wtf do pros do when they retire

Like what happens when pros retire

Surely the money you earn playing games isn’t enough for you to do nothing for the rest of your life, so you have to go back to work.

I know some of them turn to streaming and others work for game companies/coach, but what happens to the rest?

Like you have these 30 to mid 30 year old dudes many of whom have been doing nothing but playing games since they were kids with no higher education so they can’t possibly get a good job. So what do they do?

It’s kinda funny imagining random Val pros taking my Burger King order some 20 years down the line

idk if you play for NRG for at least 2 years and dont burn cash like an idiot I feel like you could definitely have enough to live out the rest of your life carefree by putting it into US treasury bonds or something similar

finish school and work? what else would they do

either:

1. coach (for smarter players, mostly IGLs)
2. streamer (only for the ones that have clout)
3. manager/analyst for org
4. a few have already completed education as a back-up plan or some retire from Valorant early to pursue education (Rhyme, Bonecold, Yacine, etc)
5. mcdonalds

anyways, Valorant is not a good thing to pursue (thas for sure)

Nachtel [#2]

idk if you play for NRG for at least 2 years and dont burn cash like an idiot I feel like you could definitely have enough to live out the rest of your life carefree by putting it into US treasury bonds or something similar

absolutely not, they’re on max 20k a month, closer to 7-12k range for most pros which is nowhere near money to set you up for life, especially when you already know 99% of these pros primarily get their food from doordash and shit, they live in LA. Obv there’s gonna be a few pros who’ve made good financial decisions, but most of these guys have no real world experience

Well they pretty much have 0 expenses while they are pro. It shouldn’t be hard to save up and buy a few properties throughout their career. It’s only bad for the players who get dropped fast but in that case going back to school or watever shouldn’t be hard. Lots of people take gap years anyway

the younger ones (the few ones that retire early), they often return to school, especially if they did pause education to grab the opportunity to play

the older ones, usually still pursue other opportunities in the esports scene like coaching/analyst staff managerial/player management roles, broadcast production, or anything likely behind-the-scenes/camera that they likely know or related to the degree they have likely had already

EDIT: fixed spelling error

funny if they are trying to make a living? lol ok

ortuh [#5]

absolutely not, they’re on max 20k a month, closer to 7-12k range for most pros which is nowhere near money to set you up for life, especially when you already know 99% of these pros primarily get their food from doordash and shit, they live in LA. Obv there’s gonna be a few pros who’ve made good financial decisions, but most of these guys have no real world experience

20k a month = 12k after tax
144k per year of pure spending money
NRG has their own in house chef and I'm pretty sure provides housing like all major esport orgs.
Depending on whether player streams can also provide additional income
Winnings may not be much but they can be up to 5 figures-ish or 6 depending on prizepool dividends
Champs bundle sales also can be shared with players
Team Capsule sales can also be shared with players(? not sure on this one)
Gear is provided for players as well unless they want to spend money on personal items (mouse, mousepad, keyboard, etc.)

And once again this is all spending/savings money and none of it has to go to living expenses like food, water, electricity, etc.

I think they'd be able to do well for themselves if they're not partying all the time.

streamer,coach,or use the money they save to do other things, such as the restaurant industry.

most of them are investing. like buying car , houses etc. they dont need to work

Bro it all depends on the player and how their career has been , like mostly after retirement a lot of players move to coach, analyst positions or some may even come back few years after retirement to be coach, analyst, player , some go back to university and get their degree and do normal jobs but bro u got one thing all wrong, players aren't paid only 20k mostly, those are only for okayish players , better players like sayf, bang , etc they get paid like 30-35k a month , and players like tenz , yay demon1 , aspas they get paid like 45-50k a month and sometimes some team might even pay you more than that if you have proven yourself to be a real good player at internationals like yay who got the bag at bleed

you can get higher education at 30+ if u want and its not like there is a 10 year gap in their resumes or smth.

KClaw [#12]

Bro it all depends on the player and how their career has been , like mostly after retirement a lot of players move to coach, analyst positions or some may even come back few years after retirement to be coach, analyst, player , some go back to university and get their degree and do normal jobs but bro u got one thing all wrong, players aren't paid only 20k mostly, those are only for okayish players , better players like sayf, bang , etc they get paid like 30-35k a month , and players like tenz , yay demon1 , aspas they get paid like 45-50k a month and sometimes some team might even pay you more than that if you have proven yourself to be a real good player at internationals like yay who got the bag at bleed

sayf and bang aint getting paid 30-35k, thats cs money. val players dont get paid that much.

