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The top 10 earners in Street Fighter V
Who earns the big bucks in Capcom’s mega fighting game franchise?
Capcom’s latest iteration of the fighting game franchise seems to be just similar enough for a lot of big names to continue their reign, but also different enough that other players have the chance to climb up to the big leagues. While in a lot of esports players can expect to see the same faces come up again and again, one event has seriously mixed up the rankings in the last 12 months.
Last year, players battled all the way through the 2016 Capcom Pro Tour for their place in the Capcom Cup and a chance to win a portion of its $360,000 prize pool. It’s no surprise that the winner of that competition still claims first place in the list of the game’s highest earners. That said, Evo 2017 has mixed things up lower down the ranks and the huge ELEAGUE Invitational has shot some new challengers into the mix. Here’s the top ten, according to esportsearnings.com.
10. Haitani ‘Haitani’ Tatsuya – $33,200.31
Haitani is a staple of the Japanese SFV scene, crowned one of the five gods alongside Daigo. Despite a single, some would say fluke, appearance in the upper ranks of EVO 2013 during the SSFIV reign over the annual fighting game world title, Haitani was largely absent from the previous iteration’s international scoreboards. Throughout 2015 and 2016, however, he did enough to put his name on almost every single one that matters, though not quite enough to earn podium places. A quiet 2017 has seen him drop down the rankings.
9. Ryota ‘Kazunoko’ Inoue – $34,625.00
Ryota has a rich history in Guilty Gear and Ultra Street Fighter IV. In the latter he snapped the game’s grand prize of $120,000 at the Capcom Cup 2015 – and did so against the legendary Daigo Umehara for good measure. His Street Fighter V career has proved to be just as fruitful, though, after his Cammy play helped him take away $25,000 for his third place finish at Capcom Cup 2016. He followed that up this year with a 3rd place finish at Evo 2017 to bag another $9,625.
8. Zhou Jun ‘Xiao Hai’ Zeng – $47,664.75
Xiao Hai is another player who’s had a quiet year so far in Street Fighter V. First place finishes at the SoCal Regionals and Brooklyn Beatdown had Xiao Hai hotly tipped for a deep run in Capcom’s premier tournament in 2016. Unfortunately, the best Chinese SFV player in the world just missed out on a top eight finish at Capcom Cup 2016. A nice $5,000 wedge from the ELEAGUE Invitational has been his only significant Street Fighter V haul this year so far, with other prize money coming from successes at King of Fighters XIV.
7. Arman ‘Phenom’ Hanjani - $50,516.93
Amazingly, a good 80% of Phenom’s Street Fighter V earnings comes from just one tournament. For second place at the ELEAGUE Invitational the Norwegian was awarded a hefty $40,000. An impressive sum, but one that’s eclipsed by the champion’s prize pot - who we’ll meet later on. It was an extremely tight series and showed that Phenom more than deserves his spot here. Expect him to ascend further over the coming months.
6. Keita ‘Fuudo’ Ai – $56,964.00
Proving that R.Mika is definitely top tier, Fuudo took a firm grapple of two of SFV’s biggest early tournaments. Placing second at both DreamHack Summer, narrowly losing to Phenom on his home turf, before winning another runner-up prize at EVO were strong indicators of the Japanese wrestler’s form. Following his 5th-6th at the Capcom Cup 2016, Fuudo recently added another $20,000 to his bank balance with a 3rd place finish at the ELEAGUE Invitational
5. Ricki Ortiz – $63,294.77
A name that’s been around in the fighting game scene for many years now, Ortiz has competed at the highest level in a multitude of fighters across her career, in games such as Capcom vs SNK 2, Third Strike and Tekken. Counting Rufus and Chun-Li as her two favourite characters in SFV, it was the latter who aided her to a second place finish at Capcom Cup 2016. The big pay day of $60,000 launches Ortiz up the list of Street Fighter V’s highest earners, though nothing as significant has followed since then.
4. Hajime ‘Tokido’ Taniguchi – $72,524.50
This is the sort of bump you can get by claiming first place at a major tournament. Tokido sat in sixth place in our previous list but jumps up to fourth after claiming victory at Evo 2017 and nabbing $35,750. One of the five gods of the Japanese Street Fighter circuit has transferred best into SFV, showing strong promise towards the end of the SFIV. The Raging Demon of Akuma was replaced by Ryu in the latest game, but Tokido still goes on a tear at almost every tournament he turns up to.
3. Lee ‘Infiltration’ Seon-woo – $80,892.00
Before the Capcom Cup 2016, only two tournaments paid out a higher first place finish than CEO in SFV and Infiltration won them both. It was looking like the South Korean had become the hardest man to best in Street Fighter with wins at Final Round 19 and the grandaddy of them all: EVO. He may have looked impossible to beat on his signature character, Nash, but a less than stellar showing at Capcom Cup 2016 and next to no earnings in 2017 has allowed others to soar past him. Including our brand new second place entrant.
2. Victor "Punk" Woodley - $179,820.00
Hello world, this is Punk. Coming in out of nowhere to shoot right up to the number two spot on our list, Punk has been a dominant force in Street Fighter V throughout 2017 so far. The American has taken wins at WCWF, DreamHack Austin and the ELEAGUE Invitational, where he took home a whopping $150,000 prize. It would have been a perfect year if he’d managed to win at Evo 2017 too. Unfortunately, he fell to Tokido’s mighty Akuma and had to settle for 2nd place, much like the position he’ll have to settle for over here on the list of highest earners.
1. Du ‘NuckleDu’ Dang – $276,072.23
There is one reason, and one reason alone, why NuckleDu sits so far away at the top of this list: Capcom Cup 2016. The American player claimed the biggest prize pot in the history of the game by claiming first place in the monumental competition with his Guile and R.Mika play. A cool $230,000 isn’t all that bad for being very good at a video game. He hasn’t stopped there, though, adding around another $25,000 throughout 2017 so far with wins at Combo Breaker 2017, Northern Fights National Fights and a 5th-6th finish at Evo 2017.
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