The US and the UK are the leading eSports job markets in the world

eSports & iGaming: The Complete Careers Outlook

The Gaming industry is one of the biggest industries in the world, with a £165 billion turnover expected in 2022. This 8% growth since last year has had an impact on the demand for professionals in the sector. With the number of gamers expected to exceed 450 millions by 2023, the demand for video games has never been greater. 

Thus, the team at PlayOJO reviewed over 100 different job titles in the world to find out which are the best earning professions in the eSport and iGaming industry, and which countries offer the best earning opportunities as a player or a worker. 

Top Paid Roles and where to find them

Table 1: The Highest Paid Roles

In terms of countries, the United States of America pays the most, with an average salary exceeding £65K. In comparison, the UK ranks 6th with just over £36K, which is around the average salary for the nation. The top 3 is completed by Denmark (£49.7K) and Germany (£43.9K). 

Where are the highest earning gamers from?

Over the years, eSports and iGaming has evolved into a high-paying and lucrative sport. Countries such as China and South Korea even consider it to be a real profession, offering figures as high as £26k for competitive gamers. Despite its annual payout of £65K the US doesn’t make the top 5, averaging a shy £7000 per player.

Table 2: The highest paid players per head

Note – these figures do not include any sponsorship, partnership or other third party income

How trendy are eSports jobs? 

Based on Google Trends data, the search volume for eSports and iGaming peaked in April 2022 to a search volume of 99. Interestingly, the Valorant Champions Tour also took place around that time. This could potentially explain the spike in interest for eSport jobs, especially knowing that the official tournament was organised by Riot Games, the developer of Valorant. The broadcasting of competitive events like these on platforms such as Twitch raise awareness about the opportunities available, thus attracting a lot of young professionals. 

Figure 1: Highest prize winnings per country

In terms of prize winnings, East Asia is absolutely dominating the scene. China (£163.25m) and South Korea (£95.1m) easily make more than the whole of the southern hemisphere combined. 

Despite being the hub of many AAA game development studios like Ubisoft Montreal, Capcom Vancouver or Rockstar Toronto, with “only” £29.6 million, Canadian players don’t earn nearly as much as their American counterparts. In fact, the US ranks second behind China with £162 million combined prize winnings. 

On the other side of the ocean, the UK sits at a comfortable £25.36 million, which is in line with other countries like France, Germany and Sweden. Most other European countries do not exceed £7.5 million.