With Esports Earnings publishing its list of top-earning players for last year, we take a closer look at the top 20 UK players in the list and how much they made in 2016.
Note: This data is taken from tournament prize money that the Esports Earnings website finds sources for. For team games, prize money is split equally between players. The data does not include all of the smaller/niche tournaments or online cups. You can see the 2015 UK highest-earning players list here.
20. Mark “Markyb” Bryceland – $25,187
Markyb is a Scottish Call of Duty player for Team Infused and a seven-time European champion.
Last year he won EGL Open London 2016.
19. Mark “Markydooda” Exton – $25,277
This Brit is really starting to make a name for himself in the Rocket League scene.
He won the Rocket League Championship Series Season 2 finals in December 2016 with FlipSid3 Tactics.
18. Rory “dephh” Jackson – $25,486
As one of two UK CSGO players for Complexity (the other being Surreal), dephh has a range of experience in the game
He won the ESEA Rank S NA tournament last year and finished third in the FACEIT NA Pro League.
17. James “Jimbo” Bradbook – $29,324
Fab Games’ British Halo player won the European HCS Pro League Fall Season Finals, as well as the Halo World Championship Tour in London in 2016.
15/16. Dave “dqvee” Davies – $31,437
This 19-year-old Welsh CoD player for Epsilon Esports helped his side grab a fourth-place finish at the Call of Duty XP Championship in September 2016.
15/16. Ben “Desire” Wright – $31,437
Ben is a teammate of dqvee’s for Epsilon Esports’ Call of Duty team. He’s been on the roster as of December 2016.
14. Callum “Swanny” Swan – $32,277
Swanny has played for a host of top level Call of Duty teams including Millenium and Epsilon.
Last year he finished second in the Crown Melbourne Invitational 2016 with Millenium, and won the Call of Duty World League stage one and stage two playoffs. He’s currently taking a break from competing but said he should be back later in 2017.
13. Lawrence “Atheroangel” Harper – $33,400
The former League of Legends player helped Team Dignitas finish 3rd/4th in the 2016 Heroes of the Storm Fall Global Championship.
He’s played for a number of teams over the past few years including Fnatic and Team Liquid.
11/12. Dylan “MadCat” Daly – $39,777
MadCat is a pro Call of Duty player who is currently with Splyce.
He has a number of first place finishes under his belt, including DreamHack London 2015, the Gfinity EU Pro League and the CoD World League playoffs.
11/12. Thomas “Tommey” Trewren – $39,777
Tommey is another well-known British Call of Duty player, having been with teams such as Epsilon and Millenium.
He recently joined Fnatic, who signed an all-British CoD roster.
10. Stephen “Vortex” Allan – $40,500
Another UK CoD pro, Stephen “Vortex” Allan is currently with Epsilon Esports.
According to Esports Earnings, the brunt of his 2016 earnings came from finishing fourth in the Call of Duty XP Championship and second in the EU CWL Stage 1 Playoffs.
9. Billy “Hawqeh” Harris – $40,875
Hawqeh is one of Vortex’s teammates for the Epsilon Call of Duty roster.
The Scot made just over $40,000 in 2016 according to Esports Earnings.
7/8. Joshua “Snitch” Bennett – $60,900
Snitch is a British Heroes of the Storm player for Team Dignitas. He had a solid year last year, winning Intel Extreme Masters, Gamescom, DreamHack Valencia and more with Dignitas.
7/8. James “Bakery” Baker – $60,900
Bakery is one of Snitch’s teammates and captain of Team Dignitas’ Heroes of the Storm side.
He was a League of Legends player before making the switch to Blizzard’s MOBA professionally.
6. Denom “A F0xy Grampa” Jones – $63,531
Denom is one of the UK’s top players in the fighting game community, having made a big splash in the Mortal Kombat X scene.
He’s currently part of UK Street Fighter pro Benjamin Simon’s agency Problem X Promotions.
5. Rhys “Rated” Price – $81,500
Another top UK Call of Duty player, Rated has played for a number of teams, from Splyce to Millenium and Epsilon. He’s currently with Orbit.
4. Joe “Joee” Pinnington – $81,500
Joee plays alongside Rated for Orbit, having joined the organisation in September 2016.
He finished second in the Call of Duty XP Championship 2016, picking up $250,000 for his then team Splyce (who Rated also played for at the time).
3. Ben “Bance” Bance – $83,812
Another British CoD player, Bance currently plays for Splyce, with MadCat, number two in this list Joshh – and Jurd.
Bance started out in UK orgs – including Xenex and Exertus – before making the breakthrough to the bigger leagues.
2. Joshua-Lee “Joshh” Shephard – $83,812
Joshh is currently the highest-earning console player in the UK, having made more than $83,000 in 2016 according to Esports Earnings.
Like Bance, he’s also plays for Splyce’s Call of Duty team. He’s also picked up several Gfinity wins in recent years.
1. Craig “iRaffer” Rathbone – $106,000
As one of the UK’s top SMITE pros, iRaffer won the 2016 SMITE World Championship with Epsilon Esports AND the 2017 Championship with NRG.
He has been playing SMITE professionally for three years now, and is the top earning UK esports player of 2016 following on from Ataraxia, who was the highest earning UK esports player of 2015.
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
