E-sports on the ropes
April 2, 2009 by Jin
Filed under Games, Jin's Corner, Recent
Forgive me if I crow a little bit. The New York Times recently published an article that questioned the sustainability of e-sports in North America. The article notes that Rupert Mordoch’s News Corporation and DirecTV unexpectedly shut down the Championship Gaming Series and that several major e-sports tournaments have been canceled citing the bad economy and lack of sponsorship. Read more
$473,000 to play Warcraft III
Jae-ho Jang is a happy man. The 22-year-old video game player has just inked the second largest contract in the history of e-sports to play Warcraft III for a living. His take? A three year contract worth 700,000,000 won, which is roughly $473,000.
Jang has relished the chance to play for a Korean team, having played recently for a foreign team, and promised to live up to his big salary by bringing home a lot of wins. In press conference Jang stated, “I am honored to play for a Korean professional gaming team for Koreans…I will give everything to my fans and FOX team by winning lots of titles in 2009.”
Jang become the second highest paid player in e-sports history. Only Yoo-yeoh Lee has been paid more, getting 750,000,000 won in 2007. Jang earns far more than the highest paid Starcraft player, Bisu, who is paid 150,000,000 won, a relative bargain in comparison.
Via Kotaku.
