• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EST 05:13
CET 11:13
KST 19:13
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
Behind the Blue - Team Liquid History Book15Clem wins HomeStory Cup 289HomeStory Cup 28 - Info & Preview13Rongyi Cup S3 - Preview & Info8herO wins SC2 All-Star Invitational14
Community News
ACS replaced by "ASL Season Open" - Starts 21/0220LiuLi Cup: 2025 Grand Finals (Feb 10-16)26Weekly Cups (Feb 2-8): Classic, Solar, MaxPax win2Nexon's StarCraft game could be FPS, led by UMS maker10PIG STY FESTIVAL 7.0! (19 Feb - 1 Mar)14
StarCraft 2
General
How do you think the 5.0.15 balance patch (Oct 2025) for StarCraft II has affected the game? Nexon's StarCraft game could be FPS, led by UMS maker Terran Scanner Sweep Behind the Blue - Team Liquid History Book Weekly Cups (Jan 12-18): herO, MaxPax, Solar win
Tourneys
Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament RSL Season 4 announced for March-April PIG STY FESTIVAL 7.0! (19 Feb - 1 Mar) LiuLi Cup: 2025 Grand Finals (Feb 10-16) RSL Revival: Season 4 Korea Qualifier (Feb 14)
Strategy
Custom Maps
Map Editor closed ? [A] Starcraft Sound Mod
External Content
The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 512 Overclocked Mutation # 511 Temple of Rebirth Mutation # 510 Safety Violation
Brood War
General
Which units you wish saw more use in the game? ACS replaced by "ASL Season Open" - Starts 21/02 StarCraft player reflex TE scores [ASL21] Potential Map Candidates Gypsy to Korea
Tourneys
Escore Tournament StarCraft Season 1 [Megathread] Daily Proleagues Small VOD Thread 2.0 KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 1
Strategy
Fighting Spirit mining rates Zealot bombing is no longer popular? Simple Questions, Simple Answers Current Meta
Other Games
General Games
Path of Exile Nintendo Switch Thread Diablo 2 thread Battle Aces/David Kim RTS Megathread ZeroSpace Megathread
Dota 2
Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
TL Mafia Community Thread Mafia Game Mode Feedback/Ideas Vanilla Mini Mafia
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Ask and answer stupid questions here! Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine European Politico-economics QA Mega-thread The Games Industry And ATVI
Fan Clubs
The IdrA Fan Club The herO Fan Club!
Media & Entertainment
[Req][Books] Good Fantasy/SciFi books [Manga] One Piece Anime Discussion Thread
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
ADHD And Gaming Addiction…
TrAiDoS
My 2025 Magic: The Gathering…
DARKING
Life Update and thoughts.
FuDDx
How do archons sleep?
8882
StarCraft improvement
iopq
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 2096 users

SC2 earnings: EUvsNA

Forum Index > SC2 General
Post a Reply
1 2 3 4 5 10 11 12 Next All
4ZakeN87
Profile Joined June 2011
Sweden1071 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-02-02 11:21:23
February 01 2012 12:36 GMT
#1
Hi all!

This might be a little controversial but this is just some interesting /fun facts I looked up at http://sc2earnings.com/. Also if there is already a topic about this I apologies.

So there is no secret that Idra and Huk is representing a large part of the total wins of NA SC2 players. So I checked if the 2 of them had won more than the rest of the top 50 NA players combined (top being the number 3 to 50 highest by prize money wins). Turned out they have not, although it is actually not that far away.

This made me look a little more into the figures and I think they show well what NA:s "problem" is in the SC2 scene.

Top 2 EU and NA:
Huk + Idra = 110465$
Stephano + Naniwa = 140130$

Fairly even here, Stephanos back to back win with IPL3 and ESCW which earned him 68000$ makes EU take home this one.

If you expand this to top 3 EU and NA you get
NA = 132125$ (+Fenix)
EU = 184750$ (+White-ra)

Already here we can see that EU is starting to gain more lead compared to the top 2 comparison. The major difference is however in the players below top 3.

