Esports has a huge audience potential. Last year alone, 22 million viewers watched esports broadcasts, according to NewZoo.
Such giants of the Russian market as Megafon, MTS, Tele2, Tinkoff Bank and other major brands do not ignore esports. And the more solid sponsors there are, the more money the participants of the competition have. Some of them earn hundreds of thousands and even millions of dollars in their careers.
To select the best of the best in the world of Russian esports, Forbes magazine experts did three things:
- We counted the money (prize money, salaries and advertising contracts of players, investments of investors and revenues of esports companies in 2018).
- We studied the influence factor:
- how many times a player has won tournaments and what is his personal statistics;
- how often this or that team is mentioned in the media and what is its status;
- how fast the business is growing financially and auditorily;
- how big is the audience of broadcasts and YouTube channels, is the organized tournament prestigious, etc.
- Interviewed independent journalists specializing in e-sports, as well as representatives of popular resources: Cybersport.ru, Cyber.Sports.ru, Kanobu, Igromania.
As a result, we got a list of the most influential people in esports in Russia and the post-Soviet space according to Forbes. Perhaps after reading it, you will stop scolding children for playing too much.
10. Yaroslav Komkov
Age: 33 years
Co-founder of Winstrike holding
Company / Organization: Winstrike
Before trying his hand at esports, Yaroslav worked in the film industry and journalism. He helped Sports.ru with the promotion of the esports section, which eventually grew into an independent project.
This was followed by the creation of the Gamer Stadium club, however, Komkov and his senior partner disagreed, and Yaroslav independently launched the Winstrike project. This holding company organizes tournaments, assists teams in finding sponsors, and is involved in many other esports-related matters.
In September, under the patronage of Winstrike, a stage of the BLAST Pro Series in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive was held in the capital. The prize fund was $ 250,000, and the sponsors of the tournament were brands such as Toyota, Samsung, etc.
9.Alexey Solo Berezin
Age: 29 years
Games: Dota 2
Company / Organization: ESforce Holding (Virtus.pro)
The captain of the Dota 2 Virtus team did not always strive for victories. Perhaps the gamers have forgotten, but Runet remembers the story from 2013, when Berezin put one hundred dollars on the loss of his team, and received 322 dollars.
When the organizers of the tournament found out about this, Solo was disqualified for life. However, he pleaded guilty, apologized, and the period of suspension was reduced to a year. In memory of this, there is a meme "322", which means a negotiated match in various eSports disciplines.
Now, being one of the strongest Dota 2 players not only in Russia, but also in the world, Solo consistently demonstrates a good game, and even on the disastrous Virtus.pro The International 2019 did everything in his power, according to Cybersport. ru.
8. Daniil Zeus Teslenko
Age: 31 year
Games: CS: GO
Company / Organization: Na'Vi (until 2019)
Not many people manage to win the CS: GO World Championship at least once. And Daniil Teslenko, the captain of the Na'Vi team, managed it five times. With the proud title of a five-time champion, he retired from the esports arena in 2019.
By the way, this year Teslenko published the book “Contrary. The Path to Victory ”, in which, in the first person, talks about his long and winding path to the top of gaming glory.
7. Anton Cherepennikov
Age: 36 years
Co-founder of ESforce Holding
Company / Organization: ESforce Holding (until 2019), ICS Holding
One of the most famous people in Russian esports actively contributed to the revival of the Virtus.pro club and helped it develop into one of the largest esports organizations in the world - ESforce holding.
However, in 2019, Cherepennikov decided to move away from the world of eSports and focused on his diversified IT structure, IKS Holding, whose interests lie in the field of telecom media and technologies.
6. Roman Dvoryankin
Age: 33 years
General Manager of Virtus.pro
Company / Organization: ESforce Holding
The main esports club in Russia Virtus.pro is always on the radar. And how many people know who controls it? Well, if you didn't know, then it's time to get acquainted.
