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The 100 Most Influential People In Esports

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We spent hundreds of hours putting together a list of the most influential people in esports in recent years. These are the people who should be interviewed to explain esports to the world, in random order.





Nadeshot

Matthew "Nadeshot" Haag

Team Owner

Nadeshot is a bit of a wizard, both when it comes to competition and business. He raised to the upper echelons of professional gaming as a brilliant Call of Duty player and content creator. In 2016, he decided to work behind the scenes, quit professional gaming and founded the now internationally recognized team "100 Thieves."

With the help of investors like Dan Gilbert, Drake, Scooter Braun, Josh Dienstag and others, the organization went straight into a golden spot in esports. The business structure, partnerships and personalities followed by their team of videographers, photographers and designers are responsible for the best content in esports today.

Ann Hand

Ann Hand

CEO

Ann Hand is the CEO and Chariman of Super League Gaming, an amateur esports experience platform that connects and celebrates players, regardless of their age, game, or skill level. Ann comes from the oil industry, she decided to leave the corporate life for early-stage investing.

Since her appointment in 2015, she has paved the way for SLG's IPO on the NASDAQ in 2019, and was also responsible for important partnerships with Samsung, Topgolf and Capcom. Prior to SLG, Ann served as CEO of Project Frog. She has garnered industry recognition, including "Top 10 Most Powerful Women Entrepreneurs” by Fortune, "100 Most Creative People” by Fast Company.

Lee ""Faker"" Sang-hyeok

Lee "Faker" Sang-hyeok

Pro Player

Lee Sang-hyeok (Korean: 이상혁), known by his in-game name "Faker" (Korean: 페이커), is a South Korean professional League of Legends player. Faker was picked up by SK Telecom in 2013 and is currently the mid laner for SK Telecom T1. Faker is renowned for his high mechanical skill and extremely versatile champion pool.

He is the first player to have reached 1,000 kills in the LCK. Faker is one of two players in history to have won the League of Legends World Championship three times, having done so in the 2013, 2015 and 2016. No matter what game you play, you'll know his name. Undoubtly the best LoL player in history and maybe the best player in esports as a whole.

Tyler ""Ninja"" Blevins

Tyler "Ninja" Blevins

Streamer

Ninja is one of the most influential and active members in the gaming community. He is a streamer, professional gamer and content creator. Ninja has been at the top of the ladder in every FPS and Battle Royale game out there. His popularity skyrocketed with Fortnite in which he collaborated with people coming from the music and sports industries, including big ones like Drake.

His talent and personality influenced the entire gaming space and brought a sense of undertanding to traditional media. He was the golden boy at Twitch for years and now he moved to Mixer, decision which grabbed everybody by surprise. Sponsored by Redbull, Uber Eats and others.

Cecilia D’Anastasio

Cecilia D’Anastasio

Journalist

Cecilia is a senior reporter at Kotaku, a news and opinion site about games and things serious gamers care about. She reports on esports, gaming, virtual worlds, digital labor and anime. Cecilia rose to prominence with her investigative article "Inside the Culture of Sexism at Riot Games", for which she won the Digital News Award at the annual Writers Guild of America Awards.

She constantly delivers incredible pieces of journalism including "Shady Numbers and Bad Business: Inside The Esports Bubble". Cecilia has also written for VICE, VICE Motherboard, The Nation, Jezebel, the Barnes & Noble Review, VICE Broadly, the Columbia Journalism Review and Gothamist.com.

Paul ""Redeye"" Chaloner

Paul "Redeye" Chaloner

Consultant

Paul Redeye Chaloner is an esports legend from Shoreham-by-Sea, England. At the moment, he is an independent esports consultant working with some of the biggest brands in gaming and advising investors on esports, while combining this with on screen work.

Over 15 years experience in esports working as a broadcaster, host, writer, producer, director, presenter, event organizer, manager and commentator. Pretty much everything. Paul has broadcasted in dozens of countries around the world and worked with many forms of media including mainstream TV channels, streams and radio. Author of Talking Esports.

Alex ""Goldenboy"" Mendez

Alex "Goldenboy" Mendez

Host

Alex "Goldenboy" Mendez is an esports commentator and host. His work and accomplishments can be seen across the entire industry. He is a regular host for multiple game events, including Call of Duty, Overwatch and Fortnite. Alex also serves as a commentator for NBC’s "The Titan Games.”

In 2018 alone he worked in 57 different events, commentated or hosted 18 different games such as Overwatch, CS:GO, Fortnite and Halo and work with companies like NBA, Twitch, MLG, EA, Epic Games, ESL, Gfinity, Hi-Rez Studios and more. Alex also partnered with T-Mobile and OMEN. Goldenboy has been involved in esports for more than 7 years, his growth is impressive.

Helena Kristiansson

Helena Kristiansson

Photographer

Helena Kristiansson is a leading esports photographer with more than ten years of experience in delivering award-winning photographs for a variety of B2B and B2C events, companies and personal profiles. Several years of experience in working with and managing multicultural teams of photographers and digital artists.

Established industry professional with a proven track record of creating and implementing best practices at over a hundred industry events. A creative and curious mind, fascinated by the endless possibilities of storytelling through photography.

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