ever looked like they knew what it was, so SC2 isn't really.... I guess maybe someone should recognize him once in a while, somewhere, by chance.
obviously not as famous as like tv stars, but i think it was more refering to him within the starcraft 2 scene over there and not in "general" popularity.
If you doubt that france has a huge following for starcraft 2, go check the latest Iron Squid finals. I think it was one of the biggest esport events ever outside of korea.
I'm pretty sure that someone like Voeckler is 10000x famous than Stephano
edit: he shouldn't attemp in GSL.. not the right format and it would deny that we could see him more often in other tournaments
I really think he should try the GSL... it's the best league in the world, and it's the only stage that he has yet to make a splash in. It'd be interesting to see if he's successful because he's a fantastic player or if he crashes and burns because the format is different than what he's used to.
Heck, he's even been given a Code S seed; might as well take it... although I don't blame him if he thinks he won't make as much money if he stays in Korea for the GSL instead of traveling internationally. That's the main goal, after all.
Thanks man, nice read and really nice questions, Stephano inspires many Players and he for sure inspired me as well. It was wonderful hearing his insight on the balance and the situation with him playing in GSL. I hope he does play in GSL one day though, because I think he would win ! Such a gosu boss.
On August 14 2012 08:04 scsequeL wrote: It's quite astounding that Stephano likes to practice 4-5 hours in his own time and is still the best foreigner out there.
Im pretty sure he lies about how much he practices. It's just not possible to be as good as he is off only 3-4 hours a day. he doesn't practice as much as the Koreans for sure, but 3-4 hours a day is just too few.
He may be lying or he might just be a lot more talented than the other players. What he says about practicing in interviews is always borne out by his match histories on his known accounts, so if he's lying, he definitely goes to great lengths to make his story sync up with his known profiles. Alexis Weissenberg used to practice the piano an hour a day and he was considered one of the best pianists of his time; the same goes for Martha Argerich and Vladmir Horowitz -- neither was reputed to take practice very seriously, at least later in the careers and both were considered among the very best concert pianists of their generation. If at least some pianists can do it, I don't see why at least some SC2 players can't get by on very "little" practice by the standards of most progamers. I'm not doubting your infinite wisdom on such matters, but certainly you are not in a position to judge how much someone had to have practiced given his results.
I can't picture myself cheering for any event in SC harder than if Stephano played in GSL. I was rooting hard for Nani as well, but I'm a Zerg and Stephano is just much closer to my heart
Great interview! I hope he does enter the GSL in November. I see what he means about not being confident if given time to prepare as he just hasn't had enough practice doing that and might not do it as efficiently as those who are preparing against him. However, I think after a season or two he will have a great grasp of it, especially given how intelligent he seems to be ^_^
He needs to pick a page out of mc's book of success and learn how to travel around the world ranking high in every tournament. As for not thinking he can perform well under the Gsl format, practice makes perfect. No foreigner is expected to come in on their first code s run and take the championship. He has already lost because he is approaching this with a pessimistic attitude. Where as in reality, all it takes is a season or 2 of raw experience to master how to succeed in Gsl.
On August 14 2012 10:15 Exigaet wrote: How does Stephano not know how much money he has made from winnings..
It is possible that he hasn't received some yet, I've heard it is a common problem. Also, he may mean it's 120 after taxes? Either way, at his age having the cash to buy a nice home outright is awesome. He could buy a house and work part time the rest of his life and live comfortably.
On August 14 2012 10:15 Exigaet wrote: How does Stephano not know how much money he has made from winnings..
It is possible that he hasn't received some yet, I've heard it is a common problem. Also, he may mean it's 120 after taxes? Either way, at his age having the cash to buy a nice home outright is awesome. He could buy a house and work part time the rest of his life and live comfortably.
I'm not sure about buy a house and work part time and live comfortably lol. You can't simply work part time the rest of your life if you have 50k in the bank. Especially considering it's significantly less in Euros than dollars.
On August 14 2012 10:15 Exigaet wrote: How does Stephano not know how much money he has made from winnings..
