30 Jan 2025
Richest CS2 (CS:GO) Player & Salaries in 2025: How Much Do Pros Earn?
Not long ago, millions of kids were told by their parents that playing video games was a waste of time. Sure, a lot of kids probably still hear that. However, only from parents that aren’t tuned into the insane amount of money that CS:GO/CS2 players are now making.
How Much Does CS:GO/CS2 Pro Player Make
How much does the average or pro CS:GO/CS2 player make a year? Well, in short, a lot—a whole lot. However, you don’t have to be in the top 10 in any game to make a decent living. But that’s another discussion. Join us as we deep dive into the earnings of the top CS:GO/CS2 players, analysts, and coaches in 2025. We’ll dig into the highest-earning Counter-Strike players, break down their total winnings from 2024–2025, and look into how much they make from salaries, tournaments, stickers, and sponsorships.
While talking about the highest paid CS:GO/CS2 player salary in Counter Strike, a lot of things need to be considered, salaries, tournament winnings, stickers, and sponsorships. Sticker and sponsorship money get a little tricky as sticker shares can vary and aren’t. But, we’ll do our best. Keep in mind that 2025 is just kicking off. So, we’ll be using data from 2024 to provide insights into trends, salaries, and earnings. We’ll kick off our list with the richest CS:GO/CS2 player and then move to other Pro CS:GO/CS2 player salaries.
Who Is the Richest CS:GO/CS2 Player in 2025?
So, who is the richest CS player in 2025? The richest pro in 2025 isn’t yet known. Why? Because 2025 is just getting started and they haven’t earned their CS:GO/CS2 player salary yet. However, there are decent indications of who it will likely be. Those indications all come from comparing data from the past few years and highlighting any trends. Let’s take a look at the richest CS:GO/CS2 player to date and some pros who will likely challenge that spot by the end of 2025.
Richest Pro To Date
In terms of the richest CS:GO/CS2 player by tournament winnings, there’s one player who stands out. And that player is none other than Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen from Denmark. In fact, dupreeh is the first player to break the $2 million dollar mark.
However, if we’re talking about tournament winnings, it would make sense if dupreeh’s teammates were somewhere close behind. And they are. In fact, the top 5 players on the “who is the richest CS:GO/CS2 players” list are all members of the pro team “Astralis.”
As dominant as Astralis was, they are no longer in the top 10 teams. Meaning, there’s a new list of pros dominating the scene. Which translates into a new higher CS:GO/CS2 player salary. It’s also important to mention that over the last few years, total tournament prize money has grown by over a million a year. And if that trend continues, it’s not a hard sell to think that the highest-earning Counter-Strike players in CS will likely see some new additions.
Average & Pro CS:GO/CS2 Player Salaries in 2025
How much does a pro CS:GO/CS2 player make? Not as much as you might think. Not every pro player makes millions in CS:GO/CS2. In fact, the majority of pros make most of their money through their team salaries. And that’s where it gets tricky. Why? Because pro salaries, unlike tournament winnings, are kept confidential. Salaries are often dictated by several factors:
- Region: the more expensive it is to live somewhere, the more a team usually needs to pay their players.
- Skill Level: like in just about everything, the better you are at something, the more you earn.
- Organizations: more popular teams usually earn more money. Thus, they can afford to pay their players more.
So, what is the average CS:GO/CS2 player salary? Well, teams usually pay their players between $5,000 and $15,000 a month. Keep in mind, a top pro CS:GO/CS2 player salary can be as high as $50,000 a month. Luckily, for the average player, a pro CS:GO/CS2 player salary includes more than just the monthly check. They also receive tournament winnings, sponsorships, and sticker sales. And on top of that, they can make money from subs—that is if they stream while not competing.
So, how much does a Pro CS:GO/CS2 player make? No matter how much they make, rest assured that they are having fun doing it!
Earnings Breakdown: Analysts & Coaches in CS:GO/CS2 Esports
Players aren’t the only people in an organization that gets paid. Coaches and analysts are also paid. And paid well depending on the team’s success. So, how much do CS:GO/CS2 analysts and coaches make? Let’s take a look:
- Analysts: top-tier analysts can make up to $15,000 a month. However, the average analyst’s salary is likely around $3,000-$6,000. Not as much as the average CS:GO/CS2 player salary.
- Coaches: top-tier analysts can make up to $30,000 a month. However, the average coach’s salary is likely around $6,000-$9,000. Also, not as much as the average CS:GO/CS2 player salary.
The role of an analyst and coach is to provide strategic depth, preparation, and real-time adaptability. Though not as high as the highest paid CS:GO/CS2 player salary. They basically tell the players the best thing to do at any given moment and rely on the players’ skills to get it done. Because of this, there are often bonuses and performance incentives built into their contracts that can push their salaries even higher.