Roman Dvoryankin, with the help of investments by Alisher Usmanov (5th place in the rating of the most influential persons in esports in Russia) and using his own managerial talents, allows the virtuos to stay afloat and successfully compete with foreign clubs.
Under his close supervision, the Virtus.pro team participating in Dota 2 tournaments won the most famous victories. Which, however, did not prevent her from breaking up after an inglorious performance at The International 2019. Two ex-"virtues" - Roman RAMZEs Kushnarev and Pavel 9pasha Khvastunov switched to other lineups.
5. Alisher Usmanov
Age: 66 years
Investor, ESforce Holding
Company / Organization: ESforce Holding
Although Alisher Burkhanovich himself is from the generation that did not play computer games, he actively contributes to the development of e-sports in the space of the former USSR.
Usmanov's Mail.ru Group has acquired the leader of the Russian eSports holding company ESforce for $ 100 million. And in 2019, it transferred 51% of ESforce shares to the international game publisher Modern Pick. But not for money and not for free, but for a "small share" in Modern Pick. The Vedomosti edition estimated it at 16%.
4. Alexander Kokhanovsky
Age: 36 years
Founder of Na'Vi, DreamTeam, co-founder of ESforce Holding
Company / Organization: Na'Vi, DreamTeam
Oleksandr Kokhanovskiy's cyberwarfare in the well-known Ukrainian teams eXtremely Bad and GSC Pro-Team is a thing of the past.
And in the present - work in the Zero Gravity Group, which includes both the Na'Vi e-sports club and the DreamTeam platform, which helps novice e-sportsmen find teammates, hone their gaming skills, and also earn virtual rewards and real money.
3. Vitaly V1lat Volochay
Age: 33 years
Esports commentator
Company / Organization: Maincast
Commentators are loved and hated almost as much as athletes in any sport. And computer games are no exception. Vitaly Volochay is the most popular commentator on e-sports competitions in the post-Soviet space.
Behind Volochai's back is a long experience of commentary work in various disciplines, as well as participation in the RuHub project (he was one of its co-founders). However, last year this studio, along with other ESforce assets, was absorbed by Mail.ru Group, and Vitaly, together with another ex-RuHub representative, Andrey x3m4eg Grigoriev, founded his own company Maincast in Kiev.
2. Alexander S1mple Kostylev
Age: 22
Games: CS: GO
Company / Organization: Na'Vi
In 2018, Alexander became the world's strongest CS: GO player according to HLTV.org, one of the leading Counter-Strike sites. So far, no athlete from the republics of the former USSR has been able to take his title from S1mple.
And although rumors periodically appear that Kostylev intends to leave Na'Vi, his cooperation with the main e-sports club in Ukraine has been successfully continuing from 2016 to the present.
Esports Earnings estimates Alexander's prize pool to be at least $ 540,000. And his salary can reach tens of thousands of dollars a year.
1. Roman Ramzes Kushnarev
Age: 20 years
Games: Dota 2
Company / Organization: Evil Geniuses
Not every young man in Russia can boast of having earned over $ 1.7 million in his own career. But it is exactly this amount, according to Esports Earnings experts, that Roman Kushnarev received in the form of prize money for all his games, starting in 2015.
Roman is the first Russian esportsman to become an ambassador (promoter to the masses) of the Head & Shoulders brand.
He is also the first player in the post-Soviet space to score 10,000 points in Dota.
Ramzes started playing this game at school to kill time. And he received his first fee of 1000 rubles for local tournaments in the Novokuznetsk club. It is unlikely that then the young man thought that at the age of 18 he could buy an apartment for himself with royalties from tournaments.
Roman does not plan to rest on his laurels. After parting with the Russian team Virtus.pro in September, he moved to the American Evil Geniuses. According to Cyber.Sports.ru, the amount of this transfer (with bonuses) ranges from 250 thousand to 300 thousand dollars.