It is possible that he hasn't received some yet, I've heard it is a common problem. Also, he may mean it's 120 after taxes? Either way, at his age having the cash to buy a nice home outright is awesome. He could buy a house and work part time the rest of his life and live comfortably.
I'm not sure about buy a house and work part time and live comfortably lol. You can't simply work part time the rest of your life if you have 50k in the bank. Especially considering it's significantly less in Euros than dollars.
yeah lol this is not nearly enough to buy a house/work part time, you'd need upwards of 1 mill for that
Damn 120,000 from just winning o.O? If you add in his stream revenue, sponsors/endorsements and whatever else gives his money i wonder what hes got 250?
On August 14 2012 10:15 Exigaet wrote: How does Stephano not know how much money he has made from winnings..
It is possible that he hasn't received some yet, I've heard it is a common problem. Also, he may mean it's 120 after taxes? Either way, at his age having the cash to buy a nice home outright is awesome. He could buy a house and work part time the rest of his life and live comfortably.
I'm not sure about buy a house and work part time and live comfortably lol. You can't simply work part time the rest of your life if you have 50k in the bank. Especially considering it's significantly less in Euros than dollars.
yeah lol this is not nearly enough to buy a house/work part time, you'd need upwards of 1 mill for that
Stephano routinely draws in 10k viewers on his stream and usually plays for 4-5 hours. That and his salary should be netting him over 200k+. If he didn't put that in a bank and instead hired a broker to build a large and diverse investment portfolio he COULD actually live off that while still growing his wealth (Comfortably retiring in his mid twenties). He'll stay in progaming for at least one more year and make a lot more money. Of course, he's a 19 year old with a six figure income and I doubt he'd carefully plan for his financial future like this.
On August 14 2012 03:32 Lokerek wrote: Interesting. While not too long, it will be interesting to see results in the upcoming MLG. Wonder if his opinion on Inori is honest since a lot of people call him cheesy to say the least
Inori practiced with Stephano while Stephano was streaming. All of the games were long macro games and not cheesy at all.
On August 14 2012 10:15 Exigaet wrote: How does Stephano not know how much money he has made from winnings..
It is possible that he hasn't received some yet, I've heard it is a common problem. Also, he may mean it's 120 after taxes? Either way, at his age having the cash to buy a nice home outright is awesome. He could buy a house and work part time the rest of his life and live comfortably.
I'm not sure about buy a house and work part time and live comfortably lol. You can't simply work part time the rest of your life if you have 50k in the bank. Especially considering it's significantly less in Euros than dollars.
yeah lol this is not nearly enough to buy a house/work part time, you'd need upwards of 1 mill for that
Stephano routinely draws in 10k viewers on his stream and usually plays for 4-5 hours. That and his salary should be netting him over 200k+. If he didn't put that in a bank and instead hired a broker to build a large and diverse investment portfolio he COULD actually live off that while still growing his wealth (Comfortably retiring in his mid twenties). He'll stay in progaming for at least one more year and make a lot more money. Of course, he's a 19 year old with a six figure income and I doubt he'd carefully plan for his financial future like this.
if you think millenium could afford 200k in salary a year for steph ur caraaaazy.
the only team i think could afford that would be EG, but even i don't think they'd pay that much.
On August 14 2012 03:32 Lokerek wrote: Interesting. While not too long, it will be interesting to see results in the upcoming MLG. Wonder if his opinion on Inori is honest since a lot of people call him cheesy to say the least
Inori practiced with Stephano while Stephano was streaming. All of the games were long macro games and not cheesy at all.
People like Idra insult Inori because they don't like his approach the game, but the guy's a pretty good player. Much improved actually from the days he was really just PvP sniper
On August 14 2012 10:15 Exigaet wrote: How does Stephano not know how much money he has made from winnings..
It is possible that he hasn't received some yet, I've heard it is a common problem. Also, he may mean it's 120 after taxes? Either way, at his age having the cash to buy a nice home outright is awesome. He could buy a house and work part time the rest of his life and live comfortably.
