Update: Fan Contribution to Worlds Prize Pool

Riot·Oct 10, 2016·1 votes·82,902 views

It’s been an explosive Groups Stage here in San Francisco! As we head to Chicago with the final 8 teams, here’s a mid-tournament check-in on how fan contributions are adding to the Worlds prize pool and supporting the teams and pros battling for the Summoner’s Cup.

As a reminder, 25% of every Championship Zed and Championship Ward sales are going directly to the Worlds prize pool -- also, 30% of all team icon sales are shared directly with the teams, but don’t factor into the prize pool.

With just over three weeks to go until the final showdown at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, fans have thrown their support behind teams and players and almost doubled the initial prize pool. Sales of Championship Zed and Ward skins have contributed just over $2mm ($2.015mm to be exact!) to the overall prize pool. We’ll be keeping track throughout the run up to Worlds and will provide another update before Finals on October 29th.

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With a growing prize pool, teams will take home a percentage of the overall pool, rather than a fixed amount. We’ll be distributing amongst teams as follows:

1st place: 40%
2nd place: 15%
3rd/4th place: 7.5% (15% total)
5th-8th place: 4% (16% total)
9th-12th place: 2.25% (9% total)
13th-16th place: 1.25% (5% total)

Stay tuned for another updated total before the Championship concludes on October 29. Thanks for helping to support these incredible teams!

80 Comments

NoctLucisCaelumOct 10, 201650 votes

Maybe this comment wont be important for the majority of people here. Some of you will ignore it, most of y'all wont bother to read and it'll go unnoticed along with other comments maybe I'll be criticized for this but i just want to let y'all know I'm selling potatoes. [zombie-brand-mindblown]

UdsunaOct 10, 20163 votes

i'll take 6 dozen

RiotSpinneliOct 10, 201671 votes

I would like 1 potato please!

Mr TimOct 10, 20161 votes

Potatoes of what variety?

RiotSpinneliOct 10, 201614 votes

Baked potato with butter and sour cream and chives mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Mr TimOct 10, 20163 votes

Omg yaaaaaaaaaas

ReaxetionOct 10, 20166 votes

Do you have a purple potato? Lulu

gerg101Oct 10, 201635 votes

༼ つ ◕◕ ༽つ C9 TAKE MY ENERGY ༼ つ ◕◕ ༽つ

King WalrusOct 10, 201610 votes

And my axe!

xJLx MCHammerOct 10, 201612 votes

2.2 Million.

That's pretty good considering that teams also get % from other sales.

JimmyyyOct 10, 20161 votes

Teams actually get close to nothing for sales of other things, other than the champion team's skins.

UdsunaOct 10, 201621 votes

teams get 25% from icon sales..... and if you've played any league at all this last week, you would see that a shit ton have been sold

XoHeartAttackXoOct 10, 201610 votes

I'm reading this board and marveling that no one is commenting on how much Riot has made. summoner 30

CronoveyOct 10, 201614 votes

Pretty solid. Even with 25% going to the prize pool for Worlds, Riot has made 6.045 million on just a single skin and ward skin. Think about that people. ONE skin and ONE ward skin, and even with them sinking a chunk into Worlds prize money, they have still made over SIX MILLION from these skins.

Chad McChadwickOct 10, 201611 votes

1.6 mil USD is like........ 1.8 billion Korean dollars, whos the real winner here

Cheesy12Oct 10, 20167 votes

That's not how currency works...(sorry if you're joking)

Chad McChadwickOct 10, 201620 votes

as of today 1 million USD is equal to 1,111,350,000 KRW, so yeah that is how it kind of works, but I was joking as well*[zombie-nunu-tears]*

macdshiftyOct 10, 20165 votes

I think what he means is that the money won't go much further in Korea (such as products costing a larger sum of their own currency).

Cheesy12Oct 10, 20162 votes

Was referring to the second part of your comment, but yeah, never mind.

beradicalOct 11, 201611 votes

I'd say the real winner is the guy up at the top that has started a potato empire on lolesports.

