Speed-Cubing as a Career in 2024?

O

OH>2H

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Hey
So as the title suggests, do you think it's possible to make a career/make a living from competitive speed-cubing in 2024?

Obviously, when paired with content creation, speed-cubing definitely has the potential to make you some serious money, but how about from only competitive earnings (lets hope they increase in the future) and/or sponsorships?

If not 2024, then how about a couple of years from now?

Responses are appreciated 😉
 
this is a conversation that is currently happening in freestyle mountain biking and gaming. Can you live off of earnings alone? So far, no one has been able to do it. sure they win big once, but then they invest in content creation and then grab sponsors etc. personally, I don't think it'll ever be possible to just live off earning because it's just nonsensical. No one is going to risk tying their bank account to their health, the stability of the sports organization, and the possibility that someone better than them is always out there. It really is a gamble.

So, to answer the question, no. I don't think that in 2024 someone can make a living off of cubing comp earnings alone. They would have to use that money to grab some other sort of financial attention in order to exponentially boost their income. For example, in the competitive video game, Fortnite, there are these competitions where if you win, you get a measly $100 that gets taxed and then is a lesser $70. Yet these competitions are one of if not the most important competitions of a gamers career. They don't care about the money that they won. they care about the attention that they are about to receive. I think the same goes with cubing.
 
1x1 wr holder! said:
this is a conversation that is currently happening in freestyle mountain biking and gaming. Can you live off of earnings alone? So far, no one has been able to do it. sure they win big once, but then they invest in content creation and then grab sponsors etc. personally, I don't think it'll ever be possible to just live off earning because it's just nonsensical. No one is going to risk tying their bank account to their health, the stability of the sports organization, and the possibility that someone better than them is always out there. It really is a gamble.

So, to answer the question, no. I don't think that in 2024 someone can make a living off of cubing comp earnings alone. They would have to use that money to grab some other sort of financial attention in order to exponentially boost their income. For example, in the competitive video game, Fortnite, there are these competitions where if you win, you get a measly $100 that gets taxed and then is a lesser $70. Yet these competitions are one of if not the most important competitions of a gamers career. They don't care about the money that they won. they care about the attention that they are about to receive. I think the same goes with cubing.
Click to expand...
Tbf, esports comps like RLCS have a massive prize pool (or used to) of like 1 mil for the winning team of 3/4 people, however the esports orgs do get some along with coaches and all that, and also this is only for one team, not even the 16 or whatever pro teams competing that get barely as much. RLCS has also changed format to make it so a lot of people get some money (so randoms who are good at the game have a chance) rather than the grinding pros getting more
 
OH>2H said:
Hey
So as the title suggests, do you think it's possible to make a career/make a living from competitive speed-cubing in 2024?

Obviously, when paired with content creation, speed-cubing definitely has the potential to make you some serious money, but how about from only competitive earnings (lets hope they increase in the future) and/or sponsorships?

If not 2024, then how about a couple of years from now?

Responses are appreciated 😉
Click to expand...
I think if you're sponsored by multiple retailers/brands. Like maybe you were sponsored by SCS and GAN. Then paired with the YT monetization you could get from views, subs, likes, etc, I think it's far from impossible. Prize money should be considered. If you're dominating 3x3 at say, the world champs or US Nats, then that's another source of revenue. However many competitions (like Kiwi Nats) offer no prize money, so I'd say you'd need to dominate 3x3 at the big comps.
From what I know about Feliks' sponsorship, GAN helps cover most of his travel costs as well as free cubes.
 
1x1 wr holder! said:
this is a conversation that is currently happening in freestyle mountain biking and gaming. Can you live off of earnings alone? So far, no one has been able to do it. sure they win big once, but then they invest in content creation and then grab sponsors etc. personally, I don't think it'll ever be possible to just live off earning because it's just nonsensical. No one is going to risk tying their bank account to their health, the stability of the sports organization, and the possibility that someone better than them is always out there. It really is a gamble.

So, to answer the question, no. I don't think that in 2024 someone can make a living off of cubing comp earnings alone. They would have to use that money to grab some other sort of financial attention in order to exponentially boost their income. For example, in the competitive video game, Fortnite, there are these competitions where if you win, you get a measly $100 that gets taxed and then is a lesser $70. Yet these competitions are one of if not the most important competitions of a gamers career. They don't care about the money that they won. they care about the attention that they are about to receive. I think the same goes with cubing.
Click to expand...

World class players in the most profitable esports games can 100% earn a good living. I think you're forgetting the existence of sponsorship deals. Many esports players make quite a bit off them, and I imagine mountain biking is the same way, although I'm not particularly familiar with that world. A $100 Fortnite tournament is nowhere near the peak of a world-class or even professional (professional meaning full-time income) gamer's career.


I'm not sure how what sponsorships for world class cubers look like, but I do doubt that there's enough being paid out to make it a full-time living, at least for more than the top few cubers in the world. And yeah, competition prizes would be trivial when talking about a full-time income. I could definitely be wrong though; I'd be interested to hear the take of someone either at or familiar with the world class level.
 
ProStar said:
World class players in the most profitable esports games can 100% earn a good living. I think you're forgetting the existence of sponsorship deals. Many esports players make quite a bit off them, and I imagine mountain biking is the same way, although I'm not particularly familiar with that world. A $100 Fortnite tournament is nowhere near the peak of a world-class or even professional (professional meaning full-time income) gamer's career.


I'm not sure how what sponsorships for world class cubers look like, but I do doubt that there's enough being paid out to make it a full-time living, at least for more than the top few cubers in the world. And yeah, competition prizes would be trivial when talking about a full-time income. I could definitely be wrong though; I'd be interested to hear the take of someone either at or familiar with the world class level.
Click to expand...
Oh whoops, I misread a part of the prompt. I didn't realize that sponsors are allowed. I thought it was just off of earnings.
 
CoderGuru said:
Tbf, esports comps like RLCS have a massive prize pool (or used to) of like 1 mil for the winning team of 3/4 people, however the esports orgs do get some along with coaches and all that, and also this is only for one team, not even the 16 or whatever pro teams competing that get barely as much. RLCS has also changed format to make it so a lot of people get some money (so randoms who are good at the game have a chance) rather than the grinding pros getting more
Click to expand...
The only issue is that esports is absolutely burning cash. Unless it's like TI, the entire industry is just hemorrhaging money. The only people making money are the top players and coaches in a lot of cases.

I think the only viable path for speedcubing rn is content creation. Tymon paid some rent with Monkey League money once, that's the closest we've ever been to a professional competitor
 
Swagrid said:
The only issue is that esports is absolutely burning cash. Unless it's like TI, the entire industry is just hemorrhaging money. The only people making money are the top players and coaches in a lot of cases.

I think the only viable path for speedcubing rn is content creation. Tymon paid some rent with Monkey League money once, that's the closest we've ever been to a professional competitor
Click to expand...
I honestly think that JPerm made more money than a lot of top tier cubers.
 
Arcanist said:
Definitely since winning World's 2023 in 3x3 only made you $3000 usd...
Click to expand...
Most profitable competitive speedcubers will be people that have broken the milestones that some companies like MoYu and GAN put bounties on. First sub 4 3x3 single, first sub 5 3x3 average, and in the future, first sub 3 3x3 sing, first sub 1 2x2 avg
 
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