Professional Dota 2 player and popular streamer Roman “RAMZES666” Kushnarev recently discussed his salary history with different teams during a broadcast on his Twitch channel.
He shared specific figures detailing his financial progression:
“In Spirit [the first time], they paid me $1,200 when I was 15. But the exchange rate was completely different back then. In ScaryFaceZ, I think they paid around $300. Then CIS Rejects picked me up, and Spirit signed our team — there they paid $1,000 or $1,200. After that, Team Empire paid $1,500, and then in Virtus.pro, it was $3,000. I`ve already mentioned how much I earned in EG — more than $20,000.”
Kushnarev also noted a unique situation during his temporary transfer to Tundra Esports in 2024, where he played without a salary.
“In Tundra, I played for the idea, I didn`t have a salary. I`m serious. Tundra was paying L1ga Team monthly for my loan. And I played for zero because I simply wanted to play at `Int` [The International] and `Riyadh` [Riyadh Masters], something like that. But I did receive prize money, of course.
[Salary] was not paid to me by either L1ga Team or Tundra. I just had an ambassador contract with L1ga. But I`m not complaining — the time in Tundra was [excellent], honestly. I`m glad everything worked out that way.”
RAMZES666 further explained his reasoning for joining Tundra under these conditions.
“I was under contract with L1ga Team, and it wasn`t their decision for me to leave. I simply said, essentially, that I didn`t see prospects with that roster to qualify for `Int` and `Riyadh` — and I said it as it was: `Just give me to Tundra.` In general, I could have stayed in L1ga Team and collected my salary — I wouldn`t have cared.”
RAMZES666 began his professional esports career in 2014. Since then, he has become a prizewinner in numerous major international tournaments. As of the publication of this material, Kushnarev is currently inactive.
Finley Holt