I'm not sure about buy a house and work part time and live comfortably lol. You can't simply work part time the rest of your life if you have 50k in the bank. Especially considering it's significantly less in Euros than dollars.
yeah lol this is not nearly enough to buy a house/work part time, you'd need upwards of 1 mill for that
Stephano routinely draws in 10k viewers on his stream and usually plays for 4-5 hours. That and his salary should be netting him over 200k+. If he didn't put that in a bank and instead hired a broker to build a large and diverse investment portfolio he COULD actually live off that while still growing his wealth (Comfortably retiring in his mid twenties). He'll stay in progaming for at least one more year and make a lot more money. Of course, he's a 19 year old with a six figure income and I doubt he'd carefully plan for his financial future like this.
if you think millenium could afford 200k in salary a year for steph ur caraaaazy.
the only team i think could afford that would be EG, but even i don't think they'd pay that much.
200k is more than jaedong salary when he was the top zerg haha
On August 14 2012 10:15 Exigaet wrote: How does Stephano not know how much money he has made from winnings..
It is possible that he hasn't received some yet, I've heard it is a common problem. Also, he may mean it's 120 after taxes? Either way, at his age having the cash to buy a nice home outright is awesome. He could buy a house and work part time the rest of his life and live comfortably.
I'm not sure about buy a house and work part time and live comfortably lol. You can't simply work part time the rest of your life if you have 50k in the bank. Especially considering it's significantly less in Euros than dollars.
yeah lol this is not nearly enough to buy a house/work part time, you'd need upwards of 1 mill for that
Stephano routinely draws in 10k viewers on his stream and usually plays for 4-5 hours. That and his salary should be netting him over 200k+. If he didn't put that in a bank and instead hired a broker to build a large and diverse investment portfolio he COULD actually live off that while still growing his wealth (Comfortably retiring in his mid twenties). He'll stay in progaming for at least one more year and make a lot more money. Of course, he's a 19 year old with a six figure income and I doubt he'd carefully plan for his financial future like this.
he doesn't stream thattt often, and cpm lately is not so good, so i doubt he has made 200k+ (esp with taxes and winnings not being paid, etc). you can't do very much with ~150k, and the interest you get on 150k worth of investment is not enough to retire on haha.
On August 14 2012 10:15 Exigaet wrote: How does Stephano not know how much money he has made from winnings..
It is possible that he hasn't received some yet, I've heard it is a common problem. Also, he may mean it's 120 after taxes? Either way, at his age having the cash to buy a nice home outright is awesome. He could buy a house and work part time the rest of his life and live comfortably.
I'm not sure about buy a house and work part time and live comfortably lol. You can't simply work part time the rest of your life if you have 50k in the bank. Especially considering it's significantly less in Euros than dollars.
yeah lol this is not nearly enough to buy a house/work part time, you'd need upwards of 1 mill for that
Stephano routinely draws in 10k viewers on his stream and usually plays for 4-5 hours. That and his salary should be netting him over 200k+. If he didn't put that in a bank and instead hired a broker to build a large and diverse investment portfolio he COULD actually live off that while still growing his wealth (Comfortably retiring in his mid twenties). He'll stay in progaming for at least one more year and make a lot more money. Of course, he's a 19 year old with a six figure income and I doubt he'd carefully plan for his financial future like this.
if you think millenium could afford 200k in salary a year for steph ur caraaaazy.
the only team i think could afford that would be EG, but even i don't think they'd pay that much.
he meant 200k+ from prizemoney, stream revenue and salary combined
On August 14 2012 10:15 Exigaet wrote: How does Stephano not know how much money he has made from winnings..
It is possible that he hasn't received some yet, I've heard it is a common problem. Also, he may mean it's 120 after taxes? Either way, at his age having the cash to buy a nice home outright is awesome. He could buy a house and work part time the rest of his life and live comfortably.
