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Female gamers have begun to take the esports world by storm in recent years, proving to be a huge catalyst for growth in this field. To discover the true extent of female gaming success, ManySpins.com sought to identify which countries produce the most top-earning female gamers and which games earn female gamers the most.
Which country produces the most high earning female gamers?
To reveal which countries produce the highest number of top-earning female gamers, we analysed the list of 500 highest-earning female gamers from around the world to identify which country is home to the most high-earning female gamers.
When it comes to the countries producing the most top 500 high earning female gamers, we can reveal that the United States is home to the highest number, with 161 female gamers out of 500 originating from there – almost a third (32%). Of the United States’ female gamers, Katherine Gunn (who goes by the Player ID of Mystik) is the highest-earning, receiving around $122,550 from the popular hobby in total.
The Russian Federation produces the second highest number of the top 500 highest-earning female gamers, with 38 in total. The Russian Federation’s top-earning female gamer is Ksenia Klyuenko, also known by the player ID, Vilga. Following closely behind Russia is China, producing 37 of the 500 top-earning female gamers. China’s top-earning female gamer goes by the player ID Liooon, and earns around $240,510 in total from gaming.
Producing 35 of the 500 top-earning female gamers is Canada. The country is also home to the highest-earning female gamer of all, Sasha Hostyn – also known as Scarlett – who is estimated to earn roughly $393,528 overall from gaming. Brazil is home to the fifth highest number, with just three fewer players placing within the 500 top-earning female gamers compared to Canada (32).
France is the European country with the highest number of female gamers in the top 500, with 30 female players. Sweden comes next, with the country home to the eighth highest number of top-earning female gamers (19) and the second highest number in Europe. Following closely behind is the Republic of Korea, home to the ninth highest number of high earning female gamers (17).
Rounding off the top 10 is Germany, with the country home to 13 of the top 500 earning female gamers. The United Kingdom falls short of the top 10, with 12. Following behind is Denmark (11), Spain (10), and Australia (9).
Meanwhile, some countries were only home to just one female gamer who ranked within the top 500 highest-earning female gamers. These countries include Argentina, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Finland, Hong Kong, The Islamic Republic of Iran, Latvia, Lithuania, Mauritius, Morocco, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Slovakia, and South Africa.
Which games are the top 500 female players earning the most money from?
To reveal which games prove most lucrative to female gamers in the industry, we analysed the collective earnings of the 500 highest-earning female players. Then, we broke their earnings down by video game to identify the top 10 games female gamers earn the most money from.
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive proved the most lucrative video game of all, with a sum of $1,185,396 earned by the top 500 highest earning female players from this game.
The science fiction real-time game StarCraft II is the second highest-earning game for the top-earning 500 female players. In this game, where you wage war across the galaxy, the gamers collectively earned a sum of $493,286 between them.
Hearthstone proves to be the third most lucrative game, with the top-earning 500 female players combined earning a total sum of $477,111 between them in the game.
Coming in fourth is Fortnite, with the top 500 highest-earning female gamers earning a total sum of $424,433 between them. Meanwhile, Magic: The Gathering Arena is the fifth most lucrative game for the top-earning 500 female gamers, since they earned a combined $211,750 from playing the title.
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Which countries are female players earning the most money from gaming?
To determine which countries’ female players are collectively earning the most, we tallied the combined earnings of each female gamer mentioned in the top 500 highest earning list in each country.
Once again, the United States came out on top, with the American female gamers featuring in the top 500 highest-earning female players earning a combined sum of $1,877,188.
Neighbouring Canada’s female gamers featuring among the top 500 highest-earning female players earned a combined sum of $847,703 – less than half of that made by the United States’ female gamers.
Earning $485,505 combined, the female gamers from China ranking among the top 500 highest-earning female players make the country the third top-earning for female gamers.
The Russian Federation was the country whose female players were earning fourth most for gaming, with a combined sum of $333,495 made by players from the country featuring in the top 500 highest-earning female gamers.
The country with the fifth highest-earning female gamers is Sweden. The Swedish female gamers featuring in the highest-earning top 500 have combined earnings of $170,310.
Which video games are most played and earned from by the top 500 female players?
To uncover which video games have the highest number of players earning the most prize money per game, we identified the most common games where the top 500 female players make the most money.
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is the highest paying game for 125 top-earning 500 female gamers – a quarter of all top-ranking female players. For example, Global Offensive was the highest paying video game for female gamers such as Benita Novshadian, Julia Kiran, Diane Tran, Mounira Dogue and Stephanie Harvey, to name a few.
Following behind in second is the original Counter-Strike video game, which is the highest paying for 15 out of 500 female gamers.
League of Legends is the highest paying game for 40 of the top 500 highest-earning female gamers, including Imane Anys, Starsmitten and Natsumiii. Fortnite is the highest paying game for 33 female players, including Tina Perez, Janet Rose and KittyPlays – seven fewer than League of Legends.
Hearthstone was the highest paying game for 26 of the 500 top-earning female players, and Chess.com was the highest paying game for a further 24 of the top female gamers.
Methodology:
- ManySpins.com analysed the 500 highest-earning female gamers on esportsearnings.com.
- They then researched each gamer’s nationality to determine which country produces the highest number of high earning female gamers.
- The data was then further categorised into which games had earned female gamers the most money*, and how many players of each game.
- By totalling up the sum of players’ earnings, ManySpins.com were further able to determine which country had earned the most through their top female gamers.
- Earnings were calculated from ‘prize money, interviews, news articles, forum posts, live report threads, official statements, reliable databases, VODs and other publicly accessible sources that preserve “historical” information’.
- All data was collected on 17/06/2021 and is correct as of then but subject to change.
*For example, ‘Scarlett’ from Canada has earned $393,528.19 in total. However, only $389,794.99 was made from their main game (StarCraft II). So only £389,794.99 was used when referring to combined earnings per game. Not all players earned money from more than one game.