Faker becomes first League of Legends player to make $1m in prize money

SK Telecom T1’s mid Lee ‘Faker’ Sang-hyeok, widely acknowledged to be the greatest League of Legends player in the world, has also become the first to earn over $1m in prize money after SK’s recent win at the Mid-Season Invitational event.

Sang-hyeok has competed in 35 tournaments so far, and Esportsearnings has estimated his earnings at $1,047,606 since his start in the professional scene in 2013. This means, across the 35 tournaments, Sang-hyeok has made an average of $29,931. Not a bad return.

The next highest earner in League of Legends is Bae ‘Bengi’ Seong-wong, who has earned $810,683.00 from 21 tournaments, an average of $38604 a tournament. This is more money per tournament than Sang-hyeok, but y’know, he’s the millionaire now, so…

Faker is still actively competing, so this number will no doubt rise, however the big money is still in DOTA 2 due to that game’s crowdfunded prize pools. Saahil ‘UNiVeRsE’ is the highest earning in all of esports, making $2,777,796 over the course of his career, making an average of 44092 over 63 tournaments.