• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EST 05:09
CET 11:09
KST 19:09
  • 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
RSL Revival - 2025 Season Finals Preview8RSL Season 3 - Playoffs Preview0RSL Season 3 - RO16 Groups C & D Preview0RSL Season 3 - RO16 Groups A & B Preview2TL.net Map Contest #21: Winners12
Community News
SC2 All-Star Invitational: Jan 17-1815Weekly Cups (Dec 22-28): Classic & MaxPax win, Percival surprises2Weekly Cups (Dec 15-21): Classic wins big, MaxPax & Clem take weeklies3ComeBackTV's documentary on Byun's Career !11Weekly Cups (Dec 8-14): MaxPax, Clem, Cure win4
StarCraft 2
General
SC2 All-Star Invitational: Jan 17-18 Weekly Cups (Dec 22-28): Classic & MaxPax win, Percival surprises Chinese SC2 server to reopen; live all-star event in Hangzhou Starcraft 2 Zerg Coach ComeBackTV's documentary on Byun's Career !
Tourneys
WardiTV Mondays OSC Season 13 World Championship $5,000+ WardiTV 2025 Championship $100 Prize Pool - Winter Warp Gate Masters Showdow Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament
Strategy
Custom Maps
Map Editor closed ?
External Content
Mutation # 506 Warp Zone Mutation # 505 Rise From Ashes Mutation # 504 Retribution Mutation # 503 Fowl Play
Brood War
General
BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ I would like to say something about StarCraft (UMS) SWITCHEROO *New* /Destination Edit/ What monitor do you use for playing Remastered? BW General Discussion
Tourneys
[BSL21] Grand Finals - Sunday 21:00 CET SLON Grand Finals – Season 2 [Megathread] Daily Proleagues [BSL21] LB SemiFinals - Saturday 21:00 CET
Strategy
Fighting Spirit mining rates Simple Questions, Simple Answers Game Theory for Starcraft Current Meta
Other Games
General Games
General RTS Discussion Thread Nintendo Switch Thread Awesome Games Done Quick 2026! Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Mechabellum
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
Vanilla Mini Mafia Mafia Game Mode Feedback/Ideas Survivor II: The Amazon Sengoku Mafia
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Canadian Politics Mega-thread The Games Industry And ATVI Russo-Ukrainian War Thread 12 Days of Starcraft
Fan Clubs
White-Ra Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
Anime Discussion Thread [Manga] One Piece
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread Formula 1 Discussion
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread
TL Community
The Automated Ban List TL+ Announced Where to ask questions and add stream?
Blogs
National Diversity: A Challe…
TrAiDoS
I decided to write a webnov…
DjKniteX
James Bond movies ranking - pa…
Topin
StarCraft improvement
iopq
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 826 users

Earnings Per Game - A diff way to look at earnings

Forum Index > SC2 General
Post a Reply
1 2 3 4 Next All
lichter
Profile Blog Joined September 2010
1001 YEARS KESPAJAIL22272 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-09-27 09:13:54
September 27 2012 06:54 GMT
#1
Background: So, I was bored over lunch at work, so I decided to go watch Mvp's games yesterday in Code S. For some reason it struck me: I don't really get to see Mvp play as much as a lot of other players, but he's made such a fudge ton of money from SC2. Then it hit me: how much do players earn for each tournament game that they play?

Reason Why This is Interesting: Earnings are important, obvs. The best players win the most money, and are regarded as the most successful players.However, not all players participate in the same amount of tournaments. Some just do GSL forever, some live on an airplane to grab money from foreign economies (I'm looking at you MC >.> ), some only join tournies when they have free time (because they study). Having to travel and play so many games to earn money takes its toll, and being a pro is hard work, so being efficient at earning money from tournaments is a good indicator of success, and in some ways skill (less games needed to win more money, more tournie wins than tournies not won, etc).

Tools:
1. http://sc2earnings.com/ - the best site for earning data, as far as I know
2. TLPD - best place to look at player records!
3. Notepad - to list down the numbers. I love notepad
4. Calculator - I'm no math whiz

Variables:
1. Earnings - how much a player has earned in SC2 so far, from tournament wins and payouts
2. Games Played - Wins + Losses, both internationally and in Korea

Rationale: Why Games Played and not Wins - I decided to use games played instead of only wins because losses are important to consider. Losses have an "opportunity cost" in a way, because each loss results in 0 earnings instead of potentially more earnings from advancing further in the tournament. Seriously though this should be obvious T_T

Limitations:
1. As far as I know, sc2earnings does not include current tournaments where players haven't finalized their tournament position. So players in GSL Season 4 Ro8 haven't had the potential earnings from this round added to their totals.
2. I can only use TLPD data. Probably the most complete data but I'm not sure how 'correct' this would be for my purposes.
3. Team League games: TLPD includes team league games. Unfortunately it's too cumbersome to have to look through every single game played by these players to filter out team league games. The reason this should be done if possible follows
4. Team League earnings: Some of these players have won money through team leagues, but it's impossible to know how teams split the winnings, if at all.
5. I'm only doing the Top 10 players + interesting players, because there is a huge dropoff after the Top 10.