I'm not sure about buy a house and work part time and live comfortably lol. You can't simply work part time the rest of your life if you have 50k in the bank. Especially considering it's significantly less in Euros than dollars.
yeah lol this is not nearly enough to buy a house/work part time, you'd need upwards of 1 mill for that
Stephano routinely draws in 10k viewers on his stream and usually plays for 4-5 hours. That and his salary should be netting him over 200k+. If he didn't put that in a bank and instead hired a broker to build a large and diverse investment portfolio he COULD actually live off that while still growing his wealth (Comfortably retiring in his mid twenties). He'll stay in progaming for at least one more year and make a lot more money. Of course, he's a 19 year old with a six figure income and I doubt he'd carefully plan for his financial future like this.
if you think millenium could afford 200k in salary a year for steph ur caraaaazy.
the only team i think could afford that would be EG, but even i don't think they'd pay that much.
200k is more than jaedong salary when he was the top zerg haha
On August 14 2012 10:15 Exigaet wrote: How does Stephano not know how much money he has made from winnings..
It is possible that he hasn't received some yet, I've heard it is a common problem. Also, he may mean it's 120 after taxes? Either way, at his age having the cash to buy a nice home outright is awesome. He could buy a house and work part time the rest of his life and live comfortably.
I'm not sure about buy a house and work part time and live comfortably lol. You can't simply work part time the rest of your life if you have 50k in the bank. Especially considering it's significantly less in Euros than dollars.
yeah lol this is not nearly enough to buy a house/work part time, you'd need upwards of 1 mill for that
Stephano routinely draws in 10k viewers on his stream and usually plays for 4-5 hours. That and his salary should be netting him over 200k+. If he didn't put that in a bank and instead hired a broker to build a large and diverse investment portfolio he COULD actually live off that while still growing his wealth (Comfortably retiring in his mid twenties). He'll stay in progaming for at least one more year and make a lot more money. Of course, he's a 19 year old with a six figure income and I doubt he'd carefully plan for his financial future like this.
he doesn't stream thattt often, and cpm lately is not so good, so i doubt he has made 200k+ (esp with taxes and winnings not being paid, etc). you can't do very much with ~150k, and the interest you get on 150k worth of investment is not enough to retire on haha.
Stephano said at DreamHack that he makes about 5K (Euros) in about 2/3 days of streaming. He may have been exaggerating though as the interview was with 2GD and had a lot of joking in it. It does seem his streaming revenue is significant though, not to mention that you can subscribe to his streaming on Twitch too which brings in extra cash.
DJ Wheat and Slasher interviewed him on LO3 the day or so before MLG Summer Arena and afterwards they said Stephano would likely get the largest contract for a Foreigner in SC2. No idea on figures but he will get a big raise regardless of whether he stays with Mill or moves to EG. I think that there also seems to be a lot more money in SC2 compared to a year ago, at least in prize money. If Stephano keeps his consistency of going deep in so many tournaments then his prize money accumulation rate could potentially increase too as the prize money on offer increases.
On August 14 2012 10:15 Exigaet wrote: How does Stephano not know how much money he has made from winnings..
It is possible that he hasn't received some yet, I've heard it is a common problem. Also, he may mean it's 120 after taxes? Either way, at his age having the cash to buy a nice home outright is awesome. He could buy a house and work part time the rest of his life and live comfortably.
I'm not sure about buy a house and work part time and live comfortably lol. You can't simply work part time the rest of your life if you have 50k in the bank. Especially considering it's significantly less in Euros than dollars.
yeah lol this is not nearly enough to buy a house/work part time, you'd need upwards of 1 mill for that
Stephano routinely draws in 10k viewers on his stream and usually plays for 4-5 hours. That and his salary should be netting him over 200k+. If he didn't put that in a bank and instead hired a broker to build a large and diverse investment portfolio he COULD actually live off that while still growing his wealth (Comfortably retiring in his mid twenties). He'll stay in progaming for at least one more year and make a lot more money. Of course, he's a 19 year old with a six figure income and I doubt he'd carefully plan for his financial future like this.
if you think millenium could afford 200k in salary a year for steph ur caraaaazy.
the only team i think could afford that would be EG, but even i don't think they'd pay that much.
