Highest Earning eSports Players in the World
Whether you believe it or not, competitive gaming is now one the fastest growing sports in the world. As video streaming is becoming more and more popular, playing video games professional is too. In 2018, top eSports players are now considered as massive stars. While pro gamers were fighting for minuscule amounts of money and peripherals just a decade or so ago, today’s players at the highest level fight for millions of dollars each year. As more large companies begin to invest in eSports, it’s popularity and revenue in the industry has catapulted through the roof.
As we breakdown the eSports players who earn the most money, we first look at actual games that make eSports what it is today.
As you can see from the graph above, the world famous League of Legends leads the way with an impressive 100 million active players in their player base. Some of other big franchises such Call of Duty and Dota 2, also have a large player base. In these big named games, we have over 200 million players who play competitively, a quite remarkable figure for such a relatively new “sport”.
The Fastest Growing Sports in the World
The 10 Highest Earning eSports Players in 2018
We breakdown each eSports player by their team, the game and their current earnings to date, some of these figures are overwhelming –
10. Li Peng – $1,998,972
Li Peng or “iceice” currently sits at number 10 in the highest earners list, earning an impressive $1,998,972.63 From 22 Tournaments in Dota 2. Not too bad for playing a video game.
9. Clinton Loomis – $2,492,360
“Fear” as he is better known has earned close to $2.5 million from gaming as of 2018. He has played in 70 tournaments and is played the video game called Dota 2.
8. Maroun Merhej – $2,545,258
Maround “GH” Merhej is a Dota 2 player who hails from Lebanon. Acquiring over $2.5 million in just 25 tournaments is an incredible amount of money.
7. Peter Dager – $2,686,758
“ppd” from the United States is a professional gamer who plays the game Dota 2. At 26 years old, Dager is second highest earning gamer from America.
6. Sumail Hassan – $2,712,139
Hassan is a 19 year old professional gamer from Pakistan. He is currently the mid player for Evil Geniuses.
5. Lasse Urpalainen – $2,926,465
Lasse “Matumbaman” Urpalainen is a Finnish Dota 2 player. From 51 tournaments as a pro, Matumbaman has earned close to $3 million.
4. Ivan Ivanov – $2,926,761
Ivan “MinD_ContRoL” Ivanov is a Bulgarian Dota 2 player. Last year alone, Ivan earned over $2 million in prize money in just 14 tournaments.
3. Saahil Arora – $2,977,603
Saahil “UNiVeRsE” Arora is an American eSports player, he is ranked number 1 in the United States and is third highest earning eSports player in the world.
2. Amer Al-Barkawi – $3,159,686
One of only 2 players to break the $3 million barrier is Amer or better known as “Miracle”.
1. Kuro Takhasomi – $3,586,277
Kuro “KuroKy” Takhasomi is a German Dota 2 player, formerly a DotA: Allstars player. Kuroky has been playing Dota 2 competitively for a very long time. Throughout his career he has improved every year, while his earnings have increased almost every year.
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