How a Teenager Made $150K Playing CS2

Maksim “Kyousuke” Lukin is one of the brightest young talents in the CS2 world. At just 17 years old, he made headlines across the scene by moving from Team Spirit’s academy to the ambitious international roster of Team Falcons. Fans are interested not only in his performance but also in how much money he has earned in his still early esports career. Let’s break down Kyousuke’s official sources of income — tournament prize money, team salaries, and sponsorship deals — and see how his talent translates into real money.

Tournament prize money, Team salaries, Sponsorships and advertising contracts, Kyousuke’s total career earnings

Tournament prize money

We’ll start with tournament prize money — the most straightforward source of income for an esports player. Over the course of his official tournament appearances, Kyousuke has earned about $58,000 in prize money. Almost half of this amount came from a single tournament: in January 2025, Maksim took 2nd place at the Evelone Duo Cup show event and received $30,000 for it. For comparison, that’s over 50% of all his prize winnings at that moment — an impressive payout for a young player. In addition to that, Kyousuke took first places at smaller CCT and LanDaLan events, earning several thousand dollars each (for example, $6,000 for winning the LAN tournament LanDaLan #2 in May 2025).

Interestingly, Kyousuke became famous not only thanks to official championships but also through online competitions on Faceit. In the third season of Faceit’s ranked matchmaking, he placed 2nd, losing only to another young talent, Donk, and received $10,000 in prize money. Even NAVI star Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov only finished third with $5,000. This shows just how high Kyousuke’s skill level was in pickup games — to the point where he earned a solid amount simply by grinding ranked matches.

In total, tournament prize money brought Kyousuke around $60,000–$70,000. This income is officially confirmed — tournament organizers announce prize pools, and winnings are publicly recorded. Of course, $60k is not an astronomical amount by top esports standards, but let’s not forget: Kyousuke’s career has only just begun, and he’s already won more than many people dream of earning in a lifetime of tournaments.

Team salaries

The next major source of income is the salaries that players receive from esports organizations. This part of Kyousuke’s income changed drastically in 2025. At first, Maksim was a member of Team Spirit’s academy, where salaries are relatively modest — according to Team Spirit’s CEO, club salaries range from $500 to $30,000 per month, with junior players clearly closer to the lower end. This means that during his Spirit Academy period, his monthly income was in the hundreds of dollars rather than thousands. But after moving to Team Falcons, his life changed completely.

Kyousuke’s transfer in the summer of 2025 was the talk of the scene: insiders claimed that his buyout cost the “Falcons” around $2,000,000 — a colossal sum that had previously only been paid for a handful of stars. It was called the second most expensive transfer in esports history. Although the Falcons founder later denied the $2 million figure, admitting the deal was expensive but “not even close to that,” the very scale of these rumors shows how big the investment was. Joining Falcons meant not only a new stage in Kyousuke’s career but also a sharp increase in his personal income.

Salaries in Team Falcons are among the highest on the CS2 scene. According to analysts, stars like Nikola “NiKo” Kovač earn around €70,000 per month at Falcons. Of course, a newcomer like Kyousuke isn’t earning that much, but even regular players on the roster, as insider kassad has noted, receive between $13,000 and $30,000 per month. It’s reasonable to assume Kyousuke’s contract is in the lower half of that range — after all, a 17-year-old with no Tier-1 experience won’t start at the same pay level as global superstars. Even with a salary of around $15,000 a month, in just six months with Falcons (from June to December 2025), Kyousuke could have earned about $90,000 in salary alone. That’s significantly more than his prize winnings for the same period.

The young player has already gotten a taste of “big salary” life and isn’t hiding it. In one interview, he was asked what he spent his first serious paycheck on. Kyousuke smiled and said he bought himself a brand-new iPhone for 110–120 thousand rubles and a top-end 5080 graphics card (he doesn’t remember the exact price). He also admitted that quite a bit of the money went simply to hanging out with friends — well, youth is youth. This little detail makes it clear: Kyousuke’s salary at Falcons is more than enough for him to afford expensive gadgets and leisure.

Thus, in the salary category, Kyousuke has already earned tens of thousands of dollars. Exact numbers are confidential, but considering insider information on Falcons’ payroll, it’s safe to say the amount is at least $50,000–$100,000 for 2025 (most of it from his Falcons contract). And this is just the beginning: if Kyousuke establishes himself on the roster, his annual salary could reach hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Sponsorships and advertising contracts

For many top players, a significant portion of their income comes from sponsorship deals, advertising contracts, and streaming partnerships. However, in Kyousuke’s case, no such deals have been publicly announced yet. As of 2025, Maksim is still building his name on the big stage and has not signed any individual sponsorships. His nickname does not appear in ad integrations, and he doesn’t personally represent any brands — at least, there is no information on official contracts of this kind.

Of course, Kyousuke plays on a team that has its own sponsors (you can just look at the Red Bull patch on his old Team Spirit jersey or Team Falcons’ partners). But usually, money from team sponsors goes into the club’s budget and is then distributed, including covering players’ salaries. As for separate ad campaigns — such as deals with device manufacturers, betting companies, streaming platforms, and others — Kyousuke has not been seen in any of those. He also doesn’t have any known merch collaborations or personal brands.

It’s worth remembering that Kyousuke is still very young, and his entire career lies ahead of him to attract sponsors. Many star streamers and esports players only start getting sponsorship deals after building their audience and media weight. It’s very possible that in the future, we’ll see Kyousuke’s name among the ambassadors of some device or service. But as of 2025, there are no confirmed external contracts, so his “sponsorship income” line remains at zero.

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Kyousuke’s total career earnings

Let’s sum up and estimate Maksim “Kyousuke” Lukin’s total official income from his career (as of the end of 2025), broken down by category:

Tournament prize money: approximately $60,000 (about 5.5–6 million rubles). Kyousuke earned this by winning and placing at CS:GO/CS2 tournaments. The biggest contribution was $30k from Evelone Duo Cup, plus several smaller winnings and a $10k bonus from the Faceit season.

Team salaries: around $70,000–$100,000 (~7–10 million rubles) in total. This includes several thousand dollars of symbolic pay at Spirit Academy and the sharply increased salary at Team Falcons. According to insider data, Falcons players receive $13k to $30k per month, so even in less than a year on the main roster, Kyousuke could have earned tens of thousands of dollars. The exact amount is unknown, but judging by indirect signs (such as his spending on expensive purchases), his salary brings him substantial income.

Sponsorship contracts: $0 (so far). Kyousuke has no officially confirmed personal sponsorship or advertising deals at this point. All of his earnings come either from prize money or his club salary — fan donations and subscriptions are not included, as they are not publicly disclosed.

If we combine all these categories, Kyousuke has already earned around $130,000–$150,000 (which is roughly 12–15 million rubles) over his career. For a 17-year-old who just a year ago was playing on the academy stage, this is an incredible financial leap. And most of this amount came in 2025, when the “sheikhs” from Team Falcons noticed the talented Russian player and brought him to a new level.

It’s safe to say Falcons’ investment in Kyousuke is paying off: he’s delivering results while significantly improving his financial situation. His story is a prime example of how quickly life can change in esports: a big transfer, a high salary, solid prize winnings — and suddenly you have over a hundred thousand dollars in your pocket. And this is only the beginning. If Kyousuke continues to progress, more trophies and bigger contracts are waiting for him.

In the end, the young esports player has already secured a financial cushion most people his age can only dream of. And we’ll keep watching his career grow — and with it, his earnings. Because for Kyousuke, the most exciting things — in both the game and in money — are most likely still ahead.