Gaming has traditionally been a male-dominated industry. But women are increasingly enjoying a more open space in the gaming market – especially in esports. To celebrate the fastest, smartest, and most skilled female players, experts Esports Bets have put together a graphic looking at the top female esports champions and their wins.
Video games are a booming industry, and within that, esports, the competitive and professional spectator sport side of gaming, is a major enterprise. At the top levels, tournaments can win competitors around $2 million – and even the smaller competitions can offer tens of thousands of dollars to those quick on the controls.
But while the majority of top-level esports players have thus far been men, there’s a growing number of combo breaking women in every game who are seeing big success.
In a new guide from Esports Bets, you can see the highest-earning women from across strategy, shooters, and fighting games. The graphic includes a few of their key stats, and the men with the most comparable experience in the same games so you can see how their earnings compare.
Femme Fatale
The top women focused their gaming skills primarily on the games Counter-Strike, Dead or Alive, Street Fighter, Starcraft and Halo. The top earners among them were as follows:
- Sacha Hostyn – The world’s foremost female Starcraft II player, Hostyn goes by the username “Scarlett”. She’s only 23 years old and has already won $197,172 on the game.
- Katherine Gunn – Gunn, known as “Mystik”, players on a number of games, but with a focus on Halo: Reach. She’s part of Team EnVyUs, and has won $122,000 since she started playing. Notably, she’s the only woman in the top 11 who’s earnt more than a male Halo player of the same experience – Jason Brown, who’s earnt $45,200.
- Ricki Ortiz – Ortiz plays for the major esports team Evil Geniuses, being a Street Fighter She says she hates playing online due to the lag, but has still managed to win $80,530 just on offline matches.
- Marjorie Bartell – Marjorie “Kasumi Chan” Bartell isn’t just a Dead or Alive 4 She’s also a software developer for a financial services company (in her free time). She’s won $55,000 from her games.
- Sarah Harrison – Like Bartell, British esports player Harrison, under the name “Sarah Lou”, has made her mark on fighting game Dead or Alive 4, where she’s won $50,000. Her older sister Ruth is also in the Dead or Alive esports scene.
Esports as an industry continues to grow year on year, reaching $696 million in 2017 and expected to hit $1.5 billion by 2020. With more money and more players, representation is likely to grow over time – could you be the next big name on the champions list?
