While some would consider gaming to be a waste of time, others have turned it into a profitable venture. Professional gamers have the potential to earn thousands or even millions of dollars. There are a select few, however, who come out ahead of the rest. Here are the top 15 richest gamers in the world.
15. Saahil Arora (Net Worth $3 million)
Fun fact: The first drawing made for #DotaSummit 9 was actually of @Aui_2000 by @UniverseDota . pic.twitter.com/9D8VsP9o3z
— BTS Dota (@BTSdota) July 28, 2018
Saahil Arora rose to fame as a Dota 2 player. He started gaming as a career in 2011, and by 2013 competed and won 9th place at the International 2013. He then went on to place 3rd in 2014 and 1st in 2015. He then joined with a team called Evil Geniuses and took 1st place in the Manila Masters Tournament in May 2017. He retired in 2020.
14. German Garmendia (Net Worth $5.5 million)
German Garmendia currently owns two YouTube channels: JuegaGerman and HolaSoyGerman. He has an estimated 80 million subscribers between the two channels. His humor is what draws his viewers, despite accusations that he gained many subscribers through sub-botting. He is so well-known that he was actually cast in the Spanish version of Ice Age.
13. W2S (Net Worth $6.5 million)
W2S is the name of the YouTube owned by Harry Lewis. He created his channel because of his love for FIFA. His content centers around FIFA and most of his videos are him commentating on it. For those interested in something other than FIFA, he has another channel named W2Splays where he plays other games. He has the most subscribed-to channel in the UK with more than 16 million subscribers, so the bulk of his income is provided by views.
12. Jesse Vainikka (Net Worth $6.5 million)
Jesse is considered to be one of the best position 4 players in Dota 2. His net worth comes from winning prize pool rewards in Dota tournaments from International 2018 and 2019. However, gaming is not his sole source of income. He also has a merchandise line called jerax.gg. He announced his retirement from Dota 2 in 2020, however he came out of retirement when he joined Evil Geniuses in 2021.
11. Fernanfloo (Net Worth $6.8 million)
Fernanfloo is best known for his humorous gameplay of survival-horror games. He has amassed at least 40 million YouTube subscribers, earning approximately $1.7 million a year. He also joined Twitch, which skyrocketed his earnings.
10. Johan “N0tail” Sundstein (Net Worth $7.8 million)
Johan is touted as one of the greatest Dota 2 players. He is said to have the highest tournament earnings in Dota 2. It is estimated that he earns millions of dollars from competing in tournaments.
9. Timothy John Betar “TimTheTatman” (Net Worth $12 million)
Timothy is best knows as a Fortnite player, but he also plays Overwatch, World of Warcraft, and Counterstrike: Global Defense. He joined Twitch in 2012 and quickly amassed over 7 million followers. He also has a YouTube channel with over 4 million subscribers. He has collaborated with other famous creators like Ninja, Nick Mercs, and CouRage. He is also a partial owner of Complexity Gaming as well as a content creator.
8. Sean McLoughlin “Jacksepticeye” (Net Worth $16 million)
Sean is best known for his vlogs and his “Let’s Play” series. Before he became famous on Youtube, he was a drummer for a band called “Raised to the Ground”. He has a total of over 15 billion views, and more than 28 million subscribers on Youtube. This makes him the most-subscribed YouTuber in Ireland.
7. Michael Grzesiek “Shroud” (Net Worth $20 million)
Shroud’s claim to fame comes from playing first-person shooter games like Valorant, Apex Legends, and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. He uses both Twitch and YouTube as streaming platforms, and has amassed more than 1 billion views. His breakthrough came in 2016 when he helped the Cloud9 team win at the ESL Pro League Season 4 Games. He has since retired and focuses on Twitch streaming full time.
6. Preston Blaine Arsement (Net Worth $20 million)
Preston is a YouTube gamer who mostly plays Minecraft, COD, and Fortnite. He has two gaming channels: PrestonPlayz and TBNRfrags. PrestonPlayz has an estimated 11 million subscribers, while TBNRfrags has 2 million. Thanks to those two channels, he is known as the highest paid YouTuber globally. In 2019, he earned $14 million and in 2020 he earned $19 million. He also operates Minecraft servers on the side, and users must pay to gain access to the platform.
5. Evan Fong (Net Worth $25 million)
Fong runs the gaming channel VanossGaming, which has at least 21 million subscribers. His videos receive around 8 billion views, on average. He plays games such as Grand Theft Auto V and COD: World at War. In both 2014 and 2016 he was nominated for The Game Award for Trending Gamer and Shorty Award for Tech and Innovation: Gaming. After winning both, he dropped out of college to pursue gaming full time, and he now earns approximately $12 million annually.
4. Mark Fischbach “Markiplier” (Net Worth $35 million)
Mark is probably one of the most diverse people talked about so far. Aside from his YouTube, he is also an actor, director, writer, and producer. He has over 30 million subscribers on YouTube and his videos have received 17 billion views on average. He earns around $10-$20 million yearly from his gaming channel.
3. Daniel Middleton (Net Worth $35 million)
Dan runs the YouTube channel DanTDM, formerly The Diamond Minecart. He mostly plays Minecraft. His channel has over 10 billion views, and he earns at least $12 million annually. He also holds a Guinness World Record for the most views as a Minecraft channel.
2. Tyler “Ninja” Blevins (Net Worth $40 million)
Tyler predominantly plays Fortnite on YouTube, but he also streams on Twitch. He has more than 24 million subscribers and 2.5 billion views. He earns around $500,000 to $1,000,000 a month from playing video games.
1. PewDiePie (Net Worth $60 million)
PewDiePie has been around forever and is probably one of the most well-known people on YouTube. He earns around $20,000 per video. He is also the bestselling author of “This Book Loves You.” He has 111 million subscribers on YouTube and his channel has 28 billion views.
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This article was produced by C Nation and syndicated by Wealth of Geeks.
Featured Image Credit: Adobe Stock.
Claire started Femme on FIRE after struggling with the debt cycle and realizing that she had to create better habits. She became inspired along this journey and now strives to help others achieve financial freedom as well. When she isn’t working on her blog, you can find her on the couch with a good book, cooking up recipes in the kitchen, or playing outside with her ducks.
