This Is How Much New Zealand’s Highest Paid ESports Players Are Earning

A new study by Gambling.com has analyzed eSports player winnings from every country including New Zealand, the US, Canada, and MORE to determine the best country to be an eSports player.

The eSports industry has exploded in popularity worldwide, and in the world of competitive professional gaming, players have just scratched the surface of the seven-figure potential earnings.

So which country produces the best eSports players, and how much money can eSports players make?

Gisborne's Gratisfaction is the HIGHEST paid eSports player in New Zealand

Collectively, the top-paid eSports players in New Zealand have made $435,185 from their winnings. That's just $64,815 away from half a million dollars!

Sean Kaiwai has made the MOST money of all New Zealand based eSports players by dominating at the lucrative Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.

“Gratisfaction” as he’s called during gameplay, would need to make 57x more than his total earnings of $120,465 in order to catch up with N0Tail, the #1 ranked eSports player in the world. But even though New Zealand eSports players are climbing the earnings ranks, there's still a way to go before New Zealand eSports players catch up with the top ranked players in the world.

NEW ZEALAND'S GRATISFACTION ENTERS RANKING OF TOP EARNING PLAYERS WORLDWIDE

More and more tournaments are being hosted in New Zealand, which is why it shouldn’t take long for Gratisfaction to climb their way up the ranks as one of the highest paid eSports players in the world. With an additional $62,000 in winnings, Gratisfaction would push New Zealand into the top 50 countries based on total earnings.

Due to the popularity of eSports, New Zealand recently gave the industry formal recognition by creating a governing body to spearhead the industry: the New Zealand eSports Federation (NZESF).

However as eSports are relatively new in New Zealand, players haven’t earned as much as their international counterparts.

THESE ARE THE 30 HIGHEST PAID eSports PLAYERS IN THE WORLD

Johan Sundstein is the highest paid eSports player, raking in $6,969,737.80 throughout his career by playing Dota 2. Known as Denmark N0tail during gameplay, he’s ranked the #1 highest earning eSports player in the entire world!

In fact, Dota 2 is the #1 highest-paying eSports game. Of the top 30 eSports players, ranked by their total winnings, 29 of 30 players have earned most of their fortune by playing online battle arena video game Dota 2.

Kyle Giersdorf of the USA, known as Bugha with his player ID, is the only top-ranked eSports player to rank within the 30 highest paid professional gamers by playing Fortnite, where he’s earned over $3,154,061.72. New Zealand's Parpy has made $89,538.80 playing Fortnite, needing to make $3,064,522.92 to catch up.

THE USA IS THE BEST COUNTRY TO BE AN ESPORTS PLAYER

An already billion dollar industry, eSports are projected to grow over 10% in the next two years.

American players have earned over $110 million in total, landing the USA as the best country to be an eSports player. China comes in second place, where players earned over $108 million altogether. Other nations have a bit of catching up to do, even though South Korea’s 500+ eSports players have earned a collective near $82 million, earning them the #3 rank.

eSports competitions and tournaments are easy to continue hosting remotely, we’ll see New Zealand rise in the international rankings this year. In fact, ILT Stadium Southland hosted their first tournament just this February 2021!

For the full study please visit here.

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