NA top earner 4-50: 144410$
EU top earner 4-50: 590350$

EU has 4-50 has more then 4 times the total prize earning compared to 4-50 in NA. Why this is I can only speculate but for some reason is EU and NA equal at the very top but for every step down the differences between the 2 scenes widens.

Think this has been obvious for most people watching SC2, but still thought I would be interesting to see how well the figures support this general claim.


Finally here is some perspective regarding the EU and NA differences ^^

Total wins by top 50 NA + top 50 EU SC2 players: 1051585$
Total wins by top 10 Koreans: 1450700$

Edit: This is only prize money earnings
Edit 2: Should probably have mentioned that it is actually America and not NA to be exact. So you have players like Killer and Fenix in there to.
"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler" Einstein
NeWeNiyaLord
Profile Blog Joined September 2010
Norway2474 Posts
February 01 2012 12:38 GMT
#2
Haha interesting read! thx for this
This is where we begin. Show your true self, Battosai.
llKenZyll
Profile Blog Joined November 2011
United States853 Posts
February 01 2012 12:38 GMT
#3
Thats not a lot. Did you count salaries and sponsers?
http://www.reddit.com/r/starcraft/comments/nd6nd/tang_in_his_natural_habitat/
Boonbag
Profile Blog Joined March 2008
France3318 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-02-01 12:40:25
February 01 2012 12:39 GMT
#4
We're just so rich we throw money at them like nothing

edit : its funny the EU total figures is like a little more than what Flash makes in a year
Mentalizor
Profile Joined January 2011
Denmark1596 Posts
February 01 2012 12:40 GMT
#5
That's interesting. More tournaments. ESL, Playhem and all those german/russian and small-language-tournaments (like danish) will generate alot of this. Just small cups with like 150€ prize/day will quickly add up, when all the pros can basicly make it every day just as a part of their online practice.

I think it's more a question of tournaments than anything else.
(yಠ,ಠ)y - Y U NO ALL IN? - rtsAlaran: " I somehow sit inside the bus.Hot_Bit giving me a massage"
Excludos
Profile Blog Joined April 2010
Norway8232 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-02-01 12:44:04
February 01 2012 12:40 GMT
#6
Is this only in winnings or also sponsor money?

I'm going to guess this is only winnings. Which isn't that weird then tbh. Europe has a ton more smaller tournaments in which you can rank up a lot of cash across.

Koreans doesn't have that. In return they have GSL. The "top 10 korean players" are pretty much the GSL winners.
Cirqueenflex
Profile Joined October 2010
499 Posts
February 01 2012 12:40 GMT
#7
i honestly think if you add in the salary of each player the numbers will be fairly even. At least i imagine top NA teams to pay their players way more than european teams
Give a man a fire, you keep him warm for a night. Set a man on fire, and you keep him warm for the rest of his life.
JustPassingBy
Profile Blog Joined January 2011
10776 Posts
February 01 2012 12:42 GMT
#8
On February 01 2012 21:38 llKenZyll wrote:
Thats not a lot. Did you count salaries and sponsers?


That's impossible to count, considering most details are secret.
But I do agree, salaries and sponsors do play a major role in the financial stability of professional gamers.
Morale
Profile Joined August 2010
Sweden1010 Posts
February 01 2012 12:42 GMT
#9
Intressting information, I think its part due to all the small online cups in Europe and the fact that there are way more good players in Europe.
Gotmog
Profile Joined October 2010
Serbia899 Posts
February 01 2012 12:42 GMT
#10
On February 01 2012 21:38 llKenZyll wrote:
Thats not a lot. Did you count salaries and sponsers?

Yeah because those stuff are public knowledge....
No he didn't.

