eSports is a thing and it’s as real as can come.
Just ask Mosaad “Msdossary” Aldossary, an 18-year-old gamer from Saudi Arabia, who is roughly R35m richer today after winning the Fifa 18 eWorld Cup.
Playing games is now a job and the money involved is not the currency you find in a game of Monopoly.
Apparently more than 20 million gamers tried to qualify for the final tournament, which saw Aldossary, who goes by the gamertag of Msdossary, beat Stefano Pinna 4-0 over two legs in the final.
Pinna, though, pocketed more than R700 000 for his runners-up position.
Mosaad Aldossary wins the FIFA eWorld Cup. https://t.co/Rg9PTpwCce| #SportsCenterPH pic.twitter.com/Ni2fMm6XhT
— ESPN5 (@Sports5PH) August 5, 2018
Playing in online tournaments can earn you a seat among the world’s best players at these tournaments.
In South Africa, meanwhile, 16-year-old Thabo Moloi won R400 000 earlier this year when he won the SA competition for Playstation gamekoppe.
So there is a route for ex-players to become professionals after all.