As the game and game strategies evolve, it’s becoming more and more important to have a legitimate analyst and coach on the team. Because of that, expect the average CS:GO/CS2 player salary to climb in 2025.
Top 10 Richest CS:GO/CS2 Players: 2024–2025
Here are the highest-earning Counter-Strike players in the 2024-2025 season.
| Rank | Player | Country | Total Winnings (2024) |
| 1 | donk | Russia | $418,900 |
| 2 | chopper | Russia | $414,900 |
| 3 | zont1x | Ukraine | $414,900 |
| 4 | magixx | Russia | $413,900 |
| 5 | sh1ro | Russia | $379,900 |
| 6 | Aleksib | Finland | $350,500 |
| 7 | b1t | Ukraine | $350,500 |
| 8 | iM | Romania | $350,500 |
| 9 | jL | Lithuania | $350,500 |
| 10 | w0nderful | Ukriane | $349,500 |
Of course, the table only reflects publicly available information. Those 10 players likely made a bit more throughout 2024 when sponsorship and sticker money were added. However, it’s impossible to know the exact amount each player makes from sponsors nor the deals put in place with Valve and their organization to understand the percentage they get from sticker sales.
One thing is for sure, if donk has 4 more years of the same success he had in 2024, duphree will likely be bumped from his number one spot of richest CS:GO/CS2 player.
How Do CS:GO/CS2 Players Make Money?
As CS2 becomes more popular and technology continues to evolve, CS:GO/CS2 players are finding more and more outlets to increase their pro CS:GO/CS2 player salary. Here are some of the more common/popular ways pro players earn:
- Tournament winnings: this is usually the only publicly available info on the average CS:GO/CS2 player salary. It can be anywhere from thousands to millions.
- Salaries: some of the top players can make up to $50,000 per month. However, that is rare.
- Sticker income: this is one of the newer forms of income. So, how much do CS:GO/CS2 players make from stickers? In short, a lot. The top teams in the world usually make more from stickers in a given year than from the prize money from tournaments. It’s up to each organization to split the profit between the team and employees. Because of this, it’s almost impossible to know what each player makes.
- Sponsorships: popular players mean big business. And companies will pay to have their names connected to players who have millions of eyes watching them increasing their pro CS:GO/CS2 player salary.
- Streaming: depending on the contract a player has, they may be able to stream on their own time to earn extra money.
When you add all of this together, some of the most popular players in the world could be making millions per year. However, it’s really hard to know for sure.
What to Expect in 2025 for CS:GO/CS2 Salaries
As the game gets more popular and more of the world gains access to the internet, we can only expect every CS:GO/CS2 player salary to grow. As we’ve mentioned, over the past few years, we’ve seen the overall prize money for tournaments grow by over a million a year. But ultimately, it boils down to this: the 1st generation to grow up with video games are now becoming parents.
Fewer and fewer parents are telling their kids not to play video games as those very parents likely still play video games. As this continues, it only means 1 thing—more people on Earth will be playing video games. And that translates into more opportunities for players to get sponsored by a wider variety of products, more people watching streams, more people playing CS2, more stickers bought, and more money being pumped into the system. With more money in the system, more money can be paid out of the system. Expect 2025 to be more profitable than ever for those involved in CS2.
Final Thoughts
As you can see, it’s very profitable to become a pro-CS2 player, or even be involved in an organization. However, it’s not easy. Almost every kid playing today would love to get paid to do so. One thing is for sure though, if you don’t play, you won’t turn pro. Be sure to check out our esports betting platform reviews and check the tournament calendar.
FAQs
The richest player of all time is duphree. He’s earned over $2 million. The next four players behind him are his Astralis teammates.
The average CS:GO/CS2 player salary is around $6,000-$9,000. Keep in mind that those numbers are pushed a bit higher due to the few outliers that can make up to $50,000 a month.
The richest esports player of all time is Johan “N0tail” Sundstein. He’s famous for playing Dota2 and has earned over $7 million in tournament winnings.
Salaries are usually kept confidential. However, it’s been rumored that s1mple has one of the highest paid CS:GO/CS2 player salary of all time and made around $50,000 per month at his peak.
Yes and no. The best are of course rich. And the best of the best is the richest CS:GO/CS2 player, duphree However, not the average player.
The prize money for CS2 can range from several hundred dollars to millions. It really just depends on the tournament. This means every CS:GO/CS2 player salary will differ.
The average pro player typically makes around $40,000. Again, this is just an estimate as a player’s overall earnings aren’t made public, aside from tournament winnings.