Chad McChadwickOct 12, 20161 votes

potatoes could end world hunger think about it man, a sack of 10lbs of potato's is like 3 bucks, you could essentially grow them anywhere, cheep to maintain, boom #solvedworldhunger, I mean shit if you can grow them on mars........

JackmanBOct 16, 20163 votes

aaaaand potato famine summoner 3

GoodwineOct 18, 20162 votes

The IRS? IIRC the tax is around 30%

StoopidshadowOct 10, 20168 votes

The skin is pretty bad. Bought it just to contribute.

Dark Star ChoOct 10, 20165 votes

I could just imagine if they did this with 2016 championship riven... 12 mill prize pool?

X4N4Oct 10, 20168 votes

So if every zed skin costs approx. $10 US, and only 25% of that went into the prize pool, and the prize pool addition from the zed skin was $2,072,500; that would mean that 829,000 Zed skins have been sold, and after that quarter of the profit goes towards worlds, our lord and savior Rito Games made $6,217,500!

INB4 Rito Illuminati try to shut me up you can't stop me from doing math ya bastages!

Wont0nOct 10, 20163 votes

unfortunately a chinese company named TENCENT owns 80% of riot, so 80% of all money riot makes goes to this company. $4,974,000 of that money goes to TENCENT, and riot only made $1,243,500.

ReaxetionOct 13, 20162 votes

Why would they shut you down for that? Their game, their money. We are the ones who pay for it, we know who we give our money to lol. I hope Riot does well, keeps League running! XD

generalanderOct 10, 20167 votes

Seems like more than 25% should go the pot. Just sayin'

SkybritheplayerOct 10, 20166 votes

Teemo requires 0 skill

usa1327Oct 10, 20169 votes

yea not actually true

Anakin The WeirdOct 10, 201623 votes

Tell that to the Teemo that fed to shit in my last ranked game.

GamingEelektrossOct 10, 201610 votes

He takes some brain cells though

XoHeartAttackXoOct 10, 20166 votes

If 25% of the Zed skins and Championship wards sale has netted 2mil for the prize pool... [zombie-brand-mindblown] counting*[slayer-jinx-unamused]* struggling*[zombie-nunu-bummed]* giving up.... did Riot make like 8 million in sales? 6 after giving up that 25%? (Not to mention the team icons which I believe probably sold more - but do cost less, hm.)

YaisairusoOct 10, 20163 votes

Correct and that is only so far... People seem shocked when you think of the number of active monthly players GLOBALLY, each 975 skin costs about £5 / $6-7 (varies depending on RP bundle size you buy) so in just a few weeks they've sold well over a million copies of just one skin, I'd also bet that the Championship Riven skin had even higher sales [slayer-jinx-wink] I'm also pretty certain they'd have predicted the sales to be better for Riven and chose to only include Zed for a reason.

4 8 TheDreamOct 10, 20165 votes

two dollars millimeters PogChamp

Red ParrotOct 10, 20165 votes

Just wanted to say that this prize pool is going to be around $6 million i think. After all is done. That means if u lose in the quarters u get around a quarter million... you make it to the semis u get around half a million and second is 1 million and first is 2.4 million dollars... Now who has a good job? the winners or the losers? Or both making more than 90% of the league population and the rest of the world i'd say its more than roughly 55% of all Americans. Even after the money is divided out amongst the coaching staff sponsors etc... the players still make on average more than a person that works in the real world. All to just play a game. Granted they are extremely good at it and it is their job, but take some time off and go site seeing or something take a vacation. I have yet to hear of a player take like 2 months off to go explore the world rather than go to tournaments and stream. Life is much more than that. Just figured I'd rant a little. Have fun and I will be watching :D*[slayer-jinx-wink]* [slayer-jinx-catface] It's time for me to ROLL out of here.... Rammus Night everyone!

Chad McChadwickOct 10, 201642 votes

sponsors pay their players not the other way around*[zombie-brand-facepalm]*

DarthVapor714Oct 12, 20162 votes

logged in just to upvote this. they are way under paid for the hours they put in. Its not like playing video games 24/7 is good for your health(physical/mental) either, they need to be comped more!