For people wondering if Stephano is popular in France, I'd say that e-sports scene is rather great in France, but far from being mainstream. Let's say it gathers about half a million people*, with a much more smaller hardcore fan core, which is a great figure for an European country (France population : around 66 millions).
On that scene, nearly everyone knows who he is, and most of the people care about him, no matter if they're one of his fans or if they can't stand him :p
So, in short, his French e-sport celebrity is stellar, but he is almost unknown from general public. To be honest, no pro-gamer is well known from general public, aside maybe from ElkY, as a documentary about his Korean career was broadcasted years ago on the first national TV channel, France 2, and even then... (I think it was a part of "Envoyé Special" television program if someone remembers it.)
* Might be a debatable figure, but I'm kinda sure that I'm not very far from truth.
On August 14 2012 10:15 Exigaet wrote: How does Stephano not know how much money he has made from winnings..
It is possible that he hasn't received some yet, I've heard it is a common problem. Also, he may mean it's 120 after taxes? Either way, at his age having the cash to buy a nice home outright is awesome. He could buy a house and work part time the rest of his life and live comfortably.
I'm not sure about buy a house and work part time and live comfortably lol. You can't simply work part time the rest of your life if you have 50k in the bank. Especially considering it's significantly less in Euros than dollars.
yeah lol this is not nearly enough to buy a house/work part time, you'd need upwards of 1 mill for that
Stephano routinely draws in 10k viewers on his stream and usually plays for 4-5 hours. That and his salary should be netting him over 200k+. If he didn't put that in a bank and instead hired a broker to build a large and diverse investment portfolio he COULD actually live off that while still growing his wealth (Comfortably retiring in his mid twenties). He'll stay in progaming for at least one more year and make a lot more money. Of course, he's a 19 year old with a six figure income and I doubt he'd carefully plan for his financial future like this.
if you think millenium could afford 200k in salary a year for steph ur caraaaazy.
the only team i think could afford that would be EG, but even i don't think they'd pay that much.
You underestimate them a lot. Millenium do have money, they might be the richest european team. ^^
On August 14 2012 10:15 Exigaet wrote: How does Stephano not know how much money he has made from winnings..
It is possible that he hasn't received some yet, I've heard it is a common problem. Also, he may mean it's 120 after taxes? Either way, at his age having the cash to buy a nice home outright is awesome. He could buy a house and work part time the rest of his life and live comfortably.
I'm not sure about buy a house and work part time and live comfortably lol. You can't simply work part time the rest of your life if you have 50k in the bank. Especially considering it's significantly less in Euros than dollars.
yeah lol this is not nearly enough to buy a house/work part time, you'd need upwards of 1 mill for that
Stephano routinely draws in 10k viewers on his stream and usually plays for 4-5 hours. That and his salary should be netting him over 200k+. If he didn't put that in a bank and instead hired a broker to build a large and diverse investment portfolio he COULD actually live off that while still growing his wealth (Comfortably retiring in his mid twenties). He'll stay in progaming for at least one more year and make a lot more money. Of course, he's a 19 year old with a six figure income and I doubt he'd carefully plan for his financial future like this.
Living off 200k for the rest of your live, in France (or basically every middle-european country)? Rofl, are you mad or something?
I wouldn't even try it under 2 Millions+... Thats asuming i allready have a house which isn't counted in these 2 Mio..
On August 14 2012 03:29 WiljushkA wrote: that interview sounded like it was an interview of a random korean player and not stephano lol. all those "i will try to do better" and "i will practice harder", and the overall humble tone of the interview are so unlike stephano and so like the usual korean answers. i guess its just the way they do their interviews
Other cultures demand other behavior. He's THE foreign ambassador right now in Korea. It's good to see how he's able and agreeing to adapt that fast to mix in That's a professional attitude to have.
