Apex Legends has lost one of its best professional players. The Twitch streamer and e-sports star Colby “dizzy” Meadows has announced that he will no longer compete in e-sports. He is now focusing on streaming.
This is what dizzy says about his decision: On Twitter, the former pro posted his statement regarding his exit from e-sports. It states:
I had some personal challenges and really had to decide what my passion would be. After much consideration, I have finally made my decision.
Starting today, I am starting a new chapter in my life and have decided to focus on streaming and part ways with NRG. I will no longer compete.
dizzy spent 10 months at NRG Esports, helping the team achieve numerous victories, after he himself became a star almost out of nowhere. He is considered one of the best players in the world. dizzy, however, still wants to remain loyal to Apex Legends and stream regularly on Twitch.
Is e-sports no longer lucrative?
This is the status of Apex Legends: Since its release in February 2019, there have only been four “major” tournaments (“Tier 1”). The total prize money for these is $1.5 million (via liquipedia), though some additional earnings like those from Twitch Rivals in Berlin are not fully accounted for.
At the two tournaments with the most prize money, the Preseason Invitational and TwitchCon San Diego, there was $500,000 each. However, 70 and 80 teams participated respectively. NRG Esports received only $60,000 as the winner of Group B. In comparison with other e-sports disciplines in 2019:
- CSGO: $1 million at the StarLadder Berlin Major (24 participants)
- In 2019, a total of 14.674 million dollars in S-tier events
- Overwatch: $3.5 million at the Overwatch League playoffs (12 participants)
- In 2019, a total of 5 million dollars in the OWL and around $3.2 million at Contenders and Major tournaments
- LoL: $2.225 million at the World Championships (24 participants)
- In 2019, a total of over 6 million dollars in Premier and over 1.4 million dollars in Major Events
What about Twitch?
This is the status of streaming: Compared to e-sports, Twitch is a relatively stable source of income. Here, players do not necessarily have to win or be highly skilled, but they must be entertaining. dizzy, however, will be able to impress with good gameplay.
However, Twitch is currently facing significant competition from Microsoft (Mixer), Google (YouTube), and Facebook:
- Disguised Toast switched to Facebook
- shroud and Ninja are now on Mixer
- Fortnite streamer CouRage now streams on YouTube
Nevertheless, the streaming platform appears to maintain its monopoly. Some of the biggest streamers even want to explicitly stay on Twitch:
