For the past few years, Nicholas "CoupDeAce" Wilson Ng had been juggling his e-sports career with several part-time jobs.

But qualifying for the Brawl Stars World Finals last year gave Ng, who picked up the game in mid-2018, the confidence to turn e-sports into a full-time job.

After his team were knocked out in the first round, the former competitive Dota 2 player began to assemble a new team in hopes of getting another shot at the title this year. The move reaped dividends as he led the Singapore-based team - signed by PSG Esports in March - to victory over the weekend after dismantling Brazilian team INTZ 3-0 in the final.

Calling it the highlight of his year, the 25-year-old said: "We've been (competing and training for this) championship since January, which was when the first qualifier was, all the way till the World Finals. It was all worth it.

"I started to do it full-time at the beginning of the year and this shows that all my hard work has paid off and it's really amazing."

Brawlers PSG Esports, which included fellow Singaporeans Jerome "Response" Kwek and Charleston "Scythe" Yeo, and Japanese Kogure "Relyh" Yo, claimed the winners' cheque of US$200,000 (S$268,426).

It is believed to be one of the largest tournament earnings by a local athlete or team, although Dota 2 player Daryl "iceiceice" Koh earned US$313,303 when his five-member team, Vici Gaming, came in fourth at The International 2015.

Qualification for the Nov 21-22 World Finals took place in three stages: in-game challenges, online qualifiers and monthly finals.

Brawlers PSG Esports went into the eight-team finale seeded second in the Asia-Pacific. Brawl Stars is a multiplayer online battle arena and third-person shooter game, where players battle against others in multiple game modes.

There were periods, especially close to tournaments, when the team would train three to four hours daily. Because of the long hours, Jerome's parents were initially not thrilled by their son's e-sports endeavours as they felt that he was neglecting his studies.

But they gradually became more supportive of the 16-year-old, who completed his studies at Catholic High School this year, over the past few months, even watching last weekend's World Finals.

Jerome, who started playing Brawl Stars in 2017, said: "I've been competitive in a lot of things, including my studies, and I think it's mainly due to my parents too because they wanted me to do very well and be the best."

After the team's victory, Yeo, 20, received congratulatory messages from young Brawl Stars players in Singapore and hopes that their feat on the global stage will encourage more to pursue an e-sports career.

Yeo, who will enrol in Monash University in Australia to study medicine next year, said: "I hope that us winning the world championships will show them that there are multiple paths to find success in life and will inspire them to show that if you really have passion in the game and practise hard enough for it, it's possible to be recognised on the global stage."

For now, the team are on a break and may take part in a few small competitions over the next few months.

But Ng believes that their recent victory is just the beginning, saying: "After winning the world championships, I will continue this for as long as possible until I know the time is up."