On August 14 2012 20:44 Serimek wrote: For people wondering if Stephano is popular in France, I'd say that e-sports scene is rather great in France, but far from being mainstream. Let's say it gathers about half a million people*, with a much more smaller hardcore fan core, which is a great figure for an European country (France population : around 66 millions).
On that scene, nearly everyone knows who he is, and most of the people care about him, no matter if they're one of his fans or if they can't stand him :p
So, in short, his French e-sport celebrity is stellar, but he is almost unknown from general public. To be honest, no pro-gamer is well known from general public, aside maybe from ElkY, as a documentary about his Korean career was broadcasted years ago on the first national TV channel, France 2, and even then... (I think it was a part of "Envoyé Special" television program if someone remembers it.)
* Might be a debatable figure, but I'm kinda sure that I'm not very far from truth.
Same here. Most people don't even know grubby, while when he goes to asia he has hordes of fans following him.
On August 14 2012 20:44 Serimek wrote: For people wondering if Stephano is popular in France, I'd say that e-sports scene is rather great in France, but far from being mainstream. Let's say it gathers about half a million people*, with a much more smaller hardcore fan core, which is a great figure for an European country (France population : around 66 millions).
On that scene, nearly everyone knows who he is, and most of the people care about him, no matter if they're one of his fans or if they can't stand him :p
So, in short, his French e-sport celebrity is stellar, but he is almost unknown from general public. To be honest, no pro-gamer is well known from general public, aside maybe from ElkY, as a documentary about his Korean career was broadcasted years ago on the first national TV channel, France 2, and even then... (I think it was a part of "Envoyé Special" television program if someone remembers it.)
* Might be a debatable figure, but I'm kinda sure that I'm not very far from truth.
Same here. Most people don't even know grubby, while when he goes to asia he has hordes of fans following him.
Yeah, but Garry Kasparov acknowledge Grubby when he was still the greatest chess player... Who cares about any ^else recognition ?! :p
i highly doubt streaming makes as much money as some people think. if thats the case i better just start casting dota2 matches and make some easy bux since so many noobs watch and dont even mind watching bad casters like those featured in tl.
On August 14 2012 03:31 shabby wrote: Stephano is the only progamer that says that his race is better off than others. If its true or not doesnt matter, its just refreshing.
On August 14 2012 22:12 aintz wrote: i highly doubt streaming makes as much money as some people think. if thats the case i better just start casting dota2 matches and make some easy bux since so many noobs watch and dont even mind watching bad casters like those featured in tl.
Well he did something like 600€ (~740$) on a 4 hours streaming session with about 13k people watching, once.
Was even funner when, back in the day, he said, that he isn't using Mutas vs Protoss because they are Imba... While next to every other Zerg was bitching about ZvP ^^.
*Oh, and someone should point out MC to Stephano. Though he participates in GSL, he manages to partake in as many foreign tournaments as any foreign player and to be more successful than any of them. Do it!
Well, maybe Millenium can't afford it.
Maybe someone more in tune with the French scene can confirm this, but I'm pretty sure Millenium is one of the richest foreign teams, I don't know quite where they are in comparison with Quantic, EG and Complexity, but I'm pretty sure they're up there.
*Oh, and someone should point out MC to Stephano. Though he participates in GSL, he manages to partake in as many foreign tournaments as any foreign player and to be more successful than any of them. Do it!
Well, maybe Millenium can't afford it.
Maybe someone more in tune with the French scene can confirm this, but I'm pretty sure Millenium is one of the richest foreign teams, I don't know quite where they are in comparison with Quantic, EG and Complexity, but I'm pretty sure they're up there.
Far from EG for sure, but probably richer than almost any European team, yes.
*Oh, and someone should point out MC to Stephano. Though he participates in GSL, he manages to partake in as many foreign tournaments as any foreign player and to be more successful than any of them. Do it!
Well, maybe Millenium can't afford it.
Maybe someone more in tune with the French scene can confirm this, but I'm pretty sure Millenium is one of the richest foreign teams, I don't know quite where they are in comparison with Quantic, EG and Complexity, but I'm pretty sure they're up there.
