Top 10 highest earning esports teams of 2022

2022 brought many highs and lows for the esports industry, and teams from all over the world competed to bring home millions in prize winnings.

But, who were the top earning and most successful teams of 2022?

We look at the 10 highest earning esports teams of last year based on their total prize winnings, according to Esports Earnings.

Please note: All of the monetary figures in this article are in USD.

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10.

Bringing in over $2.2million in prize pools across 67 tournaments, G2 performed very well throughout 2022.

Most notably, the CS:GO roster managed to win the BLAST Premier 2022 World Finals, and significantly improve from their placement at the event in 2021. Winning this event saw the team bring in $500,000 in prize money.

Another big win in 2022 for G2 was winning the LEC Spring event, and bringing home $87,000 to the org.

The player that brought in the most winnings for G2 in 2022 was Jacob ‘JKnaps’ Knapman – a Canadian Rocket League player that achieved $217,533 over 15 tournaments.

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9.

Founded in 2016 as an extension of the well-renowned football club, Paris Saint-Germain Esports has come a long way in the competitive scene, and has managed to achieve more than $2.6million in 2022 alone.

Initially having a focus on FIFA, the team expanded into a multitude of titles, but their most notable win of last year came from winning the Dota 2 Riyadh Masters 2022, and winning $1.5million in prize money.

It seemed that 2022 was a good year for MOBAs for the organisation, as they also won the PCS Spring 2022 League of Legends event, and won $30,000.

Wang ‘Ame’ Chunyu, Chinese Dota 2 player, is the highest earner for PSG, and across 10 tournaments in 2022, brought in almost half a million dollars in winnings representing the organisation.

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8.

From 57 tournaments in a few different esports titles, NaVi managed to bring home over $2.7million in earnings for 2022, adding to their ever growing achievements.

CS:GO is the biggest title for the Ukrainian organisation, with $824,500 of the winnings from last year being just from various CS:GO tournaments. The most notable achievement of 2022 for the org was winning the BLAST Premier Spring Finals and securing themselves $200,000 in prize money.

As well as their main roster winning in CS:GO, NAVI’s female roster (NaVi Javelins) also managed to win some tournaments in 2022 – bringing in $16,750 of prize money in 6 different tournaments, including winning the ESL Impact Cash Cup.

16-time CS:GO MVP Alexander ‘s1mple’ Kostylev is NaVi’s top earning player for 2022, earning himself $162,650 across 12 different tournaments.

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7.

Another team running under a well-known football team, Wolverhampton FC, have taken the esports world by storm in 2022 – bringing in a good amount of tournament wins.

Hitting over $3million in prize winnings for last year puts Wolves in good stead for upcoming tournaments, especially in titles such as Arena of Valor and Rainbow Six Siege.

The Arena of Valor King Pro League Summer 2022 was the highlight of the year for the Wolves as they managed to get $982,477 in prize money for their first place win, as well as another $800,000 later in the year at the Honor of Kings International Championship.

Across 5 Arena of Valor tournaments, Zhong ‘1dao’ Letian is Wolves’ top earning player for 2022, having earned $331,648 in total.

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6.

Earning over $3.2million throughout 2022, Team Secret have made waves in the industry, especially in the Dota 2 scene.

Whilst they narrowly missed out on the first place position, Team Secret managed to come second in The International 2022, and their Dota 2 roster brought home $2.4million in winnings just for that event.

In total for last year alone, Team Secret won over $3million across 7 Dota 2 tournaments – showcasing their talent in the MOBA scene. Another big win for the organisation came in May last year, when they came first place in the RLCS Spring SAM Regional Event and won $9,000.

Dota 2 Team Captain Clement ‘Puppey’ Ivanov is unsurprisingly the highest earning player of 2022 – bringing in around $603,000 in total prize winnings.

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5.

Being one of the most famous esports teams in the world comes with a lot of expectations, but FaZe Clan did not disappoint in 2022, and brought in $3.4million in earnings.

FaZe were most successful in CS:GO last year, winning five of the 14 tournaments entered and racking up $1.8million just from this title alone. Their biggest win was at the PGL Major Antwerp 2022,where the team won $500,000 for their first place finish.

Over in the world of Halo Infinite, FaZe Clan managed to place fourth in the Halo World Championship in 2022, and won $70,000.

Norwegian CS:GO player Håvard ‘rain’ Nygaard is FaZe Clan’s highest earning player for last year, and accumulated over $358,000 across 14 different tournaments.

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4.

With over $4million in total earnings for the year, Nova Esports excelled in the world of Mobile Gaming, as well as in Arena of Valor.

After winning the PMGC Grand Finals, Nova managed to bag themselves a prize pool of $1.5million, showing that PUBG Mobile is as popular as its desktop alternative. By the end of the year, Nova had earned $2.8million from 6 tournaments in PUBG Mobile CN.

They also had some success in Arena of Valor in 2022 as well, with their EU roster winning the AoV International Championships to win $8,440, and then later another $10,000 in the same tournament.

20-year-old PUBG Mobile player Zeng ‘Order’ Zehai is the highest earning player for Nova in 2022 – earning a whopping $557,773 from just seven tournaments.

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3.

As another one of the most well-known and successful esports organisations in the world, Team Liquid did not disappoint in 2022 and showed that they have a reputation for a reason.

Earning $4.3million in 2022 alone is a great achievement, but the majority of the winnings and success came from their second-runner-up spot at The International. For placing third, their Dota 2 roster won $1.7million, and also accumulated another $200,000 in winnings with the same roster at other Dota 2 events in the year as well.

These total earnings came from 219 tournaments across 18 different esports titles, with a nice mixture of female and Academy teams contributing to the winnings.

From 6 Dota 2 tournaments, Lasse ‘Matumbaman’ Urpalainen earned $363,762 in prize winnings, and is Team Liquid’s highest earning player for 2022.

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2.

With $5.7million in overall winnings for last year, eStar are making a huge name for themselves in the esports scene.

Their specialty title is Arena of Valor, and across 2022, eStar came home with four first place titles, and one second place win. The Honour of Kings International Championship saw the team earn $3.5million for their first place finish – which contributed significantly to the winnings for the team as a whole.

Crossfire is the organisation’s next most popular title, and in April they came second place in the Crossfire Pro League Season 19 event and won $117,793 to add to their ever-growing winnings.

Luo ‘HuaHai’ Siyuan is one of the main players on the Arena of Valor roster for eStar, and racked up a total of $757,777 in earnings for 2022, making him the highest earner for the organisation for last year.

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1.

Winning The International 2022, Tundra Esports come in as the highest earning esports team of last year, with a grand total of $9.06million in prizes.

As you would expect, Dota 2 is the biggest title for Tundra, and their win at the major in October brought the team $8.5million. On top of this, the roster also won the Dota 2 DPC WEU Tour 3: Div 1, adding another $30,000 to their earnings.

Outside of Dota 2, Tundra’s Fortnite players managed to bring in a total of $155,000 from two different tournaments, including winning the FNCS: Chapter 3 Season 2 European Grand Finals.

Leon ‘Nine’ Kirilin, German Dota 2 player for Tundra, is the highest earning player for 2022, with him receiving $1.7million in total prize winnings throughout the year.

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With lots of exciting esports events to come in 2023, teams will be battling for titles, but who will come out on top at the end of 2023? Let us know your thoughts and predictions on the British Esports Twitter. 

Want to know what UK events are taking place that you can attend in 2023? Check out this handy list that outlines some of the biggest esports events and conferences taking place this year.