For followers, it could have been a bit stunning to see Evil Geniuses pack up and leave North American Dota 2 whereas additionally dropping its complete earlier roster regardless of fielding among the finest gamers on this planet. Nonetheless, very early on it turned apparent that reducing working prices inside the division was additionally a part of the play.
It has long been rumored, and even lightly confirmed, that EG was one in every of a handful of prime esports organizations that may pay its Dota gamers a wage ranging upwards of $100,000 relying on their pedigree. And, in keeping with former-EG staple Andreas “Cr1t-” Nielsen, that was a key motive why he and his teammates are not underneath that banner.
In one in every of his first streams since officially signing with Shopify Rebellion because the Canadian org enters Dota, Cr1t spent a little bit of time answering questions for his chat. This included one occasion of a fan asking if his new org pays decrease salaries than EG—to which the top-level assist participant gave a blunt response.
“Pay attention, the explanation we aren’t with EG is as a result of they didn’t need to pay our salaries,” Cr1t said. “Do the deduction your self, do they pay kind of?”
In line with the participant, EG needed a less expensive roster and to “pay what’s honest” to them. And, regardless of being launched for that motive the previous lineup has no exhausting emotions as a result of they had been overpaid, not less than in his opinion, and handled properly all through some troublesome years.
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Particularly, Cr1t talked about how even when the staff was unable to play sure occasions throughout 2020 and 2021 on the peak of the COVID pandemic, EG nonetheless readily paid their wage regardless of many different orgs refusing to take action.
“We positively had been overpaid in EG. And so they all the time took excellent care of us,” Cr1t said. “Throughout COVID-19, when it was actually exhausting to compete for us as a result of we had international gamers and we couldn’t actually compete in EU tournaments and stuff, EG nonetheless paid our salaries. And a whole lot of corporations weren’t paying salaries to the individuals who had been inactive. They didn’t should do it, you understand? I nonetheless have a whole lot of respect for EG.”
Whereas we are going to probably by no means know the precise salaries for Dota gamers throughout all areas, some information about SA salaries did leak earlier this month from a former skilled participant.
In that information dump, Diego “Jericho” Jimenez famous that EG is paying its new roster round $12,000 per participant per 30 days in wage—one thing that may be lower than its NA roster however reportedly greater than the earlier SA common as prices have gone up because the area continues to enhance. So if that’s the worth of a tier one staff in SA, followers can solely speculate what EG was beforehand paying and what its former gamers are making now with Shopify.