Interesting...
Although i would expect US players to actually make more money from sponsors/streams etc...dunno. Even though i am from eu, i feel a lot closer connected to them.
"When you play the game of drones, you win or you die. There is no middle ground"
Yaki
Profile Joined April 2011
France4234 Posts
February 01 2012 12:43 GMT
#11
Very interesting facts to know thanks
MC ■ MarineKing ■ LosirA ■ To someone who has lost after trying his best, no words from the winner can console him.
PR4Y
Profile Joined November 2010
United States260 Posts
February 01 2012 12:44 GMT
#12
On February 01 2012 21:40 Cirqueenflex wrote:
i honestly think if you add in the salary of each player the numbers will be fairly even. At least i imagine top NA teams to pay their players way more than european teams



That's not the point of the thread... Salaries are a largely private figure, so noone would ever be able to calculate it accurately.


The point of this thread is to show that there is a LOT more money in EU for the _AVERAGE_ pro-gamer... not just the top-tier of pro making salary anyways.
I'm your average Brotoss brother, weilding my brommortal, brothership, brolossus, bro ray, broenix... BROTHERHOOD OF BROTOSS
MrBitter
Profile Joined January 2008
United States2940 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-02-01 12:47:13
February 01 2012 12:45 GMT
#13
I suspect that a lot of these statistics also hinge on that fact that the European tournament scene is a lot more active.

For every daily event in NA, EU has 2, and 500 euro weekly and monthly events are incredible common here, and these tourneys are almost exclusively played in, and thus won by Europeans.

Comparatively, the US has more "huge" events, but those are so seldom won my North Americans, and thus, don't really do much to help NA earnings.
isleyofthenorth
Profile Blog Joined June 2009
Austria894 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-02-01 12:49:14
February 01 2012 12:46 GMT
#14
so europe has more top players than na? not a surprise at all, has been like that in almost every pc game, rts fps or whatever, na on the other hand has much more console players(halo cod etc..) and fighting game players.

Also that money is worth more in some parts of europe. the living costs in eastern europe are much cheaper than in west/central/northern europe which is very similar to the us. thats why so many great players come from the ukraine for example, one of the poorest countries in europe
Kreb
Profile Joined September 2010
4834 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-02-01 12:48:38
February 01 2012 12:46 GMT
#15
Im not too surprised by this.

Im not sure why, but the NA scene seems to have their big dogs (MLG, IPL, NASL), and then pretty much nothing else. EU on the other hand seems to have an absolutely massive amount of weekly cups, several tournies in the 1000-5000$ range, while also several midsize tournies (usually LANs at various places around Europe) with like 5000-15000ish prize pools.

So the question goes both ways.
How come EU cant muster more than DH (and maybe ASUS ROG should be included too) in terms of really big sized tournaments?
And how come the NA scene seems extremely lacking beyond the few big guns?

Would be cool to hear someone more well informed share their thoughts about this.
monk
Profile Blog Joined May 2009
United States8476 Posts
February 01 2012 12:48 GMT
#16
Earnings imbalance? Occupy Starcraft imo.
Moderator
hitpoint
Profile Joined October 2010
United States1511 Posts
February 01 2012 12:50 GMT
#17
EU has way, way more small tournaments than NA does. So fewer mid level NA players have the opportunity to earn prize money. Even MLG, which is our biggest, had the prize pool of a small tournament last year.
It's spelled LOSE not LOOSE.
Tobberoth
Profile Joined August 2010
Sweden6375 Posts
February 01 2012 12:51 GMT
#18
On February 01 2012 21:46 isleyofthenorth wrote:
so europe has more top players than na? not a surprise at all, has been like that in almost every pc game, rts fps or whatever, na on the other hand has much more console players(halo cod etc..) and fighting game players.

Also that money is worth more in some parts of europe. the living costs in eastern europe are much cheaper than in west/central/northern europe which is very similar to the us. thats why so many great players come from the ukraine for example, one of the poorest countries in europe

That last argument is terrible. Sweden has the best pro lineup of all of Europe while being one of the more expensive countries to live in.
Ouga
Profile Joined March 2008
Finland645 Posts
February 01 2012 12:52 GMT
#19
There's no excuse for this. It's obvious EU has way wider high skill playerpool over NA. Same way as KR beats EU. Where NA may have 15 top players, EU has 50, KR has 200. Numbers straight from my ass, but giving sort of realistic picture imo. If there were more daily/weekly/monthly cups for NA, I'm sure more EU players striked at them too. It's not like the lag is bad at least, and many pros wouldn't mind about timezones either if it seemed like easy money.
Agathon
Profile Joined February 2011
France1505 Posts
February 01 2012 12:53 GMT
#20
On February 01 2012 21:40 Cirqueenflex wrote:
i honestly think if you add in the salary of each player the numbers will be fairly even. At least i imagine top NA teams to pay their players way more than european teams


It might be true for Idra an Huk, but there other ones...i dunno. NA players who are in EU team must be paid the same than EU players with the same level.

