I think all of us have wished we could make a living from playing games at some point, but unfortunately to do that you have to be really, really good. One league of legends player is living that dream: in an interview with Spanish newspaper ABC, Carlos “Ocelote” Rodriguez revealed just how much money he makes playing League of Legends professionally and let me tell you – it's a lot.
Through a combination of sponsorships, live streaming, merchandising, salary and tournament winnings Rodriguez has made approximately $950,000. While many of us would have big plans for that money he wants to use it to save up and help his family. If he continues making as much as he is making right now he'll have enough in no time.
For those who don't know, Rodriguez is the captain of SK Gaming. The team placed 7th during the group stages of the League of Legends championship series, Europe summer season but didn't make it to the world stage. If Rodriguez is making that much then the guys on the higher placing teams must be making a fortune – or kicking themselves because they aren't.
This really shows how big Esports and gaming have both gotten recently, the fact that you can make an athletes salary through playing a video game competitively is pretty amazing. The full interview from ABC has been translated by The Daily Dot.
KitGuru Says: This proves that being good at a competitive game does pay, if you think you could play professionally then there's no reason to not go for it. Now I just need to figure out how I can make that much money writing about games…