Well Lewellys once said that "money was not a problem and people needed to stop assuming Millenium could not afford players such as Stephano". He added that Mill had more budget than an other big european team but I can't remember which one.
On August 14 2012 23:09 reki- wrote: idk before stephano joined they didn't really have a good roster so i wonder where the money comes from then..
The money comes from :
Their website: News/streams/events in french for most of games and gaming events, millions of pages views every months with many ads and their sponsors everywhere.
Dailymotion : 3 Web TV, TV1 30M views (50 000 unique viewers during last ASUS ROG), TV2 13M views, TV3 4.4M views, all with video game content and ads again.
The money they get from Stephano's fame is in fact a pretty small part of their income. And they have a ton of money, just with their website and their TVs
Ah, it seemed like a small team that had no impact at all let alone having money in the bank. Then i guess Stephano is staying right where he is if Millenium wants him to.
On August 15 2012 00:09 reki- wrote: Ah, it seemed like a small team that had no impact at all let alone having money in the bank. Then i guess Stephano is staying right where he is if Millenium wants him to.
As an SC2 team, maybe. Don't forget Mill plays about every game there is out there.
On August 15 2012 00:09 reki- wrote: Ah, it seemed like a small team that had no impact at all let alone having money in the bank. Then i guess Stephano is staying right where he is if Millenium wants him to.
Millenium has teams in almost every game. They recruited the best players from Quake to play in their shootmania team for exemple.
I hope they will improve their LoL team though. And recruit another top tier player for their sc2 lineup.
On August 14 2012 10:15 Exigaet wrote: How does Stephano not know how much money he has made from winnings..
It is possible that he hasn't received some yet, I've heard it is a common problem. Also, he may mean it's 120 after taxes? Either way, at his age having the cash to buy a nice home outright is awesome. He could buy a house and work part time the rest of his life and live comfortably.
I'm not sure about buy a house and work part time and live comfortably lol. You can't simply work part time the rest of your life if you have 50k in the bank. Especially considering it's significantly less in Euros than dollars.
yeah lol this is not nearly enough to buy a house/work part time, you'd need upwards of 1 mill for that
Stephano routinely draws in 10k viewers on his stream and usually plays for 4-5 hours. That and his salary should be netting him over 200k+. If he didn't put that in a bank and instead hired a broker to build a large and diverse investment portfolio he COULD actually live off that while still growing his wealth (Comfortably retiring in his mid twenties). He'll stay in progaming for at least one more year and make a lot more money. Of course, he's a 19 year old with a six figure income and I doubt he'd carefully plan for his financial future like this.
if you think millenium could afford 200k in salary a year for steph ur caraaaazy.
the only team i think could afford that would be EG, but even i don't think they'd pay that much.
I really don't think EG can afford something that Mill can't. People underestimate Millenium money as much as they overestimate EG money.
On August 14 2012 10:15 Exigaet wrote: How does Stephano not know how much money he has made from winnings..
It is possible that he hasn't received some yet, I've heard it is a common problem. Also, he may mean it's 120 after taxes? Either way, at his age having the cash to buy a nice home outright is awesome. He could buy a house and work part time the rest of his life and live comfortably.
I'm not sure about buy a house and work part time and live comfortably lol. You can't simply work part time the rest of your life if you have 50k in the bank. Especially considering it's significantly less in Euros than dollars.
yeah lol this is not nearly enough to buy a house/work part time, you'd need upwards of 1 mill for that
Stephano routinely draws in 10k viewers on his stream and usually plays for 4-5 hours. That and his salary should be netting him over 200k+. If he didn't put that in a bank and instead hired a broker to build a large and diverse investment portfolio he COULD actually live off that while still growing his wealth (Comfortably retiring in his mid twenties). He'll stay in progaming for at least one more year and make a lot more money. Of course, he's a 19 year old with a six figure income and I doubt he'd carefully plan for his financial future like this.
if you think millenium could afford 200k in salary a year for steph ur caraaaazy.
the only team i think could afford that would be EG, but even i don't think they'd pay that much.
