The Overwatch League (OWL) is a professional eSports league for the video game Overwatch. It was founded in 2016 by Blizzard Entertainment, and it has become one of the world’s most watched eSports competitions.
The OWL has a total prize pool of $5,000,000 for the 2019 season. That’s split among all 12 teams in the league, but since there are only 11 cities represented in OWL right now (Atlanta is set to join next year), each team gets an equal share of the prize pool—meaning that every player gets paid $45,000 per year.
That’s what makes Overwatch (and other esports) so unique: you don’t have to be some sort of prodigy to make money playing video games professionally! You just have to be good enough to get picked up by an esports team or organization, which will pay you a salary (and sometimes provide training and equipment).
The Overwatch League is a professional esports organization that hosts and manages Overwatch tournaments. Overwatch League players are paid a salary and prize money based on the amount of seasons they’ve played in. The more seasons you participate in, the more money you get paid.
The highest salary paid to an Overwatch player belongs to Dallas Fuel player Seagull, who’s made $150,000 per season since he joined the league in 2016. That’s not just because he’s good at his game—it also has to do with how much time he spends practicing and playing games. The average salary for Overwatch players is $100,000 per year, which isn’t bad for playing video games!
The Overwatch League is a professional esports organization with teams from around the world. The league was founded in 2017, and it currently has two seasons per year.
The highest salary for an Overwatch player is $1,800,000 USD. This is what the New York Excelsior paid for Jjonak to play for them. This article also reviews highest paid league of legends player, average overwatch league salary.
Overwatch League Highest Salary
While top-tier Overwatch pro play has existed since early 2016 with APEX, it didn’t really hit the forefront of everyone’s minds until the Overwatch League in 2018. With big franchises fronting big money to play in the League, no matter what esport you followed, it was hard not to take notice.
Now four seasons in, Overwatch fans are slowly seeing the fruits of the league. Players are earning big salaries, but there are still hefty amounts of prize money on the line. If you win the title in any given year, that’s over $1 million right there for the team.
The Shock took home OWL 2019, and over $1 million as a team.
The OWL was shaken up a little bit in 2020. With the move to a homestand format and then over to monthly online cups, the prize money was a bit more eventually distributed. If you performed well throughout the year, you’d undoubtedly make bank.
Nevertheless, the top 20 is dominated by OWL champions. San Francisco Shock players make up the majority of the top earners, but plenty of other veterans have also cracked into the top spots.
The first Western player to appear on the list is Moth, thanks to his time on the San Francisco Shock. He then played for the Los Angeles Gladiators before becoming a free agent after the 2021 playoffs.
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Profit’s 2018 OWL win helped him become one of the highest earners in Overwatch.
With hunrdeds of thousands on the line at every event, teams and players are always changing position on the list. But with the 2021 offseason now in effect, there’s a period of downtime before any further changes can come through.
This list only includes prize money that players have won while competing in Overwatch, and does not include any earnings from other titles, or their salary from their respective organizations.
Top 20 highest earning Overwatch pros as of October 2021
| POSITION | NAME | EARNINGS |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | smurf | $348,295.27 |
| 2nd | Moth | $346,909.36 |
| 3rd | ChoiHyoBin | $345,768.31 |
| 4th | super | $339,059.13 |
| 5th | Rascal | $337,219.79 |
| 6th | Viol2t | $335,012.30 |
| 7th | Striker | $328,535.35 |
| 8th | Void | $310,990.57 |
| 9th | Gesture | $294,912.79 |
| 10th | Profit | $294,912.79 |
| 11th | Twilight | $293,502.70 |
| 12th | Fleta | $286,833.16 |
| 13th | Izayaki | $283,185.66 |
| 14th | LeeJaeGon | $274,731.45 |
| 15th | Whoru | $267,397.51 |
| 16th | Bdosin | $267,371.47 |
| 17th | FaTe | $253,593.79 |
| 18th | LIP | $245,313.20 |
| 19th | birdring | $239,703.84 |
| 20th | Fury | $231,832.25 |
average overwatch league salary
As of Oct 19, 2022, the average annual pay for an Overwatch League in the United States is $43,532 a year.
Just in case you need a simple salary calculator, that works out to be approximately $20.93 an hour. This is the equivalent of $837/week or $3,627/month.
While ZipRecruiter is seeing annual salaries as high as $82,000 and as low as $16,000, the majority of Overwatch League salaries currently range between $22,500 (25th percentile) to $57,500 (75th percentile) with top earners (90th percentile) making $75,500 annually across the United States. The average pay range for an Overwatch League varies greatly (by as much as $35,000), which suggests there may be many opportunities for advancement and increased pay based on skill level, location and years of experience.
Based on recent job posting activity on ZipRecruiter, the Overwatch League job market in both Lagos, NG and throughout the entire state of is not very active as few companies are currently hiring. An Overwatch League in your area makes on average $44,237 per year, or $705 (2%) more than the national average annual salary of $43,532. ranks number 1 out of 50 states nationwide for Overwatch League salaries.