SeanTreeHalfOct 10, 20164 votes

I think you might be interested in this read. It's Reginald's blogpost about a few things in the LCS economy regarding player pay, merchandising and the like. It's a dang good read IMO. http://www.twitlonger.com/show/n_1sp1imb

SeanTreeHalfOct 10, 20162 votes

Keep in mind, it is a few months old. Rito seems to have taken a few steps in a right direction, but it's not to the point you described.

Obungo Oct 10, 20165 votes

Just no.

In addition to literally playing the same exact game 24/7, players get nearly no money because they already get accommodations from being in the team (house, food, etc). It's already noted that they get around $12,000 per season (split) and that's not even guaranteed. 24,000 per year is not good..... On top of that, most of the money gained from competitions go to the people who own the team, who then distribute it wherever they feel necessary. Of course the players get a lot, but its nothing near what you think.

Also, good luck trying to find a high paying job after you stop being a professional video game player.

EleshakaiOct 10, 201610 votes

24000 per year after all expenses is actually great pay compares to what most make. For most people, the mandatory expenses that players don't have to pay equals around 60-75% of their gross, so if you take the low number on that... 24000 is 40% of what they make, which means they're making about ~60k a year equivalent.

It's not the type of pay you become a multimillionaire off of, but anyone who claims that 24k net a year is bad pay probably doesn't work for a living yet.

Getting as high paying job is easy after you stop being a professional video game player... just put some of that dedication you had to being a player into schooling using the money you made as a player, and you'll end up with a good degree and the prospects to get a high paying job.

Kitty StarkOct 30, 20161 votes

This isn't even accounting for taxes or other fees and expenses players have to pay. I wouldn't be surprised if they were also expected (to a degree) to help pay for things like plane tickets or personal equipment upgrades on mice or keyboards.

Side note, between my fiance and I we make a net $45,000/year (before taxes, cell phone bill, ONE car payment and gas, credit card bill, furniture payments, and saving for our wedding). I live in an area affected by the inflation of the gas industry, and as a result the apartments here can run over $2000/month when they include utilities. We will be lucky to live in a 1-bed/1-bath apartment by the time we are married next year. So well $24,000/year isn't making anyone rich, it's more than I make working a new job starting at $9/hour full time, and I wouldn't stick my nose up at the offer.

GoodwineOct 18, 20162 votes

CLG took vacations after MSI and things didn't go well.

Jesus Canaj 420Oct 18, 20162 votes

G2 took a vacation before MSI and things went worse Kappa

GeophrayOct 10, 20165 votes

Do you have plans on updating us on how much teams earned from the sales of summoner icons?

ReaxetionOct 10, 20164 votes

As it stands, the distribution of prizes is as follows:

1st - $1,658,000 2nd - $621,750 3rd/4th - $310,875 (each) 5th-8th - $165,800 (each) 9th-12th - $93,262.50 (each) 13th-16th - $51,812.50 (each)

BemblyOct 10, 20164 votes

25% of sales of these two items are roughly half the prize pool. The total prize pool is roughly equivalent to half the sales of these two items. Which means that Riot gains as much as the entire prize pool from just the sale of Championship Zed and Championship ward. It is interesting that it would be possible to double the prize pool for such a major event from just a single skin/ward sale where every supporter gets something in return. I wonder how much the total operating cost of Worlds is. I would guess (just a guess) that if we improve the model a little bit more it may be possible for Worlds to be almost completely funded by the fans. Players and teams get paid more, fans get goodies they volunteered for, Riot makes money too. If Riot stays transparent and communicates with the fan base clearly enough so that they do not get disillusioned or feel like they are being ripped off then this could be a great system moving forward.

ReaxetionOct 13, 20162 votes

I agree 100%. I also like the fact that they are doing adds on Twitch now too. It kinda sucks when you first connect and have to watch one, but it is great that Riot is taking the steps to make eSports much more in line with regular sports. The model they have developed here, alongside their plans to pay pro teams more and introduce their items into the Riot shop is fantastic! I am excited for the future of eSports.