smooya leaks salary numbers for s1mple, NiKo, ZywOo, and more

William Davis Published 14/04/2022

Ever wonder what how much money s1mple makes? We now have an answer thanks to a leak from a fellow pro player.

During a late-night stream, Owen “smooya” Butterfield revealed the estimated salaries of several prominent Counter-Strike: Global Offensive pros. He leaked the general salaries of multiple teams along with the monthly income for top players including Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev and Nikola “NiKo” Kovač. Exact salaries are difficult to find in esports, and these numbers reveal important information about the state of the industry today.

smooya started the leaks by talking about Copenhagen Flames, the players of which allegedly made just $2,000 a month before landing an impressive ninth-place finish at PGL Major Stockholm. They allegedly make around $5,000 now after this impressive showing. The five players were originally slated to make around $10,000 a month at Complexity before that deal fell through.

$5,000 per month seems to be the standard salary for most competitive CSGO teams. German squad GamerLegion also appears to pay $5,000 a month to its players. While generally very difficult for the general public to find, smooya states that salaries are an open secret among CSGO pros.

“How do I know them all? People speak, bro,” smooya said on his stream.

s1mple and NiKo salaries leaked by smooya on stream

After discussing some of the less competitive teams, smooya moved on to some of the highest-paid players in all of CSGO.

According to smooya, star players s1mple and NiKo both make more than $50,000 per month in salary from their respective organizations. He did not give exact numbers, but he did mention that there are around 10 players who make more than $40,000 a month. As two of the most decorated players in all of CSGO, it makes sense that those two stars world earn that much cash.

As for the younger generation, smooya could not confidently give an estimate for Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov. The young player received several high-profile offers before signing with G2 Esports, so he’s probably doing quite well for himself. As for Team Vitality’s star sniper Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut, smooya claims he makes above $40,000.

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