Only a couple of decades back, videogaming was seen as nothing more than a fun hobby. At best, you could hope to win a couple of bucks in a bet with your friend at the arcade. But today, esports is a real thing – and much like real sports, it is ultra-competitive. You can always try out top payout casinos and play to win, but there are more ways to get paid for playing games in today’s time. But how much can you expect to earn on average? Let’s find out!
Can Esports Be A Full-Time Career?
Esports is a niche covering competitive videogaming and is seen pretty much the same way as regular sports. Players who excel at titles like Dota 2, Fortnite, and Counter-Strike: Global Strike, can monetize their skills and make it into a full-time career.
Usually, players go into competitive esports as teams, or solo, often (but not necessarily) funded by sponsors. They participate in tournaments to bag rewards. Players need to win consistently to have a permanent full-time career which can pay around $4,000 or $5,000 per month on average.
Players can also earn from posting content online and brand deals and playing online games like roulette online malaysia.
How Much Do Esports Players Make On Average?
As mentioned earlier, the average salary per month is between $4,000 and $5,000 – this can roughly translate to between $50,000 and $60,000 per year. Of course, in some cases, the pay can be almost half this much, and in other cases, players can earn much more than that.
Since some high-paid players usually have to sign non-disclosure agreements, so it’s hard to get an accurate estimate across the board. But to transform their passion into a full-time career, players must be able to deliver results consistently.
A monthly salary is as good a motivator as any to keep players on top of their game!
Top-Paid Esports Players Of All Time
So, do all players fall within the $60,000 per year category? Not at all. Many players have bagged millions through competitive esports. While this is rare, but not as much as one would think. Hundreds of players have amassed big sums playing only one title they’re very good at.
- 29-year-old Johan Sundstein, for instance, who goes by the name “N0tail,” is at the top of the charts, having made a whopping $7,184,163 playing Dota 2.
- Jesse Vainikka, who is 31 years old, also plays Dota 2 under the pseudonym “JerAx,” and has amassed $6,486,948.
- Bugha, whose real name is Kyle Giersdorf, has won $3,623,371 in total playing Fortnite.
- David Wang, playing under the pseudonym “Aqua,” bagged $2,190,540 in total, once again, through Fortnite.
- 30-year-old CS:GO player Peter Rothmann Rasmussen, who plays as “Dupreeh” has won a total of $2,181,164.
Based on these examples, it becomes apparent that the videogame title itself has a huge impact on how much one can earn playing it. Some games attract more international attention than others of similar scope and thus have higher tournament prizes.
Best Paying Competitive Games
To no one’s surprise, Dota 2 is at the top of the list of most highly monetized games. The title has helped players bag a total of $234,795,551 in winnings. And as of 2023, there are officially 4,059 players associated with the game – so far, they’ve competed in 1,526 tournaments.
Following this, we have Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, or CS:GO for short, with $117,125,739 given out in winnings, 13,915 international-level players, and 5,770 tournaments.
Fortnite stands at number three with $106,481,419 given out in winnings, 4,834 international-level players, and 734 tournaments.
Career Opportunities For Videogamers Besides Competitive ESports And Tournaments
Besides competitive gaming, players can also showcase their talents on online video-sharing platforms like Twitch and YouTube. The former only allows live streaming of playing penny slots, while you can also post recorded videos on the latter. In both cases, players can monetize their gameplay through ads and brand deals.
For example, the YouTube channel PewDiePie, with over 111 million subscribers, was valued at around $54 million back in 2021. Markiplier, a channel best known for posting a spooky gameplay of Five Nights at Freddy’s, has a net worth of around $35 million. VanossGaming, with 25.6 million subscribers, is valued at $25 million. And the list goes on…
There are two notable differences between professional esports players and gamers making money with video content.
- The latter can play all sorts of games which is not true for the former.
- They can also generate revenue from channel sponsors and Patreon supporters.
That is not to say that one is essentially better than the other, but these differences will matter when considering the two career options.
Is Esports A Promising Long-Term Career?
Esports is an industry where you can bag millions. But there’s a catch: players must master a very specific and narrow skillset. So narrow, that it is only relevant to a single game. Outside of that, they’re not worth much.
And these games don’t stay forever – inevitably, they will fade out, and when that happens, the associated esports players will most likely find themselves out of jobs. The same also goes if they fail to perform well consistently (and the competition is simply brutal).
There is a lot of pressure, but if you excel at a competitive game, you can monetize your skills.
Winning even a single tournament can set you up for life!
But if you’re more into generating a long-term passive income by selling advertising on your content, then posting on platforms like YouTube will be a far better option. This way, you also get to expand your skillset and try a whole bunch of video games you love.