EPTGame Informer has run a lengthy article about retiring pro gamers and where they go. It features quotes from Day9, Flamesword, Walshy, Fatality, Fwiz and Slasher, among others. Quite an interesting read. Sample quotes below.
“The majority of players are assigned to teams or a personal sponsor,” says Rod “Slasher” Breslau, who is GameSpot’s eSports reporter and co-host of the eSports web show Live On Three. “In the West, teams had been created kind of like football clubs, where it’s just a guy with a bunch of money. Evil Geniuses are the biggest Western team in the world. They started from just a Counter-Strike team and guy named Alex Garfield who was an enthusiast. Now, it’s grown into a multimillion dollar business; he has teams in Dota, League of Legends, StarCraft II, World of Warcraft, Quake, Counter-Strike, Call of Duty, etc.... Salaries are never reported to the public, but top-tier guys in the West can make $80,000 or $90,000 a year on base salary. A lot of guys make $20,000 to $40,000 yearly.”
Breslau estimates that between 100 and 200 professional gamers worldwide earn enough through team salaries, prize money, and endorsements to support themselves by gaming and practicing full-time. Thanks to the increased visibility of tournaments (now able to be broadcast online to audiences of millions), professional gaming has spawned a new class of electronic athletes with legions of fans just like their counterparts in traditional sports.
Breslau estimates that between 100 and 200 professional gamers worldwide earn enough through team salaries, prize money, and endorsements to support themselves by gaming and practicing full-time. Thanks to the increased visibility of tournaments (now able to be broadcast online to audiences of millions), professional gaming has spawned a new class of electronic athletes with legions of fans just like their counterparts in traditional sports.
Johnathan Wendel, who became one of the world’s most famous Quake III Arena players under the name Fatal1ty in the early 2000s, described his regimen prior to a competition. “You’re talking eight, fourteen, sixteen hours a day,” he says. “And then also working out and being physically fit. I do a lot of stuff to be energetic and making sure my reflexes are good.”
For Plott, who began competing while still attending college full-time, the challenges were even greater. “I was just doing the usual college thing; attending classes and spending five to six hours a day training StarCraft” he says. “I actually used to get up very early in the morning, around 2:00 or 3:00 a.m., to train with Korean players up until breakfast, then I’d begin a normal day for a college student.”
For Plott, who began competing while still attending college full-time, the challenges were even greater. “I was just doing the usual college thing; attending classes and spending five to six hours a day training StarCraft” he says. “I actually used to get up very early in the morning, around 2:00 or 3:00 a.m., to train with Korean players up until breakfast, then I’d begin a normal day for a college student.”
Still, you don’t have to talk to any of them too long before you get a hint of the competitive fire that drove them to the top of professional gaming. When I ask Sean Plott if he missed competitive gaming, he says, “All day, everyday. There’s no feeling that replaces the joy of trying to push yourself hard and trying to win. I’m making it sound more bittersweet than it actually is. Yes, I miss it, but I can play a game with my brother and it’s just as fun.”
EG + Day[9] *-* 
