<story><title>Esports stars have shorter careers than NFL players</title><url>https://www.washingtonpost.com/video-games/esports/2022/04/19/esports-age-retirement/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>karmakaze</author><text>I can&amp;#x27;t believe it mentioned StarCraft without mentioning some well known players as sample points.&lt;p&gt;- Maru[0] (age 24) 2010-present&lt;p&gt;- DRG[1] (age 30) 2011-present (minus 2 years off for military service)&lt;p&gt;So arguably Maru could have another 6 years in him or more.&lt;p&gt;Interesting trivia: One reason StarCraft 1: BroodWar is more popular in S.Korea (despite it having janky motion even with the Remastered graphics) is because many took to the game during a major economic downturn. [Can&amp;#x27;t remember where I watched that reported, maybe a Netflix documentary.]&lt;p&gt;There&amp;#x27;s hope that Microsoft&amp;#x2F;ActivisionBlizzard may figure out how to monetize the free-to-play game to sustain &amp;amp; grow it.&lt;p&gt;[0] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;liquipedia.net&amp;#x2F;starcraft2&amp;#x2F;Maru&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;liquipedia.net&amp;#x2F;starcraft2&amp;#x2F;Maru&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;liquipedia.net&amp;#x2F;starcraft2&amp;#x2F;DongRaeGu&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;liquipedia.net&amp;#x2F;starcraft2&amp;#x2F;DongRaeGu&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>kirrent</author><text>For the longer careers I think you have to look into BW players. Off the top of my head Bisu might be the standout, starting in 2005 and still competing at a decently high level in ASL aged 32. Flash&amp;#x27;s career is slightly shorter, starting in 2007. He was very young so he&amp;#x27;s only 29 now, but he&amp;#x27;s still the best in the world. Even Stork (33) made a (less impressive) comeback recently and with Jaedong (32) in the last ASL, every member of TBLS can make it to ASL which is just astonishing.</text></comment>
<story><title>Esports stars have shorter careers than NFL players</title><url>https://www.washingtonpost.com/video-games/esports/2022/04/19/esports-age-retirement/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>karmakaze</author><text>I can&amp;#x27;t believe it mentioned StarCraft without mentioning some well known players as sample points.&lt;p&gt;- Maru[0] (age 24) 2010-present&lt;p&gt;- DRG[1] (age 30) 2011-present (minus 2 years off for military service)&lt;p&gt;So arguably Maru could have another 6 years in him or more.&lt;p&gt;Interesting trivia: One reason StarCraft 1: BroodWar is more popular in S.Korea (despite it having janky motion even with the Remastered graphics) is because many took to the game during a major economic downturn. [Can&amp;#x27;t remember where I watched that reported, maybe a Netflix documentary.]&lt;p&gt;There&amp;#x27;s hope that Microsoft&amp;#x2F;ActivisionBlizzard may figure out how to monetize the free-to-play game to sustain &amp;amp; grow it.&lt;p&gt;[0] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;liquipedia.net&amp;#x2F;starcraft2&amp;#x2F;Maru&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;liquipedia.net&amp;#x2F;starcraft2&amp;#x2F;Maru&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;liquipedia.net&amp;#x2F;starcraft2&amp;#x2F;DongRaeGu&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;liquipedia.net&amp;#x2F;starcraft2&amp;#x2F;DongRaeGu&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>Retric</author><text>Maru is a SCII player which might not be a thing in 6 years seeing the diminishing prize pools etc. Meanwhile Morten Andersen did 25 years in the NFL which isn’t going away anytime soon.&lt;p&gt;Beyond game longevity, each  game can only support a tiny number of professionals and the games balance is often changed in response to overly dominant strategies.  On top of this as you gain fame people will prepare to counter you specifically.  Combined with injuries or other out of game issues and it’s extremely uncommon for people to be self sufficient for very long.</text></comment>