Wigan woman who was ‘laughed at’ for her passion for gaming is now making a name for herself worldwide

But one Wigan-born woman is making a name for herself in this highly competitive and potentially lucrative field – and she's not even 21 yet.

Natalie Barnes, 20, attended Hawkley Hall High School but deferred the offer of a place to study law at the University of Liverpool to concentrate on her first love.

From starting off with only a handful of viewers and having to take up a job to earn money, she has built up a worldwide profile as a gamer and is invited to appear at conventions in both Europe and the United States.

She spends nearly all her time at her gaming console in the bedroom of her parents' house in the Winstanley area, where she live-streams games which others watch and participate in, on payment of a subscription.

Now she is setting her sights on getting a visa to live and work as a content creator in Austin, Texas, which she said was the epicentre of the gaming industry.

Natalie said she had to battle a lot of prejudice growing up in the traditionally male-dominated world of gaming.

She said: "I did get a lot of hate while I was at school, as gaming and social media wasn't as prominent and was seen as more of a male preserve.

"I was laughed at a lot, I definitely tried to hide it and continue with my normal career path in law.

"I would go to school for six-plus hours, coming home and then going to work for four hours and streaming into the late night to grind into making it a career. I was exhausted every single day but I tried my best to grind because I knew I wanted to make it."

She added: "Since taking it up full-time, I've started to make a name for myself. From starting with an average of five viewers and basically no money, I now peak on viewer counts of 600 concurrent people watching and I'm very well known as a streamer.

"At events, I'm asked for autographs and pictures and sometimes it doesn't feel real that all this is happening to a young woman from Wigan.

"People watch me from all over the world, including America, Australia, Japan and China, and I do all this from the comfort of my bedroom on my PC setup.

"I've been invited to multiple tournaments and have won $1,000-plus in tournaments and streaming has been my full-time job for a couple of years now. My parents support me all the way."

Natalie is currently the most-watched female in the EU on the Apex Legends game and ninth overall in the world.

She earns money from subscriptions and donations, as well as sponsorship deals, including with the food delivery service Hello Fresh.

It was while visiting tournaments that Natalie met her boyfriend, who is a US-based professional player who goes under the online name of Gild, but whose real name is Zach Dennis.

She added: "As much as I love my town, I could go on forever with why I want to venture to the United States – friendships, my relationship, the weather, business opportunities, tournaments, mental health. There is a lot."