Top 10 People Who Made Fortune Playing Video Games

Typically, when we hear the word "gamer," we envision a nerdy, antisocial child who sits in front of a screen all day, playing video games. Their parents wish these children had spent more time studying so that they could get a job in the future. They are usually correct, because no one ever made a living off of video games, right? Nope, not any longer. People who are exceptionally skilled at gaming can now make it a viable career option, earning monthly salaries and, with tournament winnings exceeding several hundred thousand dollars, it may actually be a better source of income than most "traditional" jobs we are accustomed to.

Here are 10 people who made fortune playing video games.

10. Damon “Karma” Barlow

Damon goes by the gamer alias “Karma” and is a Canadian competitive Call of Duty player and is one of those people who made fortune playing video games. He originally started off playing Call of Duty 4:Modern Warfare. Even though he was a talented young player, he went unnoticed for quite some time, until MLG Columbus where he placed 10th with team yunGunZ, during the Call of Duty Black Ops season.

His success story started during the Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 season when he joined team Fariko Impact. Going into the MLG Winter Championship in Dallas Karma and his team demolished all competition to win the prize of $20,000.This success streak continued for the next three events, including the 2013 Call of Duty Championship where Karma’s team won the grand prize of $400,000.Next year, Karma’s new team Complexity Gaming won the 2014 Call of Duty Championship and thus he happens to be the only Call of Duty pro to have won back to back Call of Duty Championships.

9. Moon “MMA” Sung Woon

This 29-year-old goes by the gamer name "MMA" and is from South Korea, which is well known as the world's gaming capital. Starcraft is a religion in this country, and professional Starcraft players are worshiped as gods by their adoring fans. People consider moving to South Korea to begin a gaming career in the same way that they would consider moving to Hollywood to begin an acting career. The Korean Air Force now has a Starcraft team, so young cadets don't have to stop playing their favorite game after joining the armed forces. All of this sounds crazy, but wait until you hear how much money these guys win in tournaments.

8. Jonathan “Fatal1ty” Wendel

This American is widely regarded as the first true esports celebrity and professional gamer. He's also one of the very fortunate people who made a fortune playing video games. What distinguishes him from every other entry on this list is that he made his fortune through a variety of games rather than through expertise in a single one. He began playing Quake 3 Arena in 1999 and has since earned over $456,000 from 37 tournaments as a professional.

7. Lee “Faker” Sang Hyeok

Lee Sang Hyeok or Faker, as he is known in the game League of Legends is a Korean national talent whose rapid rise to fame began with his results in team SK Telecom in the OnGameNet 2013 tournament. Although his team was one of the underdogs, with the help of Faker’s aggressive playstyle his team effortlessly defeated the more established ones and eventually placed a convincing 3rd in the tournament. Not at all bad for a debut in the professional scene right?

6. Jang “MC” Min Chul

This Korean Starcraft veteran is widely regarded as one of the greatest Protoss players of all time, having won numerous titles. If you knew this fantastic player, you wouldn't be surprised to learn that he made a fortune playing video games. He is the first person to win two GSL tournaments, and as of May 2014, he had earned $454,746 in tournament winnings, the most of any Starcraft player. He has since made even more money, surpassing the 0.5 million dollar net worth mark and currently sitting on $504,011.49 from 108 tournaments, making him a veteran in the Starcraft world.

5. Lee “JaeDong”

Now we are back in Korea (again),this time with another Starcraft professional who’s widely considered as the greatest Zerg players of all time. For all you non-gamers reading this list and wondering what in the world that means, “Zerg” is one of the playable races or factions in the real time strategy game Starcraft, which happens to be wildly popular in South Korea. Not surprising is the fact that the best Starcraft players are Korean too.

4. Danil “Dendi” Ishutin

We're all sick of seeing Koreans take all the money, right? So let's switch up the region and the game. Dendi, a professional gamer with more social media followers than the Ukrainian national soccer team, is one of the top ten people who made a fortune playing video games. At first glance, he may appear silly and simple-minded, but make no mistake-his in-game appearance is that of an extremely cunning player who capitalizes on every mistake his opponent makes to build an insurmountable lead that his opponents will never be able to recover from. He began by playing Defense of the Ancients, a popular mod for the role-playing game World of Warcraft.

3. Clement “Puppey” Ivanov

A former member of the Na’Vi Dota 2 team, and the first professional gamer on the list to have crossed a million dollars in prize money earnings, this young Estonian is a talented support player who always put his team before anything else. Renowned for his unorthodox drafting, selfless support plays and history as the captain of Na’Vi Puppey is one of the most respected players in the scene of professional Dota 2.Currently a member of Team Secret and continuing to amaze us all with his superb plays and decision making, Puppey has earned over $1,062,905 in tournament prize money. Clement came at number 3 in our list of 10 people who made fortune playing video games.

2. Sumail “Sumail” Hassan

This 16-year-old millionaire first made headlines in January of last year, when the renowned north American Dota 2 team Evil Geniuses hired him as their midlaner, and then he helped them win over a million dollars in the 2015 DAC Championships. Hassan is now one of those people who made a fortune from video games.

Sumail moved to the US with his family when he was only 15 years old, and one of the members of EG noticed him playing online and immediately recognized the immense talent in the kid. Sumail is from Pakistan, where gaming is the last thing that comes to mind as a profession.

1. Peter “Ppd” Dagger

Former Heroes of Newerth player ppd, captain of DOTA 2 team Evil Geniuses, switched to Dota 2 in late 2013, when HoN was dying and Dota 2 was rising in popularity. Coming from a MOBA background, ppd quickly established himself as a great player and captain. His game perspective and analytical abilities make him an excellent captain and respected leader. Since more than a year, Evil Geniuses has remained the best American Dota 2 team and one of the top three teams in the world under his captaincy.

He is also one of the few professional Dota 2 players to have won an International, and currently is the highest paid professional gamer in the world based on tournament winnings, at $2,081,844.36 from 44 tournaments. Esports has still got a long way to go before someone starts making money like Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods, but at this rate it’s gonna catch up real fast. With prize pools increasing from $1.6 million to over $18 million in just 5 years, who knows what’s next.