Ask tenz

You'll see Trash Heretics players flipping burgers at McDonald's next year.

Azzelastia [#16]

You'll see Trash Heretics players flipping burgers at McDonald's next year.

demon1 will be the first to do that

catNmouse [#17]

demon1 will be the first to do that

Demon1 looks like the kinda guy who would pursue a degree after competing in esports. I get those vibes from him. Compete for a while, get a degree, then settle down with your wife in a nice small home with a medium-to-high wage job

if you're good then you make some real decent money, if you're smart you'll invest some of that and can retire off of it

cloudberry [#18]

Demon1 looks like the kinda guy who would pursue a degree after competing in esports. I get those vibes from him. Compete for a while, get a degree, then settle down with your wife in a nice small home with a medium-to-high wage job

https://x.com/thevaltimes/status/1782472433825374350?s=46

he’s on it!

he can eat some mcdonalds burguers if he had a good career like sacy and tenz, or he can flip the mcdonalds burguers if he had a mid/failure career like z0mbs and syyko (idk why i did only mentioned sen players)

canopuszz [#21]

he can eat some mcdonalds burguers if he had a good career like sacy and tenz, or he can flip the mcdonalds burguers if he had a mid/failure career like z0mbs and syyko (idk why i did only mentioned sen players)

zombs is a co-owner of sen.....

archetype [#9]

20k a month = 12k after tax
144k per year of pure spending money
NRG has their own in house chef and I'm pretty sure provides housing like all major esport orgs.
Depending on whether player streams can also provide additional income
Winnings may not be much but they can be up to 5 figures-ish or 6 depending on prizepool dividends
Champs bundle sales also can be shared with players
Team Capsule sales can also be shared with players(? not sure on this one)
Gear is provided for players as well unless they want to spend money on personal items (mouse, mousepad, keyboard, etc.)

And once again this is all spending/savings money and none of it has to go to living expenses like food, water, electricity, etc.

I think they'd be able to do well for themselves if they're not partying all the time.

it does go to food for sure

canopuszz [#21]

he can eat some mcdonalds burguers if he had a good career like sacy and tenz, or he can flip the mcdonalds burguers if he had a mid/failure career like z0mbs and syyko (idk why i did only mentioned sen players)

doesnt zombs sell watches now

eric_5008 [#22]

zombs is a co-owner of sen.....

ok thats reasonable, but in nowadays hes just known as a failure, and i bet that even that he have some money hes not living a happy life like tenz or sacy per example, i mean, successful players in general can prosper in another areas as well after retire, like they can explore stream and content creation, no one would care abt zombs streams in genereal today, instead of tenz and sacy who embraced the huge community they built during their career and today live off streams

I mean I remember laughing but then understanding how smart one dota pro was. Nikobaby, who most notably played for Alliance, would buy apartments somewhere at home in bulgaria, repair them, and then loan them during holiday season or just sell them ( a lot of people from eastern europe use bulgaria as a cheap resort spot), quote from one of his friends: ''He (Nikobaby) has like 20 apartments, the money is insane. He came from the bottom, when he was around 16-17 he would help with building apartments, then when he became a pro player then he started plotting schemes with his acquaintances from the building industry. Now he just buys apartments for cheap, does some repair there and loans them''

They're not even 30 most prros that retire and don't stream, they have theri whole life ahead of them, they'll be fine

flip burgers for the meantime then get a real job

archetype [#9]

20k a month = 12k after tax
144k per year of pure spending money
NRG has their own in house chef and I'm pretty sure provides housing like all major esport orgs.
Depending on whether player streams can also provide additional income
Winnings may not be much but they can be up to 5 figures-ish or 6 depending on prizepool dividends
Champs bundle sales also can be shared with players
Team Capsule sales can also be shared with players(? not sure on this one)
Gear is provided for players as well unless they want to spend money on personal items (mouse, mousepad, keyboard, etc.)

And once again this is all spending/savings money and none of it has to go to living expenses like food, water, electricity, etc.

I think they'd be able to do well for themselves if they're not partying all the time.

288k in two years is poor money for the remaining 60 years of life
honestly staying off the streets for 60 years on 288k in this economy is harder than winning champs
and don't forget you need to buy wootings because NRG won't