Let's talk money! There are many ways to get paid nowadays! With technology and the different platforms available, your imagination is really the only limit there is to how you'd like to get paid. Obviously, once you've imagined it, then you just have to work hard to make it become a reality. In gaming, it's no different. Not only there are many ways of getting paid but all the different ways can happen at different times and for some of them, you might find out that they can happen earlier than you think and then next thing you know, you're living off video games!
Highest paid off Esports
To encourage you, we thought that today we could give you a little sneak peek of what it's like to be at the top of the top, 'La creme de la creme'. We'll give you a few lists of people that are at the top of their respective income tables and... SPOILER ALERT: They're all doing pretty well off of gaming.
First category: Esports.
This is probably the most straightforward and known way to make money playing games (competitive games) but it's also the hardest. It consists of assisting many if not all the tournaments of that said game and aiming to always place in the money. Depending on the competition, that could mean top 3 (smaller ones) or top 10 to top 16 (bigger ones). However, note that with the money won, there is usually a slight overhead which is transportation to the event, the stay (if needed), food, and tournament entry. So, you ought to aim to receive enough AFTER paying back for all these expenses, which can be quite a bit at times. Well, here are the ones that made a killing off of simply winning tournaments and being good at the game they played:
N0tail (Johan Sundstein): USD7.18M$ with Dota 2
JerAx (Jesse Vainikka): USD6.49M$ with Dota 2we
Ana (Anathan Pham): USD6.02M$ with Dota 2
As you may have noticed, they're all playing the same game. In fact, the whole top 10 list is Dota 2 players. Dota is known to have very high prize pool tournaments to attract the max amount of participants as well as viewers, so it's not surprising to see that when people win these tournaments, they win big. Also, these people have played and competed for almost 10 years so it's understandable that it stacks up over the years.
Highest paid off online Gaming
This seems to be the more common way nowadays because not only it's more popular but it's also more accessible and the ceiling is even higher, if any. The reason is simply that in order to win money at tournaments, there must be tournaments and you must win them. When you make online content, you're your own boss and decide when you want to do what which creates so much more flexibility around your schedule and even the games you decide to play. A lot of gamers on Twitch or Youtube and such, won't only stick to one game but will play different games and often will hop on a game that's trending at the moment. That's a great way to get new subs and to have your channel be displayed on the trending page.
Here are the wealthiest gamers at the moment:
PewDiePie (Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg): USD60M$ through Youtube and Twitch gaming
Ninja (Tyler Blevins): USD40M$ through Youtube and Twitch gaming
Shroud (Michael Grzesiek): USD20M$ through professional CS:GO and Twitch gaming
As you can see, the numbers are way higher in this second category. that's no surprise given the benefits mentioned above.
There are many other revenue sources for gamers including sponsorships, partnerships, team salary, etc. so there really is money for everyone, one just needs to commit and focus to the craft.
Highest paid off Esports
To encourage you, we thought that today we could give you a little sneak peek of what it's like to be at the top of the top, 'La creme de la creme'. We'll give you a few lists of people that are at the top of their respective income tables and... SPOILER ALERT: They're all doing pretty well off of gaming.
First category: Esports.
This is probably the most straightforward and known way to make money playing games (competitive games) but it's also the hardest. It consists of assisting many if not all the tournaments of that said game and aiming to always place in the money. Depending on the competition, that could mean top 3 (smaller ones) or top 10 to top 16 (bigger ones). However, note that with the money won, there is usually a slight overhead which is transportation to the event, the stay (if needed), food, and tournament entry. So, you ought to aim to receive enough AFTER paying back for all these expenses, which can be quite a bit at times. Well, here are the ones that made a killing off of simply winning tournaments and being good at the game they played:
N0tail (Johan Sundstein): USD7.18M$ with Dota 2
JerAx (Jesse Vainikka): USD6.49M$ with Dota 2we
Ana (Anathan Pham): USD6.02M$ with Dota 2
As you may have noticed, they're all playing the same game. In fact, the whole top 10 list is Dota 2 players. Dota is known to have very high prize pool tournaments to attract the max amount of participants as well as viewers, so it's not surprising to see that when people win these tournaments, they win big. Also, these people have played and competed for almost 10 years so it's understandable that it stacks up over the years.
Highest paid off online Gaming
This seems to be the more common way nowadays because not only it's more popular but it's also more accessible and the ceiling is even higher, if any. The reason is simply that in order to win money at tournaments, there must be tournaments and you must win them. When you make online content, you're your own boss and decide when you want to do what which creates so much more flexibility around your schedule and even the games you decide to play. A lot of gamers on Twitch or Youtube and such, won't only stick to one game but will play different games and often will hop on a game that's trending at the moment. That's a great way to get new subs and to have your channel be displayed on the trending page.
Here are the wealthiest gamers at the moment:
PewDiePie (Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg): USD60M$ through Youtube and Twitch gaming
Ninja (Tyler Blevins): USD40M$ through Youtube and Twitch gaming
Shroud (Michael Grzesiek): USD20M$ through professional CS:GO and Twitch gaming
As you can see, the numbers are way higher in this second category. that's no surprise given the benefits mentioned above.
There are many other revenue sources for gamers including sponsorships, partnerships, team salary, etc. so there really is money for everyone, one just needs to commit and focus to the craft.