The story “behind the spotlight” has always been a topic of special interest among fans whenever major tournaments conclude. When DWG KIA triumphed at Worlds 2020, people reminisced about the tough times when these young players had to “grind it out at internet cafes.” For Chinese fans, what matters most to League of Legends enthusiasts in the country is simply the salary range that these players are actually earning.
In the past five years, Esports in China has developed to a fully professional level, so they are confident that no similar situation to DWG will occur, meaning that promising young talents won’t have to “sleep rough.” Therefore, after RNG’s championship at MSI 2021, what Chinese fans were still focused on was salary discussions. For them, hearing about the “jaw-dropping” income figures of Esports athletes seems to be more intriguing.
Kid – a former player of Invictus Gaming (he played for IG from 2012 to early 2018), during a recent stream, revealed many interesting insights around this topic. As a name that can be called “Gen 1” of the Chinese League of Legends scene, Kid reminisced about the early days of Esports in the country and affirmed that Chinese Esports has made rapid progress compared to the present.
In 2013, Team WE (WE) – considered the richest organization in the LPL at that time, could only pay a salary of 3,000 Chinese Yuan (CNY) per month, which is about 11 million VND for their players. Meanwhile, currently, the lowest salary that a player with a regular slot (not a substitute) in the LPL can earn is also 300,000 CNY/month (over 1 billion VND). Kid added that, of course, there are still some cases with lower salaries, but those are mainly substitute players. Official players in LPL teams are always guaranteed a salary of several million CNY per year.
Kid stated that JackeyLove is currently the highest-paid player in the LPL, with figures reaching tens of millions of CNY per year. This former player also revealed that in most top teams like TES, EDG, SN, FPX, WE, and JDG, their top stars receive no less than 10 million CNY (approximately 36 billion VND) each year.
Kid’s information closely matches a source shared by the LPL community earlier in 2021, when SofM had not announced his new contract with Suning. Accordingly, SofM’s income based on the new contract is 12 million CNY/year (about 42.4 billion VND).
When Kid mentioned the term “star,” of course, no one doubts that the names mentioned here include SofM – the captain and number one star of Suning. Naturally, players’ salaries are considered “top secret” and will never be verified. However, with the information shared in a “neighborhood gossip” style like that of Kid, we can be assured that Duy Cau Giay is still enjoying compensation that is reasonable and commensurate with his contributions.
