It's Not Worth to Be a Pro Player

Being a pro is simply not worth it, and Xian explains why.

When the Capcom Cup's mind-blowing million dollar prize for getting first place was announced, Xian put a lot more time into practice, down to grinding out match-ups against specific opponents.

But when it was time for the competition, he was blindsided by Leshar's unexpectedly great performance and had a rough time in one of the most stacked groups you could imagine.

For all his efforts, training, and dedication, he walked away with $5k...

The current reality of being a fighting game pro, is that you don't really get much unless you get the first place or at least top 2-3. Even getting to top 8 requires a serious amount of effort and dedication. Placing top 8 consistently? Even some of the best can barely do that. Needless to say, consistently winning or placing in top 3 is even more unlikely, and yet that's what you need to make a living out of fighting games, that or a sponsor.

That's why Xian points out that it's far more rewarding to be a streamer or content creator who can monetize their talent without the need to be the best.

This is something that Brian_F talked about not long ago, you can find his video about it by following this link. In fact, he even chimes in about it in the comments, saying that this issue leads to some serious talent drain as pro players have to focus more on content creation and making a living in ways that otherwise impede their competitive pursuits.

It's hard to say if this issue will go away any time soon. Money doesn't appear out of nowhere, and when it does, it tends to lead to a crash when investments aren't recouped. Orgs that pay salaries to their players help to keep the players afloat, but many of them struggle to get revenue streams that would allow them to keep up with those salaries.