After the article “SofM is one of the 2 pioneering jungle players who shaped the world-dominating playstyle of LPL” was shared on Chinese social media, the name SofM suddenly became popular again, and the question of his income is one of the most curious for fans.
In a topic created on the Baidu forum by a self-proclaimed “former LPL employee” (who also revealed kkOma’s impressive income before), this individual shared shocking information about SofM’s earnings at Suning Gaming.
According to this individual, SofM’s salary at Suning Gaming is currently “no less than 20 million RMB”: “Both the transfer value and SofM’s salary are just slightly lower than Karsa’s.”
From this information, Chinese netizens further investigated and found that in a previous stream, Xiaohu had revealed that the player from LMS is currently earning over 20 million RMB/year at TOP Esports, and according to the shared topic, the amount SofM receives each year from Suning is also no less than 20 million RMB, which is about 65.7 billion VND, equivalent to 5.5 billion VND/month.
This figure is even 2.5 times higher than the information “SofM earns 2 billion VND each month” that Coach Ba had previously disclosed.
When some opinions responded that the above figure is quite unreasonable, as Karsa’s reputation and achievements clearly surpass those of SofM, many other players countered: “Don’t just look at the surface to evaluate a player’s worth. Frankly, if SofM’s and Mlxg’s playstyles were ineffective, Karsa wouldn’t have transferred to LPL. In the eyes of professionals, SofM is not inferior to Karsa at all, so don’t mention lower salaries; if he had the same achievements as Karsa, his income would be even more impressive.”
Karsa himself has also confirmed on stream that, in his opinion, the two most influential jungle players in LPL are Mlxg and SofM. Even opponents acknowledge SofM’s impact, so there’s no reason for the gaming community not to recognize his talent and agree that the mentioned income is completely reasonable.
In reality, the amount of 20 million RMB is considered extremely high compared to the income of most people in China, but it pales in comparison to the enormous financial power of Suning Gaming.
For those who don’t know, Suning Gaming is a League of Legends team under the SNG E-Sports Club organization – a “subsidiary” of Suning Sports Group, owned by Zhang Khang Yang – a very famous figure among the “Fu Er Dai” (children of billionaire tycoons and senior officials) in China.
Suning Sports Group also owns one of the greatest football clubs in the world – Internazionale Milano (Inter Milan). Therefore, the amount of 20 million RMB per year, not to mention transfer fees for SofM, is truly insignificant compared to the bottomless pockets of this team. Moreover, SofM himself is a name that has been recognized by the entire LPL for his talent, so it is entirely reasonable for owner Zhang Khang Yang to be willing to spend a large sum to acquire him.