Many consider eSports to be a one-man business. But what if we told you that there are dozens of successful female sports players who have made gaming a very lucrative career just like male players?
Female esports gamers don’t have universal popularity, and the gaming community practically treats them as back-up-backup players, even when these women kick up big fanfare. There are no viable grounds for discriminating against women in sports, yet they are considered unfit for the job. Be that as it may, nowadays, women are more visible, especially in the eSports niche, so let’s meet some of them!
1. Janet “xchocobars” Rose / $40,000
Ross is a Canadian eSports player who plays Apex Legends, Fortnite, League of Legends, Teamfight Tactics and Valorant. One of his biggest achievements was winning first place in League of Legends on Twitch Rivals 2019. The prize money isn’t huge, but $7,000 isn’t too bad. He finished second on the Fortnite Fall Skirmish Series leaderboard and took home $10,000. But his biggest prize came in week six of the Fortnite Fall Skirmish series — $13,750.
2. Anna “ant1ka” Ananikova / $40,000
Anna made her fortune in CS:GO. He played on Team Secret, Lazarus and Counter Logic Gaming and was a member of the Russian National Team. $20,000 was Anna’s biggest win in one tournament while with Team Secret at the 2016 eSports World Convention.
3. Sarah “Sarah Lou” Harrison / $50,000
Harrison starred in Dead or Alive 4 enough to take first place at CGS 2008. Winning that tournament earned him $50,000. After that, he did not participate in other competitions. She is the only woman from England to make the list. It must have taken a lot of practice for Sarah Lou to develop those skills and win that competition.
4. Zainab “zAAz” Turkey / $53,000
Turki, a Swedish player of Lebanese descent, has been a professional counter-strike player since 2002. Zainab joined her first CS club at the age of fourteen. Today, almost twenty years later, ZAAz enjoys head knocking in CSGO, but retired in 2020 with thirty two tournaments.
5. Marjorie “Kazumi-san” Bartel / $55,000
In 2006, Marjorie placed second in the CGI contest for Dead or Alive 4, where her prize was just $5,000. But in 2007, he beat the competition and came out on top. The win won him $50,000, but he hasn’t competed anywhere else since.
6. Roome «Hafu» Wang / $ 84,467
A year ago, Hafu was in almost every good amok’s as lobby, trolling Saikuno, Fusli, Toast and the rest of the OTV+ team. But while streaming is fun, the real money is in the tournaments. Rumay played a lot of WoW, Hearthstone, and TFT, winning the occasional tournament or 10, and he racked up $84,000 in winnings alone!
7. Ricky “Ricky O” Ortiz / $81,000
Ortiz first began identifying as a woman in 2014. The first tournament he entered was Evo 2006, where he earned $2,000 and finished second. Since then, Ricky has played over sixty tournaments and earned a total of $80,000! So far, his best reward was at Capcom Cup 2016, where he showed everyone how good he was in Street Fighter V. Second place earned him $60,000.
8. Siobhan “Haganenotema” Bilamovich / $122,700
Bielamowicz is a professional player from Australia who can easily beat you in games like Attack on Titan and Brawlhalla. In fact, he is an Attack on Titan World Cup champion. Siobhan has been competing since 2014, but her most successful years were 2017 and 2018. HaganeNoTema is considered one of the best Attack on Titans players of all time and one of the best female players of all time.
9. Kathryn “Mystique” Gunn / $122,000
Gunn’s earliest record of competitive gaming achievements was playing Dead or Alive 4 in the 2007 CGS tournament and placing second. It already has $15,000 in the bag. The following year Gunn walked away with $7,000 after finishing third. But he beat everyone in Season 2 of WCG Ultimate Gamer and earned a cool $100,000.
10. Sasha “Scarlett” Hostin / $322,066
$332,066.27 is currently the highest score for a woman in esports. Hostin’s professional career began in April 2011. She competed in the StarCraft II All-Women Online League and won two consecutive tournaments that year. A few months later, Scarlett became Canada’s National Champion in StarCraft II with a perfect 12-1 mark. Sasha also owned the 2012 WCS North American Championship, winning $24,000, and then swept through IEM XII, earning him another easy $50,000. It’s hard to imagine, but throughout his career, Sasha participated in 178 tournaments and is now with China’s Brave Star Gaming team.
