The young gamers raking in millions
These young Melburnians are making massive amounts of money from playing video games, turning their hobby into million-dollar empires.
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Gamers are the growing group of Millenials and Gen Zs rising to online fame and fortune, and you’ve either never heard of them, or know everything there is to know.
It may feel like an alternate universe to the uninitiated, but there are some video gamers accruing more wealth and success than most people in traditional employment.
The rise of platforms like Twitch and YouTube allow gamers to share videos of themselves playing their games of choice either livestreamed or uploaded later.
In some cases, these videos are shared to millions of enamoured fans.
Victoria is home to some of these high-flying gamers, who garner anywhere between 200,000 and 30 million views each month.
Here is a list of established and up-and-coming gamers who call Victoria home.
Eystreem – Jordan Barclay
Perhaps Victoria’s most famous gamer, 20-year-old Jordan Barclay – known to his adoring fans as Eystreem – has a whopping audience of more than 100 million viewers per month across platforms.
A Bendigo local, Barclay made his fame by making lists based on elements of the popular Minecraft video game and has also made an art of trolling his sister.
Barclay has gained international renown as a Minecraft expert and has hosted workshops at Australia’s Microsoft flagship store in Sydney, also collaborating with huge, multinational brands including Microsoft, Intel, Fortnite and HyperX.
His family-friendly content on YouTube combines game tips, tutorials and story-led videos and he was the youngest Australian gamer to pass one million subscribers on YouTube.
And with great followers, comes great cash — Barclay’s net worth was last year tipped to be about $23m.
JackBuzza – Jack Busuttil
The 22-year-old comedian turned variety streamer describes himself as “aggressively positive” and is a full-time content creator.
His videos on Twitch include streams of games including “first-person shooter” style-games and “party games”, with his community being dubbed “the Armada”.
Busuttil boasts more than 3.6m followers on TikTok and has more than four million views of his content each month.
He has an estimated net worth of $1m.
Sidelogic – Daniel Nikbakht
The Iranian-Australian gamer initially shot to fame by posting videos of his games of Call of Duty, a popular first-person shooting video game.
The 22-year-old has since built his own empire through TikTok and Twitch sharing clips and livestreams of him playing Call of Duty and PlayStation 5 games (PS5).
His impressive trick shots and positive attitude are what attracts his vast audience of more than 30m viewers every month – and has landed him a net worth of about $430,000.
Luminum – Luna Dam
Luna Dam is a 24-year-old Melburnian rising to fame through Twitch, YouTube and Instagram.
The bright and bubbly content creator has made a name for herself through passionate LGBT+ advocacy alongside streams of her favourite game – League of Legends.
Luminum has grown an audience of more than 500,000 views across her platforms each month. She is worth an estimated $170,000.
JoelBergs — Joel Naburgs
With one of the largest audiences in Australia, Joel Bergs is a prolific TikTok, YouTube and Twitch creator with a passion for the Call of Duty video game and his “you laugh, you lose” videos.
As one of Australia’s most wide-reaching content creators, Bergs boasts more than 11 million followers on TikTok where he posts about one video per week.
His quintessentially Aussie accent opens each clip with the challenge of “you laugh, you lose”, followed up by a typically funny video that his followers must watch straight-faced.
Despite relatively infrequent posting when compared to other gamers, Bergs keeps his grip on his huge audience and has also attracted lucrative sponsorship deals along the way.
The 32-year-old also uploads high-production comedy sketches on his YouTube channel as well as streaming COD and a variety of other games on Twitch.
Bergs is worth an estimated $3m.
Tannar
Tannar Eacott is known for her hybrid of lifestyle and gaming content, attracting a range of fans for her reaction-based content.
The 27-year-old attracts over four million views per month and was originally launched into the spotlight for being the younger sister of YouTube gamer Lannan Eacott, also known as LazarBeam.
In addition to reaction videos, Tannar typically posts collaboration videos with LazarBeam and makes Q&A videos answering questions from her Discord server.
She originally worked as a photographer and has secured partnership deals with global brands like Stax.
She is tipped to be worth about $600,000.
The Cob – Jacob Michael De Leo
Known for his mixture of comedy and gameplay online, the Melburnian grew his audience through videos narrating games including Among Us and Minecraft.
Amassing as many as 455,000 views per month after starting his account in August 2020, the 23-year-old has accounts across TikTok, YouTube and Twitch.
He initially gained popularity after narrating games of Among Us, an online multiplayer game inspired by the party game Mafia.
Jacob has since found online fame through variety streaming and celebrity impressions.
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