This study provides readers with new information about key drivers of performance in the emerging area of eSports. Competitive computer gaming (eSports) is becoming increasingly popular, and the number of gamers and amount of prize money is growing. We therefore explore some key country-level characteristics that may contribute to players’ success, measured as money won. We use gamers’ prize earnings aggregated by country and a hurdle model to understand the determinants of performance. The results show that a 1% increase in GDP per capita leads to a 2.2% increase in prize money per capita. Country population is not statistically significant in the outcome model. This finding may indicate that eSports talents are not uniformly distributed across the world population. Surprisingly, post-Soviet and planned or post-planned economies are more likely to participate in eSports.
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