Esports is an industry with fans worldwide. While there is no arguing that this is a male-dominated sport, the situation is slowly starting to change. As a result, we have numerous top-tier female Esports players, some of whom have won a lot of money.
While on the topic of earnings, www.blackqiang.com reveals that Sasha “Scarlett” Hostyn from Canada has earned a total of $471,250 so far, making her the most successful female Esports athlete in terms of earnings. This amount is very impressive because it’s almost 2x higher than the second name on the list. “The prize pools in Esports have grown significantly over the last 10 years. Even some of the smaller competitions across titles like StarCraft II, for example, can have prize pools worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, allowing players to earn a lot of money”, said Veselin, the Esports expert at NB.
1. Sasha “Scarlett” Hostyn – $471,250
Scarlett is the most successful StarCraft II female player in the world. Scarlett SC2 is a 30-year-old player from Canada who has been a part of multiple world-class teams over the years. Her professional career began in late 2011, and she’s been at the forefront of StarCraft II ever since.
Today, Scarlett plays for Shopify Rebellion, the team she joined in early 2021. She is famous for her unique playstyle and her dislike of Protoss.
Scarlett is the most successful female Esports athlete in terms of earnings. However, several other names deserve more attention, and we will examine them right now.
2. Li “Liooon” Xiaomeng – $241,510
The second most successful female Esports star in terms of earnings is Li “Liooon” Xiaomeng. According to the stats, she has earned more than $241,510 so far, which puts her second on the list. Although the difference between her and Scarlett is significant, Liooon earned this money from playing Hearthstone.
Despite the game’s huge popularity in some parts of the world, Hearthstone was never as big as other popular titles. This makes her results even more impressive.
Liooon is famous for a lot of things, one of which is winning the Hearthstone Grandmasters Global Finals. She also won the BlizzCon Esports tournament and earned the respect of million of players worldwide.
Besides her in-game success, Liooon Hearthstone is also famous for defending women in Esports. Her current team is Victory Ket, and she has participated in it since 2019.
3. Ksenia “vilga” Klyuenkova – $123,591
We all know that Counter-Strike 2 is one of the world’s biggest Esports. Many female players are active in this game, but vilga CS2 is the most successful in terms of prize earnings. Her approximate winnings so far are close to $123,591.
CS2 is one of the games you can find when looking for the best Esports bookmakers because it’s offered on almost every platform. All of these sites should allow you to wager on female CS2 matches, so definitely keep an eye on Vilga.
The 32-year-old is one of the most experienced players in the professional scene because she has been a part of it since 2008. In fact, she used to be a professional CS 1.6 player before switching to CS:GO and now CS 2.
Considering her long career, it’s no surprise vilgacs has been a part of countless world-class teams. The list consists of forZe Female, Bad Monkey Gaming, Nigma Galaxy and NiP Impact. What’s interesting is that she is currently a stand-in for the latter.
4. Katherine “Mystik” Gunn – $122,550
Even though every single female Esports player on this list focuses on a specific game, Mystik is an exception. The American star is famous for playing a wide range of games and she even won one of the WSG Ultimate Gamer seasons in 2010.
The 36-year-old Kate Gunn has many fans in the Esports industry. She was once the highest-earning female player and was even added to the Guinness World Records in 2016.
In terms of the games she’s interested in, Mystik has played Halo, Hearthstone, H1Z1: Just Survive, and Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo. She has also participated in the Dead and Alive competitive scene.
Besides being famous for her Esports and gaming achievements, some people may know Mystik for her cosplay activities. In fact, she is probably one of the most famous cosplayers in the world.
Nowadays, Gunn is usually found on Twitch, where she streams a wide range of games. She can also be seen at big events because she is the brand ambassador of several big companies.
5. Petra “Petra” Stoker – $101,227
Valorant is one of those Esports titles that took over the world once it became available. Despite the criticism for its similarities with titles like Overwatch 2 and Counter-Strike 2, Valorant continues to be one of the biggest Esports in the world.
There are several world-class female Esports players that focus on this title and Petra is the most success out of them. With total earnings of more than $101K, she is the most successful Valorant player in the world.
The Dutch superstar is 31 years old and she has been active since 2020. Over the years, Petra was a part of XSET Female, The Originals, and G2 Gozen. It goes without saying, but the latter is the biggest team she was a part of and it is dominating the competitive Overwatch scene. For example, the team recently won the VCT 2024: Game Changers EMEA Stage 2 after defeating Team Falcons in the final.
6. Michaela “mimi” Lintrup – $100,097
When talking about Valorant and the fact that it’s one of the biggest Esports in the world, we have another female Esports star who competes in it – mimi. The 26-year-old (soon to be 27) is an in-game leader and one of the most famous names in female Esports. Similar to Petra, she began her professional career in 2020 but already has impressive achievements. For example, mimi and her team won the VALORANT Championship Tour 2022: Game Changers Championship.
Another interesting fact about mimi is that she is a former CSGO player. While she focused on the game, she was a part of some of the world’s best teams at the time, such as Team Secret. Another fact that you may not know is that she, Petra and juliano were the first women to win the World Championships in two separate games.
Speaking of juliano, she is the next name on our list.
7. Julia “juliano” Kiran – $98,254
A lot of male and female Esports players who focused on Counter-Strike decided to ditch the game and start playing Valorant when it was released. Some of them, such as mimi, stuck with Riot Games’s new title. Others, however, decided to come back to Counter-Strike, and juliano is one of them.
The 30-year-old Swedish star used to be a former CS 1.6 and CS:GO player before switching to Valorant in late 2021. After spending nearly two 2 years in the game, juliano decided to return to Counter-Strike and joined G2 Oya. Nowadays, she is a part of BIG EQUIPA.
There is no arguing she is among the most successful female Esports stars because she’s been a part of numerous teams. She is a rifler and a popular in-game leader that a lot of the female CS2 players look up to. What’s also interesting is that juliano is among the most experienced professional female Esports players.
8. Alexis “alexis” Guarrasi – $95,289
The last of the most successful female Esports stars we want to add to the list is alexis. Her total winnings are close to around $95K, but what’s interesting is that she is the youngest player on the list. At just 21 years of age, alexis already has a solid Esports experience behind her back because she’s been active since 2020.
Today, she is a part of Shopify Rebelion’s VALORANT team and is one of the most talented players in the world. Her biggest achievement yet is the VCT 2023: Game Changers Championship trophy in late 2023. Alexis and her team defeated Team Liquid in the Grand Final and won $180,000.
Before becoming a part of Shopify Rebellion, alexis played for MAKL, Cloud9 White, and Version1. She was really successful with C9 between 2020 and 2022 and won countless tournaments in North America.
Final Thoughts
Despite the fact that the female Esports scene may not be that big yet, there is no arguing that things are changing. We can see from the event’s prize pool that some of the big tournaments started offering a lot more cash than before. This is good news for the industry, and it will be very intriguing to see how it changes in a couple of years.
