There’s a lot of money in professional gaming. You only have to look at this year’s Dota 2 The International to see the kind of wealth gamers can obtain from playing their favourite title – currently the prize pool is sitting at just over $7 million (±R73.3 million).

Just how rich are the richest gamers? Courtesy of Business Insider, here are the top 15, what games they play, and how much they have taken home from tournaments.

15. Park ‘Lyn’ Joon – R3.3 million from 77 tournaments

Korea’s Park “Lyn” Joon earned most of his cash playing WarCraft 3.

14. Jerry ‘EGM’ Lundqvist – R3.5 million from 29 tournaments

Sweden’s Jerry “EGM” Lundquist has already made close to R200,000 from seven tournaments in 2014 alone. Main game – Dota 2.

13. Henrik ‘AdmiralBulldog’ Ahnberg – R3.6 million from 36 tournaments

Henrik “AdmiralBulldog” Ahnberg, who also hails from Sweden, earned R3 million from a single tournament playing Dota 2.

12. Gustav ‘s4’ Magnusson – R3.6 million from 38 tournaments

Sweden’s Gustav “s4” Magnusson also plays Dota 2. He started his career in early 2012.

11. Joakim ‘Akke’ Akterhall – R3.66 million from 47 tournaments

Joakim “Akke” Akterhall, from Sweden, is a 26-year-old Dota 2 player. Besides being involved in the competitive Dota scene since 2006, he also won the Nintendo Swedish Championships three times: in 2004, 2006, and 2012.

10. Jonathan ‘Loda’ Berg – R3.7 million from 47 tournaments

Sweden’s Jonathan “Loda” Berg has been on 12 different Dota teams. He gained recognition when he joined The Alliance in 2013. He’s taken first place in 23 tournaments.

9. Jung “Mvp” Jong Hyun – R4 million from 50 tournaments

Jung “Mvp” Jong Hyun, from Korea, plays both StarCraft: Brood War and StarCraft 2.

8. Jang ‘Moon’ Jae Ho – R4.6 million from 81 tournaments

Jang “Moon” Jae Ho is one of the WarCraft 3 players featured in the documentary “Beyond the Game.” He’s also a StarCraft 2 player.

7. Lee ‘Flash’ Young Ho – R4.68 million from 47 tournaments

Lee “Flash” Young Ho, a Korean StarCraft: Brood War and StarCraft 2 player, earned over R2,5 million before the age of 18.

6. Clement ‘Puppey’ Ivanov – R4.7 million  from 39 tournaments

Hailing from Estonia, Clement “Puppey” Ivanov has earned a respectable amount from competitive Dota 2.

5. Jang ‘MC’ Min Chul – R4.74 million from 78 tournaments

One of the top StarCraft 2 players in the world, Korea’s Jang Min Chul has made his money by regularly placing in tournaments of all sizes since 2010.

4. Oleksandr ‘XBOCT’ Dashkevych – R4.74 million from 41 tournaments

Another Dota 2 champ, Ukraine’s Dashkevych has been raking in the money since 2011.

3. Johnathan ‘Fatal1ty’ Wendel – R4.76 million from 36 tournaments

The world’s first prominent professional gamer, America’s Johnathan Wendel success playing first-person shooters earned him massive cash prizes and sponsorship deals with major computer hardware companies.

2. Danil ‘Dendi’ Ishutin – R4.77 million from 43 tournaments

Ukrainian Danil “Dendi” Ishutin is well known in Dota 2 circles, and featured in the Valve documentary Free to Play.

1. Lee ‘Jaedong’ Jae Dong – R5.4 million from 52 tournaments

Korea’s Lee Jae Dong made huge sums playing StarCraft: Brood War before moving on to StarCraft 2 in 2012. In the second half of 2013, Jaedong became one of the world’s top StarCraft players.

Source: Business Insider

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