Forbes has published a list of the ten highest-paid players in the gaming scene of last year. Combined, they pocketed more than $120 million in 2019 alone.
Hundreds of internet personalities and content creators pour in efforts on the growing influence of streaming and gaming culture.
By the day, their numbers are increasing. A lot of aspiring streamers are also clocking in hours to stream and build a name for themselves.
Some have skyrocketed to mainstream celebrity status, earning millions of dollars per year.
Here’s the complete list of the 2019 top earning players by Forbes:
#1 Ninja (Tyler Blevins)
Earnings: $17 million
Ninja made headlines last year for jumping ships from home platform Twitch to Mixer. His brand dominated 2019, from Red Bull to NFL commercials. Although his viewership plummeted, his endorsements with Adidas, Red Bull and underwear designer PSD grew.
#2 PewDiePie (Felix Kjellberg)
Earnings: $15 million
2019 was a rough year for Youtube’s top individual streamer. Kjellberg announced he’d be taking a break from the platform in early 2020. Fans don’t know yet when will the streamer come back, but he remains as popular as ever with 4.5 billion total views last year.
#3 Preston (Preston Arsement)
Earnings: $14 million
Preston is the best of both worlds. He’s a popular Minecraft player and a variety vlogger at the same time. He’s drawing in seven figures per year by hosting custom Minecraft versions with in-game spending.
#4 Markiplier (Mark Fischbach)
Earnings: $14 million
Markiplier grew famous thanks to his humorous, over-the-top reactions on his gameplays of horror video games like Amnesia: The Dark Descent. He also released a choose-your-own-adventure YouTube Original film last fall called: A Heist with Markiplier.
#5 Shroud (Michael Grzesiek)
Earnings: $12.5 million
Shroud is known to be a beast in titular games such as PUBG and CS:GO. Branded as “the human aimbot”, he’s a favorite brand ambassador of gaming giants like Electronic Arts, Ubisoft and Activision Blizzard.
#6 DanTDM (Daniel Middleton)
Earnings: $12 million
Known to be a popular Minecraft content creator, DanTDM grew to be a worldwide sensation. He has garnered over 22.4 million subscribers on his Youtube channel.
#7 VanossGaming (Evan Fong)
Earnings: $11.5 million
Known for his gameplays filled with laughter and comedy, Fong has amassed over 4.9 million subscribers and had a total of 1.6 billion views on Youtube in 2019. He also starred as a monster hunter in Paranormal Action Squad, a premium 2016 cartoon series.
#8 Jacksepticeye (Sean McLoughlin)
Earnings: $11 million
Arguably, Jacksepticeye is the most popular Youtuber in Ireland. He has gathered roughly 23.2 million subscribers after uploading his playthroughs on various games. In 2018, he started a clothing brand with fellow Youtube star, Markiplier.
#9 TimTheTatman (Timothy Betar)
Earnings: $8 million
Tim’s good-natured Fortnite streams paved the way for brands to collaborate with him, from Bud Light to Reese’s. He’s also a Twitch streamer and serves as a commentator for NFL’s Thursday Night Football games. He has an exclusive streaming deal with the platform.
#10 Nickmercs (Nick Kolcheff)
Earnings: $6 million
Nick made a name for himself by playing Fortnite with a controller, which is considerably more challenging than using the usual keyboard-and-mouse. He became the 10th most watched streamer in 2019, and Twitch signed him to an estimated two year, $2 million exclusive deal.
