A new report has revealed the highest-paid esports athletes in the world, with earnings reaching over $5 million.
The esports earnings report was done by OBLG, and revealed the highest-paid gamers as well as which esports game are the most lucrative.
The most well-paid game is DOTA 2 by a large margin. It has a total of £203, 811, 118 in tournament earnings. DOTA’s earnings are more than twice that of the next highest-earning games. It also has less players than competitors like League of Legends, meaning the average win-per-player is significantly higher.
Who Are The Highest-Paid Players?
The highest-paid player is DOTA 2’s Johan “N0tail” Sundstein from Denmark. He has earned a reported £5,297,759 from tournaments.
The rest of the top 5 are all DOTA 2 players as well. Jesse “JerAx” Vainakka earned £4,771,687 from tournaments. Anathan “Ana” Pham earned £4,427,936. Sébastien “Ceb” Debs earned £4,257,881 and Topias “Topson” Taavitsainen earned £4,196,382.
Surprisingly, Faker, who is the most famous League of Legends player in the world, lands at just 76th on the list. He has earned a reported $1,309,608.
Other games that reached the top five include CS:GO at second place, with £92,080,998 split across 5,953 tournaments. Fortnite came in third with £79,855,016, though that was only across 741 tournaments. League of Legends is 4th with £65,945,233 and StarCraft II has a total of £26,435,227 in tournament earnings.
The report also found that only two female gamers have earned over £100,000 from tournaments. Sasha “Scarlett” Hostyn, known for StarCraft II, earned at least £3 million less than her male opponents despite winning more championships than any of the top 10 male players.
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Featured Image Credit: CNET