[imagesource: Team OG]

Organised online and offline gaming competitions have long been a part of video game culture.

Until roughly 2010, however, they were largely the domain of amateurs who would gather in someone’s basement or in a rented school hall with a bring-your-own-computer policy.

Then things got serious. Participation by professional gamers and spectatorship in these events through live streaming saw a large surge in popularity, earning this practice the title of esports (electronic sports).

Even big sportswear brands like PUMA are getting involved with sponsorship deals.

There is a ton of cash to be made if you’re managed to hone your skills with a gaming controller or computer keyboard, and testimony to that is Inven Global‘s list of the top 50 esports prize earners in 2020.

Here’s the top 10:

1. Sven Magnus Carlsen (DrNykterstein)

Game: Chess24

Total Earnings 2020: $510 587

Ask anyone who plays chess who the top player in the world is, and they’ll tell you it’s Magnus Carlsen, so the fact that he killed the competition in Chess24 isn’t surprising.

The 30-year-old Norwegian became a grandmaster at 13 (yes, 13) after beating former world champion Anatoli Karpov and drawing with Russian great Garry Kasparov. He went on to become the youngest chess player in history to top the world rankings at the age of 19, and has been the world chess champion since 2013.

He also cleans up at Fantasy Football.

2. James Eubanks (Clayster)

Game: Call of Duty

Total Earnings 2020: $383 325

Eubanks is an American professional Call of Duty player for the New York Subliners and is one of the most recognised and popular pro players in Call of Duty history.

3. Ian Porter (Crimsix)

Game: Call of Duty

Total Earnings 2020: $368 200

Porter is an American professional Call of Duty player for the Dallas Empire and Twitch video game streamer.

4. Indervir Dhaliwal (iLLeY)

Game: Call of Duty

Total Earnings 2020: $358 625

Dhaliwal is a Call of Duty player, currently playing for Dallas Empire.

5. Anthony Cuevas-Castro (Shotzzy)

Game: Call of Duty

Total Earnings 2020: $351 625

Cuevas-Castro is a Call of Duty esports player, currently a player for Dallas Empire.

6. Cuyler Garland (Huke)

Game: Call of Duty

Total Earnings 2020: $347 375

Garland is a Call of Duty player, currently playing for Dallas Empire.

7. Hikaru Nakamura (Hikaru)

Game: Chess24

Total Earnings 2020: $324 645

Nakamura is an American chess player, Twitch live streamer, and content creator.

8. Paulo Damo da Rosa (PVDDR)

Game: Magic: The Gathering Arena

Total Earnings 2020: $300 000

In 2011, Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa became the youngest player to ever reach 300 lifetime Pro Points in Magic: The Gathering.

9. McArthur Jovel (Cellium)

Game: Call of Duty

Total Earnings 2020: $256 550

Jovel plays Call of Duty for Atlanta FaZe.

10. Christopher Lehr (Simp)

Game: Call of Duty

Total Earnings 2020: $250 708

2019 Call of Duty World Champion Lehr plays for Atlanta FaZe.

To give you an idea of how much cash a player can gather over the years, BBC spoke to Johan “N0tail” Sundstein (looking a little more casual than in the image above) who is the highest-earning esports players in the world, based on accumulated earnings, having taken more than $7,4million in prize money to date since he started competing in 2018.

What do you do with that cash?

His mansion says it all:

I feel like I wasted my childhood NOT gaming.

[source:invenglobal]