The big black box is NA teams (Light, Reign, EG, CoL, i definitly forgot many of them). I've no idea how much money their player from NA (who are very good, of course, but not the bests ones atm) who are the 4-50, are paid.

What defines if you're right or not, it's these 4-50 salaries. And i have no clue.
"C'est au pied du mur, qu'on voit le mieux...le mur".
1 2 3 4 5 10 11 12 Next All
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Sparkling Tuna Cup
10:00
Weekly #119
CranKy Ducklings53
LiquipediaDiscussion
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
SortOf 180
StarCraft: Brood War
Rain 3238
firebathero 1951
Sea 1470
Soulkey 463
actioN 457
Hyun 99
Stork 83
Leta 73
EffOrt 71
Rush 66
[ Show more ]
Sharp 63
ToSsGirL 59
sorry 55
Last 40
Hm[arnc] 31
Backho 21
soO 13
Shine 12
Movie 11
NotJumperer 11
zelot 9
Sacsri 5
Calm 0
Dota 2
XaKoH 804
NeuroSwarm151
Fuzer 38
Counter-Strike
olofmeister2115
Super Smash Bros
Mew2King98
Other Games
gofns22353
crisheroes372
Organizations
Counter-Strike
PGL25948
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 14 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• Berry_CruncH173
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• iopq 1
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
League of Legends
• Jankos2152
• Stunt561
Upcoming Events
LiuLi Cup
47m
Maru vs Reynor
Serral vs Rogue
Ladder Legends
7h 47m
Replay Cast
13h 47m
Replay Cast
22h 47m
Wardi Open
1d 1h
Monday Night Weeklies
1d 6h
OSC
1d 13h
WardiTV Winter Champion…
2 days
Replay Cast
2 days
WardiTV Winter Champion…
3 days
[ Show More ]
Replay Cast
3 days
PiG Sty Festival
3 days
The PondCast
3 days
KCM Race Survival
3 days
WardiTV Winter Champion…
4 days
Replay Cast
4 days
PiG Sty Festival
4 days
Epic.LAN
5 days
Replay Cast
5 days
PiG Sty Festival
5 days
CranKy Ducklings
5 days
Epic.LAN
6 days
Replay Cast
6 days
PiG Sty Festival
6 days
Sparkling Tuna Cup
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Proleague 2026-02-14
Rongyi Cup S3
Underdog Cup #3

Ongoing

KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 1
LiuLi Cup: 2025 Grand Finals
Nations Cup 2026
PGL Cluj-Napoca 2026
IEM Kraków 2026
BLAST Bounty Winter 2026
BLAST Bounty Winter Qual
eXTREMESLAND 2025
SL Budapest Major 2025

Upcoming

Escore Tournament S1: King of Kings
[S:21] ASL SEASON OPEN 1st Round
[S:21] ASL SEASON OPEN 1st Round Qualifier
[S:21] ASL SEASON OPEN 2nd Round
[S:21] ASL SEASON OPEN 2nd Round Qualifier
Acropolis #4
IPSL Spring 2026
HSC XXIX
uThermal 2v2 2026 Main Event
Bellum Gens Elite Stara Zagora 2026
RSL Revival: Season 4
WardiTV Winter 2026
BLAST Rivals Spring 2026
CCT Season 3 Global Finals
FISSURE Playground #3
IEM Rio 2026
PGL Bucharest 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 1
BLAST Open Spring 2026
ESL Pro League Season 23
ESL Pro League Season 23
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2026 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.