A conversation around esports players’ salary and transparency has cropped up amidst a downsizing in spending from VCT organizations, with Shahzeb ‘ShahZaM’ Khan weighing in on the topic.
VCT Americas is facing a downsizing in spending across the board as the esports winter hits Valorant. This has caused player salaries to take a tumble, as it has been reported that Evil Geniues, the Valorant Champions 2023 winners, will have to either take a pay cut or hit the open market.
This has brought up a conversation on social media about player salary and organizational spending.
The conversation isn’t as complex as many want to make it. Pro esports player salaries are simply too high compared to team revenues.This is why we’re currently committed to not entering Valorant, CSGO, and other titles that have historically proven to be unsustainable.
— Alex Gonzalez (@AlexGLogics) September 12, 2023
“The conversation isn’t as complex as many want to make it. Pro esports player salaries are simply too high compared to team revenues,” Luminosity head, Alex Gonzalez said on social media.
Another topic that has cropped up is player salary transparency. Unlike traditional sports, esports player contracts are not public and the community generally has no idea how much a player is making in terms of salary.
ShahZaM weighs in on esports player salary transparency
Former Sentinels player and current G2 Esports streamer, ShahZaM weighed in on the topic of pay transparency on social media.
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ShahZaM is a veteran esports competitor having competed in CS:GO starting in 2013 and transitioning to Valorant in 2020.
“I disagree, players are already open with each other to help understand the market (as they should be), but fans would only weaponize it. Pro sports are different, salary caps play a role. These are mostly young kids in a volatile career that won’t set them up for life,” he said.
I disagree, players are already open with each other to help understand the market (as they should be) but fans would only weaponize it. pro sports are different, salary caps play a role.These are mostly young kids in a volatile career that won’t set them up for life
— G2 ShahZaM (@ShahZaMk) September 12, 2023
Most American sports have a salary cap and therefore have a robust player’s union, which does play a role in setting the market for player salaries and team spending. Whether fans would weaponize pay transparency has yet to be seen, as there are few examples of organizations posting their financials publically.
Cloud9 famously tried to be transparent about its CS:GO roster salary situation while Henry ‘HenryG’ Greer was the organization’s General Manager. That project eventually fell to the wayside, with HenryG leaving Cloud9 as the organization decided not to continue the practice after his departure.
Traditional sports fans already take shots at players for underperforming while being highly paid. Whether that would be more intense, or more damaging, to young esports competitors can only be speculated.