I really don't think EG can afford something that Mill can't. People underestimate Millenium money as much as they overestimate EG money.
okay nice to see some light shed. i misunderstood anyway, the guy meant cumulative money is 200k+ a year not just his salary alone.
*Oh, and someone should point out MC to Stephano. Though he participates in GSL, he manages to partake in as many foreign tournaments as any foreign player and to be more successful than any of them. Do it!
Well, maybe Millenium can't afford it.
Maybe someone more in tune with the French scene can confirm this, but I'm pretty sure Millenium is one of the richest foreign teams, I don't know quite where they are in comparison with Quantic, EG and Complexity, but I'm pretty sure they're up there.
I wonder if Complexity is more wealthy, considering Stephano tried switching to Complexity when he was still under Millenium's contract. (I can't think of any other reason besides money that Stephano would want to leave Millenium for Complexity.)
*Oh, and someone should point out MC to Stephano. Though he participates in GSL, he manages to partake in as many foreign tournaments as any foreign player and to be more successful than any of them. Do it!
Well, maybe Millenium can't afford it.
Maybe someone more in tune with the French scene can confirm this, but I'm pretty sure Millenium is one of the richest foreign teams, I don't know quite where they are in comparison with Quantic, EG and Complexity, but I'm pretty sure they're up there.
I wonder if Complexity is more wealthy, considering Stephano tried switching to Complexity when he was still under Millenium's contract. (I can't think of any other reason besides money that Stephano would want to leave Millenium for Complexity.)
compLexity signed Heart, Killer, NaDa, GanZi all at once. Pretty sure they got some serious dough Oo;;
*Oh, and someone should point out MC to Stephano. Though he participates in GSL, he manages to partake in as many foreign tournaments as any foreign player and to be more successful than any of them. Do it!
Well, maybe Millenium can't afford it.
Maybe someone more in tune with the French scene can confirm this, but I'm pretty sure Millenium is one of the richest foreign teams, I don't know quite where they are in comparison with Quantic, EG and Complexity, but I'm pretty sure they're up there.
I wonder if Complexity is more wealthy, considering Stephano tried switching to Complexity when he was still under Millenium's contract. (I can't think of any other reason besides money that Stephano would want to leave Millenium for Complexity.)
compLexity signed Heart, Killer, NaDa, GanZi all at once. Pretty sure they got some serious dough Oo;;
A very good point lol. I just hadn't heard/ didn't realize that Millenium was so wealthy too (compared to other teams)!
*Oh, and someone should point out MC to Stephano. Though he participates in GSL, he manages to partake in as many foreign tournaments as any foreign player and to be more successful than any of them. Do it!
Well, maybe Millenium can't afford it.
Maybe someone more in tune with the French scene can confirm this, but I'm pretty sure Millenium is one of the richest foreign teams, I don't know quite where they are in comparison with Quantic, EG and Complexity, but I'm pretty sure they're up there.
I wonder if Complexity is more wealthy, considering Stephano tried switching to Complexity when he was still under Millenium's contract. (I can't think of any other reason besides money that Stephano would want to leave Millenium for Complexity.)
compLexity signed Heart, Killer, NaDa, GanZi all at once. Pretty sure they got some serious dough Oo;;
A very good point lol. I just hadn't heard/ didn't realize that Millenium was so wealthy too (compared to other teams)!
To get an idea you need to look at millenium as a whole not just the starcraft 2 team, they just built a shootmania team with Strenx in it, recruited Cypher the Quakecon 2012 winner, they have 4 channels that deliver content from 10 AM to late in the night which are getting a lot of viewers, CDiscount one of the sponsor was the third e-commerce website in France for the year 2011 just behing ebay and amazon, with numbers close to amazon, it's not just a random sponsor, and you know MSI.
EPT
Millenium_Stephano![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/ewAmk.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/zGzP7.jpg)
, Stephano doesn't even know how much he won in prizemoney, more like 160k according to sc2earnings!
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/txWgN.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://juliekenner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/dr-evil.jpg)