Formula:
Earnings Per Game = Earnings / Games Played. Duh.

==========
Results:
==========


The Original Top 10
[image loading]


The New Top 10 Based on Earnings Per Game
[image loading]
Drop outs: Stephano, Polt

================
Observations!!
================


Well shit that was a surprise.
I guess GSL 1 paid out a ton. $87,500 to be exact. Fruitdealer won 86% of his money in it. Despite not making anything since IEM New York, Fruitdealer was 11th in all time earnings, and because of the tiny amount of games he played, ends up being the most efficient earner of SC2 so far, and likely ever.

Traveling pays if you've got the stamina
The most traveled Koreans ended up earning more, but at the cost of time and energy. Out of MMA, MC, DRG, PuMa and MKP, arguably the most traveled Korean champs, only MMA ended up with a positive rank movement (+1). This is likely because of his huge GSL title money. Everyone else dropped in places or stayed even. MC dropped 4 places and MKP 3, both fan favorites traveling the most out of the GSL players. I don't even know how many places Polt drops had I computed the results for everyone.

The GSL title makes for an efficient full time job. If you can win it.
In total earnings, Stephano stands as the lone foreigner and non-GSL player. MKP, despite being forever Kong in GSL, still earns a lot because of foreign money. However, in Earnings Per Game, the top 7 players are all GSL champs. Curiously, the order in which they won appears similar to the order in our ranking! This is because the GSL has been trying to have better earning parity among its contestants, which results in less prize money for the winner. Still, Seed jumps a humongous 25 places because of his recent win, and we've already talked about Fruitdealer. The only GSL tournament winner that lags far behind is Polt, but we all know the Super Tournament wasn't a real GSL :p

Nestea and Mvp, by far the most efficient players still active
This was expected. They focus on the GSL, have 3 and 4 titles respectively, and stay in Code S most of the time. Despite their comparative slumps, both players still outearn the next active player (MMA, who is also arguably in a slump) by $200/game. Even with a lot of up and comers wrestling for the throne of Best Player or Best P/Z/T Player, it will take someone truly special to out earn these two legends, both in Total Earnings and Earnings Per Game. Just to illustrate how far ahead they are, Nestea needs to play 765 games and not earn a single penny for him to drop down to MKP's current earning efficiency level. MKP could sweep 10 straight GSL titles (18-0 x 10) and still not come close to Mvp's current earning efficiency. That's a lot of money for a lot less work.

We all love overanalyzing everything
Seriously. This includes you if you read this far into this pointless thread :p

Moving Forward:
I hope sc2earnings will use Earnings Per Game. It's an interesting measure of player success and is easy to solve for. Also, I hope that nothing happened at my office while I was doing this and neglecting my work, because I'm going on vacation tomorrow. ^^

Any suggestions to make the data better, just voice 'em out. Or do it yourself because I should be working >.>

TL;DR: Mvp and Nestea are the most efficient active players in SC2 in making money, but no one will ever catch up to the LEGENDARY FRUITDEALER.

====
EDIT!!
====

Some people have suggested doing this for more players, with more relevant info. It will take a while but here is a preview of what I'll do if I'm bored enough:

[image loading]
AdministratorYOU MUST HEED MY INSTRUCTIONS TAKE OFF YOUR THIIIINGS
canikizu
Profile Joined September 2010
4860 Posts
September 27 2012 07:03 GMT
#2
What about the worst? We need a list of that too.
nucLeaRTV
Profile Joined May 2011
Romania822 Posts
September 27 2012 07:08 GMT
#3
Well, sc2earnings is not always correct (they could forget about X dollars for Y place; Y >=6 at Z tournament), so a 'worst list' would not be as reliable as this.
"Having your own haters means you are famous"
Arterial
Profile Blog Joined August 2010
Australia1039 Posts
September 27 2012 07:12 GMT
#4
On September 27 2012 16:03 canikizu wrote:
What about the worst? We need a list of that too.

That'd just be depressing >.>
savior & jaedong
ChristianS
Profile Blog Joined March 2011
United States3262 Posts
September 27 2012 07:13 GMT
#5
Cool thread. Additional lesson learned: Stephano plays a HELL of a lot of tournament games.
"Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity." -Robert J. Hanlon
mrRoflpwn
Profile Blog Joined February 2011
United States2618 Posts
September 27 2012 07:14 GMT
#6
Ooh, this is interesting. Never really thought of this. LONG LIVE THE DEALER OF FRUIT!!!
Long live the Boss Toss!
lichter
Profile Blog Joined September 2010
1001 YEARS KESPAJAIL22272 Posts
September 27 2012 07:16 GMT
#7
On September 27 2012 16:03 canikizu wrote:
What about the worst? We need a list of that too.