To estimate the most accurate annual salary range for Overwatch League jobs, ZipRecruiter continuously scans its database of millions of active jobs published locally throughout America.
What are Top 10 Highest Paying Cities for Overwatch League Jobs
We’ve identified 10 cities where the typical salary for an Overwatch League job is above the national average. Topping the list is Atkinson, NE, with Green River, WY and Stamford, CT close behind in the second and third positions. Stamford, CT beats the national average by $8,051 (18.5%), and Atkinson, NE furthers that trend with another $10,008 (23.0%) above the $43,532 average.
With these 10 cities having average salaries higher than the national average, the opportunities for economic advancement by changing locations as an Overwatch League appears to be exceedingly fruitful.
Finally, another factor to consider is the average salary for these top ten cities varies very little at 10% between Atkinson, NE and Cool Valley, MO, reinforcing the limited potential for much wage advancement. The possibility of a lower cost of living may be the best factor to use when considering location and salary for an Overwatch League role.
| City | Annual Salary | Monthly Pay | Weekly Pay | Hourly Wage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atkinson, NE | $53,540 | $4,461 | $1,029 | $25.74 |
| Green River, WY | $52,642 | $4,386 | $1,012 | $25.31 |
| Stamford, CT | $51,583 | $4,298 | $991 | $24.80 |
| Bellevue, WA | $51,197 | $4,266 | $984 | $24.61 |
| Belgrade, MT | $50,869 | $4,239 | $978 | $24.46 |
| Keystone, CO | $49,943 | $4,161 | $960 | $24.01 |
| San Francisco, CA | $49,162 | $4,096 | $945 | $23.64 |
| Bolinas, CA | $48,970 | $4,080 | $941 | $23.54 |
| Hartford, CT | $48,915 | $4,076 | $940 | $23.52 |
| Cool Valley, MO | $48,359 | $4,029 | $929 | $23.25 |
What are Top 5 Best Paying Related Overwatch League Jobs in the U.S.
We found at least five jobs related to the Overwatch League job category that pay more per year than a typical Overwatch League salary. Top examples of these roles include: Rocket Gaming, Esports Operations, and FIFA Esports.
Importantly, all of these jobs are paid between $15,965 (36.7%) and $36,061 (82.8%) more than the average Overwatch League salary of $43,532. If you’re qualified, getting hired for one of these related Overwatch League jobs may help you make more money than that of the average Overwatch League position.
| Job Title | Annual Salary | Monthly Pay | Weekly Pay | Hourly Wage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rocket Gaming | $79,593 | $6,632 | $1,530 | $38.27 |
| Esports Operations | $71,267 | $5,938 | $1,370 | $34.26 |
| FIFA Esports | $63,035 | $5,252 | $1,212 | $30.31 |
| Esports One | $61,502 | $5,125 | $1,182 | $29.57 |
| Work From Home International League | $59,497 | $4,958 | $1,144 | $28.60 |
About Our Data
ZipRecruiter salary estimates, histograms, trends and comparisons are derived from both employer job postings and third party data sources.
highest paid league of legends player
| # | Nickname | Name | Country | Earnings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Faker | Lee Sang-hyeok | South Korea | $1,257,615 |
| 2 | Duke | Lee Ho-seong | South Korea | $954,620 |
| 3 | Bang | Bae Jun-sik | South Korea | $915,451 |
| 4 | Wolf | Lee Jae-wan | South Korea | $913,084 |
| 5 | Bengi | Bae Seong-ung | South Korea | $810,683 |
| 6 | JackeyLove | Yu Wen-Bo | China | $641,748 |
| 7 | Rookie | Song Eui-jin | South Korea | $610,445 |
| 8 | Ning | Gao Zhen-Ning | China | $566,607 |
| 9 | Blank | Kang Sun-gu | South Korea | $559,518 |
| 10 | Ambition | Kang Chan-yong | South Korea | $553,234 |
| 11 | Baolan | Wang Liu-Yi | China | $548,235 |
| 12 | Uzi | Jian Zi-Hao | China | $545,447 |
| 13 | Core JJ | Jo Yong-in | South Korea | $544,837 |
| 14 | TheShy | Kang Seun-kok | South Korea | $538,444 |
| 15 | Mata | Cho Se-hyeong | South Korea | $533,979 |
| 16 | xiaohu | Li Yuan-Hao | China | $507,800 |
| 17 | Ruler | Park Jae-hyuk | South Korea | $506,707 |
| 18 | Impact | Jung Eon-yeong | South Korea | $504,056 |
| 19 | Karsa | Hung Hao-Hsuan | Taiwan | $498,426 |
| 20 | CuVee | Lee Seong-jin | South Korea | $488,379 |
