According to an estimate, eSports industry will have a total worth of $1.5 billion by the end of 2020. Young people around the world are continuously turning their passion for video games into revenue streams. In this article we will mention some of the people who turned millionaires just by playing video games.
Famous Gamers Who Became Millionaires
Lee ‘Jaedong’ Jae Dong
Jae Dong is the world’s highest paid professional gamer. The 27-year old gamer plays StarCraft: Brood War player and StarCraft II. Last year, he announced retirement but later joined SC:BW. Jae Dong has won five OnGameNet Starleague and MBCGame StarCraft League tournaments. His total earnings from 52 tournaments total to $519,086.72.
Carlos “Oceleote” Rodriguez
Carlos “Oceleote” Rodriguez is in early twenties, and making a whopping $950,000 per year. The Spaniard plays League of Legends. He participates in a lot of international tournaments, live streams on the internet, and plays for different eSports teams. He is known as the “David Beckham” of the eSports world.
Sumail Hassan
Sumail Hassan is an 18-year old professional gamer who has earned over $2.48 million by playing Dota 2. He currently plays for Evil Geniuses. As a kid, Sumail used to play at local gaming centers in his hometown in Karachi, Pakistan. He was so skillful that he immediately got the attention of international gamers.
Johnathan ‘Fatal1ty’ Wendel
Johnathan ‘Fatal1ty’ Wendel is a professional gamer who started his career playing Doom 3 in 199. He also plays games like Alien VS Predator and Painkiller. Fata11ty had a record for the most prize money won ever for consecutive 13 years. He has made about $454,919 from 35 tournaments. Jonathan then founded a gaming gear company called Fatal1ty Gaming Gear whose products are pretty famous among beginner and professional gamers alike.
Jae Ho ‘Moon’ Jang
Jae Ho Moon is a South Korean gamer who plays Warcraft 3. He has made about $443,600 playing this video game. He signed $500,000 worth of contract with a South Korean gaming team, WeMadeFox, in 2009.
Danil ‘Dendi’ Ishutin
As of the end of 2014, Danil ‘Dendi’ Ishutin is the second highest paid gamer in the world. His total earnings from 43 tournaments have a worth of $455,615.83, according to eSports Earnings website. Originally from Ukraine, Dendi started playing Dota professionally for WG in 2006.
Felix ‘PewDiePie’ Kjellberg
Felix Kjellberg, also known as PewDiePie, is a famous online gamer and YouTuber. Felix started his YouTube channel in 2010 after dropping out of Chalmers University of Technology. He used to post videos of gameplays of horror games including Amnesia: The Dark Descent. According to the Wall Street Journal, PewDiePie earned $4 million just in 2013. His YouTube channel has over 55 million subscribers.
