Forbes Release 2019 Esports Team Valuations

by Isaac Chandler in General | Nov, 5th 2019

Forbes has once again released its annual report on esports team valuations and the growth in value of some of these teams has been absolutely astronomical.

Many teams increased their value from 25-40% over last year, with Immortals in particular more than doubling their worth in the past 12 months, while the top of the table skyrocketed to almost half a billion dollars in value.

Esports Team Valuations: The Rankings

Number 12

Starting in at number twelve on the esports team valuations, we have a tie between two orgs worth $120,000,000 each: OverActive Media and Misfits Gaming.

OverActive Media is best known for its League of Legends European Championship (LEC) franchise team Spylce and its franchises in the Overwatch and Call of Duty Leagues known as the Toronto Defiant and Toronto Ultra respectively.

Misfits Gaming, meanwhile, also holds an LEC spot with a team of the same name, while they own the Florida Mayhem and Florida Florida Mutineers in the OWL and CDL respectively. The org itself is owned by the Miami Heat NBA team.

Both teams were unranked last year by Forbes and are estimated to have generated $5-$8,000,000 in revenue each.

Number 11

At number 11 we have the recently rebranded NRG coming in at a valuation of $150,000,000 and $20,000,000 in estimated revenue generation, $3,000,000 of which came from the sale of their CSGO squad to Evil Geniuses.

The team operates the San Francisco Shock in the Overwatch League and the Chicago Huntsmen in the Call of Duty League, and was unranked in the 2018 esports team valuations.

Number 10

At number 10 we have our first returning entry with 100 Thieves, whose $160,000,000 valuation is a $70,000,000 growth over last year, a 77.77% growth in value.

The team currently hosts a large stable of high profile content creators, along with a franchise spot under the same name in the North American League of Legends Championship Series (LCS), and generated an estimated $10,000,000 in revenue.

Number 9

At number nine we have G2 coming in at a cool $165,000,000 valuation and an estimated revenue generation of $22,000,000.

The team has been bolstered by its successes in Rocket League, CSGO, and RainbowSix Siege, along with their LEC franchise team that is currently heading to the Worlds Grand Final in Paris.

Number 8

The number eight spot on Forbes’ list goes to Envy Gaming and their $170,000,000 valuation, a $75,000,000 jump from last year.

It generated $8,000,000 in estimated revenue this year and runs the OWL Dallas Fuel and CDL Dallas Empire franchises, along with several smaller teams in CSGO and other games.

Number 7

Just ahead of Envy in the esports team valuations, we have old school European org Fnatic, who came out this year valued at about $175,000,000, a $55,000,000 increase from last year.

The team made some noise in CSGO, Dota2, and R6 Siege, though most of it’s revenue was generated from its LEC franchise team that made it to the top eight at Worlds.

Number 6

Just outside the top five we Korean-NA fusion org Gen.G at a healthy $185,000,000 valuation, $75,000,000 over what they were worth last year.

The team earned an estimated $9,000,000 in revenue this year and owns a Korean League of Legends (LCK) team alongside their OWL squad the Seoul Dynasty and NBA 2K Shanghai team.

Number 5

Entering the top five of Forbes’ list, we see a big jump in valuations for esports teams as Immortals Gaming Club jumped $110,000,000 to a valuation of $210,000,000, a 110% increase from last year.

The team operates the Los Angeles Valiant team in the OWL, and recently got hold of spots in the LCS and CDL as Immortals and OpTic Gaming Los Angeles respectively, with the LCS spot coming from their acquisition of OpTic Gaming earlier this year.

The team made $11,000,000 in revenue this year.

Number 4

At number four we have the only top-five org to not be ranked last year, FaZe Clan.

The org has an estimated value of $240,000,000 off the back of their $35,000,000 in estimated revenue generated this year, and just recently acquired their first franchise in the Atlanta Faze for the CDL.

The team also operates in CSGO, R6 Siege, and Fortnite.

Number 3

At number three on our list of esports team valuations, we again have a massive jump in funds, as Team Liquid comes in at a jaw-dropping valuation of $320,000,000. $120,000,000 more than they were valued at last year.

The team generated $24,000,000 in estimated revenue this year and operates a team in the LCS that has won four back-to-back regional titles.

The team also operates a highly successful CSGO squad, a Dota2 team, and an R6 Siege squad amongst others, and is the only org on the list to still have Starcraft 2 players on its roster.

Number 1

Cloud9 jumped an impressive $90,000,000 in value this year, but it was TSM that took the cake jumping $150,000,000.

C9 generated $29,000,000 in estimated revenue, while TSM generated an estimated $35,000,000.

Both teams own franchise spots in the LCS along with teams in CSGO, R6 Siege and other titles, though Cloud9 is the only one to own another franchise spot in the London Spitfire for the OWL.

It’s nice to see all these orgs shoot up in value this year, hopefully we’ll continue to see them all grow in the year to come as we hit the 2020’s.