Counter-Strike is one of the most competitive esports out there, and it’s also one of the most rewarding ones. Prize pools often run in the six and seven figures, offering the opportunity to many young and aspiring players to make a living playing their favorite video game. But how much do Counter-Strike: Global Offensive players earn? Today we take a look at the top-earning CS:GO players of all time and we rank them in order of their overall winnings during their careers. Some of these players compete to this very day, while others have moved on.
1. Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen
Born on March 26, 1993, dupreeh has been very active in the community for the past 17 years, making him one of the oldest-standing players in CS:GO.
Deservingly, he has been able to earn the most out of playing CS:GO, with his current winnings sitting at more than $2,18 million – an impressive feat. In terms of individual successes, Dupreeh posted some of his best competitive years between 2015 and 2020 when he was winning six figures every year. His most successful one though was 2018 when he won $729,550.
2. Andreas “Xyp9x” Højsleth
It’s hardly a surprise that the second top-earning player on this list also hails from Denmark. The country has a long and proud tradition of making esports work and this is not by chance. Players from Denmark have had access to one of the best-developed ecosystems for the game, which is strange, as Counter-Strike: Global Offensive was once the bastion of Ukrainian and Eastern European players for the most part. However, since the big prize pools began arriving, some of the most feared and successful teams in the hobby have been none other than the Danish.
In the case of Xyp9x, the player has been able to win just over $2 million, a hefty chunk. His best year was in 2018 when he walked away with $729,950. He is competing to this very day with his winnings for 2023, at the time of writing at least, sitting at $7,900.
3. Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz
The third top-earner on the list is another player from Denmark and a player who is part of the same team the previous two players are – Astralis. Dev1ce is also a staple in the CS:GO community and one of the best-known faces in the community. He has been a source of inspiration for new players and has helped lead the way when it comes to competitive CS:GO.
Dev1ce has won a total of $1.98 million, but he is also catching up to the rest of his teammates. It’s not very likely that the top-earners will change any time soon that is unless Astralis hit a bit of a bad spell and are not able to bring themselves together to win more. They had a fairly strong start in 2023 and have kept a very good level of play until now. There have been years that they earned less than their best year – 2018.
4. Emil “Magisk” Reif
As you can imagine, Magisk is another player who has competed in the big leagues and who has been part of the Astralis team. Astralis has almost single-handedly produced the most prominent CS:GO millionaires (as a result of their playing the game).
The player goes back to 2015 when he first started playing competitively. He played 10 events back then and won a little more than $5,000. Not a bad result all in all. He then moved into the next year’s events and competitions, gradually making a name for himself, and earning a little more from playing his favorite game. In 2016, Magisk scored his break year in which he won more than $100,000 and proved to the world that he is a CS:GO force to be reckoned with.
From there on in, his career had an upward trajectory. In 2017, the player won a little less at $69,000, but still a very decent results all things considered. Then in 2018, playing with Astralis the player won one of the biggest lump sums that any player in the history of competitive CS:GO has ever been able to accomplish.
Magisk walked away with $727,000 – a milestone that many CS:GO players may aspire to or just be envious of Magisk’s own successes. In 2019, he added more to his success, by winning $430,000, and then in 2020, he won $114,000. The years 2021 and 2022 have mostly been subdued with Magisk averaging $80,000, which is not bad. Since Astralis have had quite a decent performance so far this year, the player has managed to amass a whopping $1,87 million to his name.
5. Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander
It shouldn’t be a surprise that we have yet another Astralis member on our list. Since they entered the competitive video gaming scene, Astralis CS:GO has been one of the best teams to reckon with and this is a fact. As individual players, they are formidable, and as a unit? Almost unbeatable. Of course, Astralis success over the past years is not indicative of their lasting success, but it is certainly something that inspires players. Gla1ve is in the meantime the fifth-best earning CS:GO player of all time (actually dropping one place since last year). He has won $1.87 million from playing the game, and once again, his best years have coincided with Astralis’ most successful performances in 2018 and 2019.
6. Alexander “s1mple” Kostylev
The sixth name on the list is not an Astralis member, and you may find this as a refreshing change. The player we want to mention here is s1mple – a Ukrainian esports professional who has played for several teams, but most recently, Natus Vincere. S1mple is a formidable player and he stands out in the list of top-earning players as one of the most talented people.
S1mple had his breakaway year in 2021 when Na’Vi successfully secured $832,750 from playing competitive CS:GO. His team is also performing much better than Astralis for the time being – they have won $19,500 compared to the $7,900 by Astralis this same year. S1mple is definitely a promising name in the competitive CS:GO community and it really is no surprise that he is also one of the top-earning players, his winning currently standing at $1,73 million.
