Most Famous Women in eSports

For too long, eSports, and gaming more generally, have been considered a male-dominated hobby. However, recent statistics reveal that around 48% of gamers in the world are female. When women engage with gaming in a public manner, either through online streaming or competing in eSports tournaments, they are not only given a platform to show off their skills and expertise, but are also helping to normalise the presence and success of women in the gaming world.

In this article, we’ll take a look at some of the most famous and successful female eSports gamers in the world, taking a deep dive into their careers and analysing what has led to their success.

The Appeal of eSports Gaming

eSports gaming, which is any kind of gaming tournament or competition that is played for real money prizes, is extremely popular in the gaming world. Not only does it allow gamers to turn their hobby into a career and make a lot of money from doing so, but it also creates highly engaging content for gaming lovers more generally.

Plus, eSports is also a genuine sport that many sports bettors are able to place bets on and earn winnings from based on the performance of the players. This makes it especially popular with those who have a gambling mindset and who make regular use of online casino gaming options, as it gives them another area to test fate and place their bets. In fact, some of the best online casino platforms offer all the player favorites when it comes to gaming options, as well as sports betting opportunities and a wide range of additional bonuses and incentives.

Number One: Sasha Hostyn

Sasha Hostyn, more commonly referred to as Scarlett, is certainly the most famous female eSports player of all time. In fact, in 2022, she was awarded a Guinness World Record for the largest number of wins for a female gamer, with a total of 43 at the time. This was her second world record, as she had also been awarded one in 2016 for the largest career earnings by a female gamer. By 2024, the total of these earnings had exceeded $471,250.

Scarlett began her rapid climb to fame in 2012, when she became a prominent figure in the StarCraft II eSports scene, winning the Playhem "Sponsor Me!” tournament. As a prize for winning this tournament, Scarlette was invited to the IPL 4 event that was taking place in Las Vegas, where she won her way through to the open qualifiers. In 2014, Polygon named Scarlett as one of the most admirable people in the gaming industry. In 2018, Scarlett made waves again by becoming the first-ever female gamer to win the Intel Extreme Masters Tournament.

Number Two: Katherine Gunn

Katherine Gunn, who goes by either Kat or her gaming name, Mystik, has been a prominent part of the eSports community for almost twenty years. Her career really started to take off in 2007, however, when she took a spot with the Carolina Core and joined the Dead or Alive team for the Championship Gaming Series, where she secured second place in one competition and got to the semi-finals in another. Later, Mystik featured in the WCG Ultimate Gamer, which was a reality television program, and managed to solidify her fame by winning the show.

In 2016, Mystik was also awarded a Guinness World Record for the amount of money she had won during her career. When she’s not gaming, Mystik is also known as a highly popular and successful professional cosplayer, and she even has a strong online presence, regularly gaming and engaging with fans on popular gaming platforms like Twitch.

Number Three: Li Xiaomeng

Li Xiaomeng is a Chinese gamer and eSports player who earned her fame through the Blizzard Strategy game known as Hearthstone. Li Xiaomeng, who is known in the gaming world as Liooon, made history in 2019 by becoming the first female player to win the Grandmaster Global Finals at BlizzCon. Through her Hearthstone tournaments, she has won over $241, 510 and she is known as the first-ever female Hearthstone World Champion.

By becoming a world champion of Hearthstone, Liooon was awarded a card tribute in the game called the Mok’Nathal Lion. She no longer professionally plays Hearthstone, but she made massive waves when it comes to normalising the presence of women in Hearthstone and competitive gaming more generally.

Conclusion

Gaming has no gender, and there is no reason why it can’t be as enjoyed by women as it is by men. All genres of gaming can appeal to all different kinds of people, and gamers come in all different levels of skill and experience that have nothing to do with their gender. These three female professional eSports players should stand as a testament to how successful female gamers can be, and should be a source of inspiration for any women looking to start their own career in the gaming world.