We’ve highlighted some of the top esports players on Twitch below. If you play something that doesn’t have the same level of established professional competition but is still massively popular (like Fortnite), however, it often makes a lot more financial sense to just be a full-time Twitch streamer. If you play a top-of-the-line game like League of Legends or Dota 2, there’s still more money in the competitive circuit. Twitch is still very lucrative for popular esports figures, so much so that some of them are dropping the competitive scene entirely to do nothing but stream.
Before guaranteed league salaries started to become a thing, it used to be the only viable way for top players to make a living. Millions from around the world come to Twitch both to watch esports and to get a look at the daily lives (and gaming) of their favorite athletes and personalities. Some industry heavy-hitters have made moves to take it on, such as Microsoft with Mixer and Alphabet’s YouTube Gaming, but no one has the subscriber and view numbers that Twitch has. Twitch has become synonymous with video game streaming.