7. Finn “karrigan” Andersen
Karrigan is another ace of the CS:GO world and yes – he is Danish. The Danes are without any doubt some of the most formidable players in competitive CS:GO and they will remain so for many years to come. In the meantime, Karrigan is the seventh best-earning player in CS:GO. He has won $1.64 million which is definitely a juicy sum plain and simple. The player did not have a single breakaway year in which he won outstanding amounts (at least compared to the Astralis crew and the other players on this list).
However, Karrigan has definitely been putting in the hard work. He has been competing for many years now, and even though the period before 2015 was fairly unimpressive with just bits and bops picked here and there, the tie after that is truly outstanding. Karrigan has been winning big. In 2015 he had won $100,000 playing competitive events – some 30 that year.
In 2016, he played in another 27 and won $117,115. In 2017, he played in just 18 events and won more than $301,000. In 2018, he played in 21 and ended up winning $200,000. In 2019, he won $174,000. Now, in 2022, the player really culminated in terms of winning, bagging almost $360,000 that year from playing competitive Counter-Strike in 14 events that year. And guess what? Karrigan is really not going to be giving up any time soon. He will continue playing and as he does, you can expect him to pull off some excellent results.
8. Denis “electroNic” Sharipov
Denis Sharipov is another remarkable CS:GO player. The Russian has won $1.585 million, and he has made a name for himself playing for many prominent teams. His most successful performance to date has been with Natus Vincere, which is to be expected considering they are one of the most talented esports squads in the world. While he was part of the team, Sharipov won $1.48 million – or in other words the majority of the money he was able to generate through competitive play. In terms of years, he has had a very strong 2021, when he won $832,000 from playing under Na’Vi’s banner.
Interestingly though, the player has mostly been doing very well under any team he has worked and played with. In 2018 he won $261,000 and then added $100,000 in 2019. 2020 was another year of relative success with Sharipov winning $122,700. In 2022, the player added $162,000 and he is now looking to perform equally well playing the game he loves.
9. Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken
Twistzz is a big name in esports and CS:GO circles in particular. The player has been around for many years and he has clearly demonstrated his ability to pull off huge and significant wins when pressured. Now, in terms of winnings, he has done very well indeed, winning $1.54 million from playing the game, and is likely to continue performing very well throughout the rest of 2023.
His biggest win to date was in 2019 when he ended up bringing in $477,850 home from 24 events. He then did very well in 2020 as well when he ended up bringing home more than $358,000. The results were pretty solid and that is precisely what a good player should be doing as well.
Now, how he progresses next year is anyone’s guess. The smart money is on him still doing very well.
10. Håvard “rain” Nygaard
Last on our list comes yet another veteran of professional CS:GO – 29-year-old FaZe player rain. He is the longest-lasting member of the lineup, having played since the team first formed under the Team Kinguin banner. Over his long career, rain has seen many players come and go from the team, but has always remained a staple of the mixed European roster.
Rain entered the professional CS:GO scene after several stints at the semi-professional level. He was leapfrogged between several Norwegian teams, and while none of them saw much success on an international level, they were consistently the best team nationally and rain was consistently the best player on said teams. This eventually caught the attention of Team Kinguin who were one of the first organizations to experiment with international rosters. In May of that year, they signed rain to the team and went on to compete at the major tournament ESL One Cologne 2015.
Although the organization did not win the tournament, rain had already proven himself and grabbed the attention of G2 Esports, who signed the player after Kinguin’s withdrawal from esports. After another quarterfinal major, this time at DreamHack Open Cluj-Napoca 2015, rain was finally acquired by FaZe, a part of which the player has been throughout all these years.
He’s helped his team win multiple titles over the years, with early 2023 being no exception. Perhaps the biggest achievement that rain and company made this year is winning the Intel Grand Slam Season 4, which is awarded to the first team that wins four S-Tier events organized by ESL. For his efforts, rain has amassed a total of $1,439,200, cementing his place on our list.
Will The Top Earning CS:GO Players Remain the Same in 2024?
This is a great question. Big upsets do happen and there is a lot of money right now in Counter-Strike. What this means is that we can expect professional CS:GO players to really do well over the long period, but who will be topping the charts this year is a bit of guesswork. Most of Astralis has a fair chance, but they seem to be challenged by many teams that are equally keen to win big.
This means that we cannot make a realistic prediction about the top-earning players this year. However, we are also not very likely to see very big upsets in the list just yet. These things take time. We will update our top-earning CS:GO players list at the end of 2023, however.