Random B-team player #36?

I'd be on that worst earners list too; I've never earned a single dollar playing this damn game >.>
AdministratorYOU MUST HEED MY INSTRUCTIONS TAKE OFF YOUR THIIIINGS
Psyonic_Reaver
Profile Blog Joined June 2007
United States4339 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-09-27 07:20:36
September 27 2012 07:20 GMT
#8
I bet alot of foreigner teams would be on the bottom rung.
So wait? I'm bad? =(
Shellshock
Profile Blog Joined March 2011
United States97276 Posts
September 27 2012 07:21 GMT
#9
On September 27 2012 16:16 lichter wrote:
Show nested quote +
On September 27 2012 16:03 canikizu wrote:
What about the worst? We need a list of that too.


Random B-team player #36?

I'd be on that worst earners list too; I've never earned a single dollar playing this damn game >.>

I guess if you did lowest amount earned with a minimum game amount of like 100 or something. idk what a good number would be but that would be the way to go about it in my opinion because otherwise you'd just get a 5 thousand way tie of $0 from people who have like 3 games played
Moderatorhttp://i.imgur.com/U4xwqmD.png
TL+ Member
Hiea
Profile Joined March 2012
Denmark1538 Posts
September 27 2012 07:24 GMT
#10
I don't think you can actually say something like this as "efficient"

Just because Fruitdealer has a high, it's mostly because he played so few games in GSL for over a year because he kept falling out so early on every time.
Fionn
Profile Blog Joined October 2009
United States23455 Posts
September 27 2012 07:24 GMT
#11
Where's Polt/Stephano in the Earnings Per Game standings? I would like a Top 50. Cool idea.
Writerhttps://twitter.com/FionnOnFire
dream-_-
Profile Blog Joined April 2006
United States1857 Posts
September 27 2012 07:27 GMT
#12
Stephano has played more tourney games than I have played in my SC2 lifetime lol
lichter
Profile Blog Joined September 2010
1001 YEARS KESPAJAIL22272 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-09-27 07:28:56
September 27 2012 07:28 GMT
#13
On September 27 2012 16:24 Hiea wrote:
I don't think you can actually say something like this as "efficient"

Just because Fruitdealer has a high, it's mostly because he played so few games in GSL for over a year because he kept falling out so early on every time.


That's why the result is hilarious. Overanalyzing numbers like this is all just for silly fun (or as I mentioned I was bored at work) ^_^

On September 27 2012 16:24 Fionn wrote:
Where's Polt/Stephano in the Earnings Per Game standings? I would like a Top 50. Cool idea.


You just want Polt in there somehow >.>

I can probably do Top 50 next week. Gonna be away on vacation this weekend.
AdministratorYOU MUST HEED MY INSTRUCTIONS TAKE OFF YOUR THIIIINGS
MapleFractal
Profile Blog Joined October 2010
Canada307 Posts
September 27 2012 07:28 GMT
#14
So silly to keep fruitdealer on these lists, Sure he made bank, sure he won GSL. BUT HE DOESNT PLAY ANYMORE common remove retired players from these things. Im sure you put a lot of effort into this but common....
its called a Tuque damnit!
lichter
Profile Blog Joined September 2010
1001 YEARS KESPAJAIL22272 Posts
September 27 2012 07:31 GMT
#15
On September 27 2012 16:28 MapleFractal wrote:
So silly to keep fruitdealer on these lists, Sure he made bank, sure he won GSL. BUT HE DOESNT PLAY ANYMORE common remove retired players from these things. Im sure you put a lot of effort into this but common....


It took about 15 minutes >.>

I think it's interesting to keep him there. Despite losing so often and not doing anything after season 1, he still made quite a bit of money and didn't have to work for it much (which is great since he was probably drunk a lot apparently). He's just there for reference and because I find it funny.
AdministratorYOU MUST HEED MY INSTRUCTIONS TAKE OFF YOUR THIIIINGS
Hiea
Profile Joined March 2012
Denmark1538 Posts
September 27 2012 07:34 GMT
#16
On September 27 2012 16:28 lichter wrote:
Show nested quote +
On September 27 2012 16:24 Hiea wrote:
I don't think you can actually say something like this as "efficient"

Just because Fruitdealer has a high, it's mostly because he played so few games in GSL for over a year because he kept falling out so early on every time.


