If a player places high enough in a tournament, they receive a portion of the tournament’s prize pool – similar to conventional sports such as golf or tennis. Prize money is the oldest and simplest form of making money as a professional gamer.

Prize money is the oldest form of making money in pro gaming.

In general, there are five primary sources of income for professional gamers: prize money, salaries, sponsorships, live-streaming, and video-on-demand content. With the esports industry growing at significant and sustained levels year-over-year ( with the market having broken the $1 billion barrier in 2019), the existence of full-time competitive esports athletes has exploded – especially as increased competition has exacerbated the need for around the clock training and management of top talent. Today, esports is flush with money thanks to an explosion of private capital and increasingly deep pocketed publishers. In addition, 2019’s Fortnite World Cup showed an entire generation (and perhaps more importantly, their parents) that there is serious money in competitive video gaming when then 16 year-old Kyle ‘Bugha’ Giersdorf won $3 million in front of a packed Arthur Ash Stadium.Īs gaming has grown its footprint in the zeitgeist, so too have the opportunities to generate a successful career from what has historically been viewed by many as nothing more than a waste of time. In addition to sanctioned, competitive play, there has been a dramatic uptick in the number of individuals who have established careers live-streaming video game content on popular sites such as Twitch and YouTube. However, in the last ten years, esports has exploded in popularity, as evidenced by Riot Games’ League of Legends Championship Series establishing itself as the third most popular sport in the United States amongst 18-34 year olds, only behind the National Football League and the National Basketball Association. The esports industry itself was still in its infancy, and competitive gaming was little known outside a core group of highly engaged players and fans.

As recently as a decade ago, earning a living playing videos games was considered nothing more than a pipe dream – with limited monetization avenues not just for players, but for game developers and publishers as well.

How to earn money gaming online