That's why the result is hilarious. Overanalyzing numbers like this is all just for silly fun (or as I mentioned I was bored at work) ^_^

Show nested quote +
On September 27 2012 16:24 Fionn wrote:
Where's Polt/Stephano in the Earnings Per Game standings? I would like a Top 50. Cool idea.


You just want Polt in there somehow >.>

I can probably do Top 50 next week. Gonna be away on vacation this weekend.


I think you should try and do a list of earnings per day

Take the date of their first earning till the most recent one and do the math.
lichter
Profile Blog Joined September 2010
1001 YEARS KESPAJAIL22272 Posts
September 27 2012 07:36 GMT
#17
On September 27 2012 16:34 Hiea wrote:
Show nested quote +
On September 27 2012 16:28 lichter wrote:
On September 27 2012 16:24 Hiea wrote:
I don't think you can actually say something like this as "efficient"

Just because Fruitdealer has a high, it's mostly because he played so few games in GSL for over a year because he kept falling out so early on every time.


That's why the result is hilarious. Overanalyzing numbers like this is all just for silly fun (or as I mentioned I was bored at work) ^_^

On September 27 2012 16:24 Fionn wrote:
Where's Polt/Stephano in the Earnings Per Game standings? I would like a Top 50. Cool idea.


You just want Polt in there somehow >.>

I can probably do Top 50 next week. Gonna be away on vacation this weekend.


I think you should try and do a list of earnings per day

Take the date of their first earning till the most recent one and do the math.


Earnings per tournament is probably a good one too.

I guess I could do it little by little every time I'm bored at work
AdministratorYOU MUST HEED MY INSTRUCTIONS TAKE OFF YOUR THIIIINGS
dezi
Profile Blog Joined April 2010
Germany1536 Posts
September 27 2012 07:40 GMT
#18
I thought this would be a thread about sc2 earnings compared to earnings in other games - anyway gj.
TPW Member | My Maps @ TL: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=171486 | Search 'dezi' at EU
FuzzyJAM
Profile Joined July 2010
Scotland9300 Posts
September 27 2012 07:52 GMT
#19
Cool list.

Now I want to see earnings per tournament prize pool of tournaments entered! Someone get on that.
Did you ever say Yes to a single joy?
Maxilicious
Profile Joined May 2011
221 Posts
September 27 2012 07:58 GMT
#20
Interesting concept.
Judging from Nestea's earning per game, one can say that Nestea either makes it real far in a tournament or just gets knocked out of a tournament really early.
http://terrancraft.com/
1 2 3 4 Next All
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Next event in 1d 2h
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
DivinesiaTV 55
SortOf 0
StarCraft: Brood War
Sea 2098
GuemChi 1291
Horang2 1124
Stork 504
actioN 398
Soma 376
Hyuk 369
Larva 288
Zeus 251
PianO 221
[ Show more ]
Shuttle 128
Sharp 115
Leta 108
ggaemo 77
ToSsGirL 74
EffOrt 67
hero 49
Shine 41
ZerO 30
NaDa 27
Nal_rA 26
Sacsri 20
yabsab 20
Last 15
ajuk12(nOOB) 9
Dota 2
NeuroSwarm137
League of Legends
C9.Mang0593
Other Games
Happy768
Fuzer 294
Mew2King29
ZerO(Twitch)5
Organizations
Other Games
gamesdonequick955
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 14 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• Light_VIP 28
• Adnapsc2 17
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• iopq 3
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
League of Legends
• HappyZerGling167
Upcoming Events
OSC
1d 2h
Korean StarCraft League
1d 16h
OSC
2 days
IPSL
2 days
Dewalt vs Bonyth
OSC
2 days
OSC
3 days
uThermal 2v2 Circuit
3 days
Replay Cast
3 days
Patches Events
4 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

C-Race Season 1
WardiTV 2025
META Madness #9

Ongoing

IPSL Winter 2025-26
BSL Season 21
Slon Tour Season 2
CSL Season 19: Qualifier 2
eXTREMESLAND 2025
SL Budapest Major 2025
ESL Impact League Season 8
BLAST Rivals Fall 2025
IEM Chengdu 2025
PGL Masters Bucharest 2025
Thunderpick World Champ.
CS Asia Championships 2025

Upcoming

Escore Tournament S1: W2
CSL 2025 WINTER (S19)
Escore Tournament S1: W3
BSL 21 Non-Korean Championship
Acropolis #4
IPSL Spring 2026
Bellum Gens Elite Stara Zagora 2026
HSC XXVIII
Thunderfire SC2 All-star 2025
Big Gabe Cup #3
OSC Championship Season 13
Nations Cup 2026
Underdog Cup #3
NA Kuram Kup
ESL Pro League Season 23
ESL Pro League Season 23
PGL Cluj-Napoca 2026
IEM Kraków 2026
BLAST Bounty Winter 2026
BLAST Bounty Winter Qual
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.