For many gamers it seems like a dream that will never come true: making money playing video games. However, there are several ways to make a lot of money with the things you like the most: that’s right, with playing video games. Over the last few years there have been a lot of new possibilities that allow you to earn a (very good) living by playing video games.
This article is written to highlight the different ways you can make money playing games. Both easy and the newest computer games provide an opportunity to earn money from the comfort of your home. Do you want to know how this works? Then keep on reading!
Contents of this article
Tip #1: The digital casino
You can make money on the internet in online casinos. But the chance that just gambling will make you rich is not that big. However, there are a number of other ways to make money with simple games. Nowadays you can make money on many websites by challenging other players.
All of your favorite video games from the past are there. A friend of mine won hundreds of dollars playing Tetris Duel against other (strangers) in the last few months.
- Bejeweled
- Heart-hunting
- Sudoku
- Solitaire
- Backgammon
As well as being very profitable, you can also spend days playing different board games. You don’t need company anymore: you can always start playing right away.
Tip #2: Become a professional gamer
Fair is fair: Bejeweled, Backgammon and Sudoku may not be the first things to think about when you read the word gaming. That’s why this option has to do with video games as you know them: becoming a professional gamer.
People used to laugh about people working professionally in the video gaming industry. These people were often portrayed as nerds, and it was really hard to make a living with video games. But now there are plenty of people playing video games professionally.
This is a trend that originated in Asia and is beginning to take hold in the rest of the world as well. Think for example of the professional League clubs. These clubs all have their own gaming teams. The matches that these teams play against each other in Fifa on the Xbox One or Playstation 4 are even broadcasted on TV.
If you want to start playing professionally, the most important question you have to ask yourself is: which game am I going to play? Two things are important:
- You have to be prepared to put 6-12 hours into it every day. Professional gaming is just like professional sports: you will only get good by practicing regularly and practicing a lot.
- You have to have a talent for the video game. If you’ve already played it a lot and still aren’t beating other people, then it might be better to stick to it as a hobby.
Finally, it’s important to pick a video game that can actually make a lot of money. When it comes to tournaments, these are the games with the most amount of prize money:
- League Of Legends
- DotA 2: Defence of the Ancients
- Hearthstone
- Fifa 19
- Super Smash Brothers Melee
- Starcraft
- Starcraft II
- Fortnite
Tip #3: Streaming on Twitch
Every gamer knows about it: streaming platform Twitch. Twitch is a platform on the internet where gamers stream their games. Sometimes as many as 40,000 people watch one streamer. These streamers can make a lot of money by streaming video games, especially if they regularly stream and have a lot of followers. They do this in different ways:
- Donations: Twitch is a platform where you can donate money to content creators. If people want to support a streamer, they can choose to donate money to their favorite streamers. Some streamers also use tools to increase their income. You can have the people with the largest donations appear on the screen. You can also have any message related to a donation above a certain amount read out automatically. This will get people excited to donate, because everyone wants to be on the list of the biggest contributors.
- Subscribers: donations are always a one-off, but people can also decide to become ‘subscriber’. Someone subscribes to your Twitch channel and agrees that 5 dollars per month will be debited from his or her account. Half of that goes to the streamer, the other half goes to Twitch. These subscriptions continue until they are cancelled and can therefore be labelled as structural support from the viewer.
- Sell games: Twitch also has a feature for its streamers where streamers can earn money when people buy from online video game stores. If you click on a link that is linked to the streamer’s account, the streamer will receive a percentage of the turnover generated by this link.
Tip #4: Get active on YouTube
Even before gamers earned a proper living on Twitch, there were a lot of gamers on Youtube. The business model on YouTube is significantly different from the business model on Twitch.
If you want to make money by putting video game content on YouTube, you should take a number of things into account before you start. Things like:
- The fact that some content is blocked by YouTube. For example, if it contains frightening or scary images. This should be taken into account when considering the video games to be played.
- Some game companies do everything they can to claim some of the money that you as a YouTuber earn by putting videos on the internet in which you play their games.
- YouTube has quite strict requirements when it comes to copyright. You can’t just use music that is copyrighted. Many YouTube players (and therefore gamers) have made the mistake of not keeping an eye on this and have now lost income or even their entire channel.
In addition, you can earn a decent amount of money on YouTube, especially since the number of viewers is much larger. This can be done with income from advertising, as well as with the production of marketing campaigns. Because most Youtubers have chosen a fairly obvious niche (e.g. gaming), it’s very interesting for companies to advertise on these channels.
Once you have a channel with hundreds of thousands of viewers per video, you can earn more than €10,000 per advertising campaign. That’s what I call taking the high road by playing computer games!
Tip #5: Write guides
You need little explanation for Patience of Sudoku. But some other games are a lot more complicated. That’s why there’s an opportunity to earn money by writing guides for video games. You can explain in a guide how the game works, what the quickest way is to get through a level and where you can find the hidden treasures.
If you spend a lot of time on a guide and make it appealing, you’ll l find an audience for it. Many guides are available online for free, but I would advise you to monetize it. It’s very easy to create your own e-book.
So try to publish your own guides as an e-book and ask like $0,99 for it. This price will have people think it’s almost free. Because there are so many gamers, that $0.99 will soon generate a substantial total sum.
Tip #6: Become a Game Journalist
If you’re already writing guides anyway, the next step might be: become a game journalist. There are plenty of English gaming magazines and internet portals about video games. Do you regularly write? Become a game journalist!
Besides the fact that you are allowed to spend a lot of time at work playing games, there are also a number of fun side effects:
- You can occasionally travel to cool trade fairs (like E3) to see things and interview creators.
- You play your favorite games before they are available to the public
- You will receive a lot of merchandise from the producers of your favorite games.
Are you a hardcore gamer who always plays the newest games when they are released? Then game journalism might be something for you.
Tip #7: Game debugging
The next option to make money with gaming is the so-called ‘debugging’ of computer games. Before games are released and put on sale, a group of people have already tested the game extensively. This is done in order to prevent the gaming fun from being negatively affected.
Although you are going to test the computer game extensively, it’s a bit different from playing the video game in a normal way. You are looking for errors in the game. Sometimes you do this by trying the weirdest combinations in the game and sometimes you do this on with the instructions of the programming department.
Of course, you are also limited in your choice for playing games. You simply play the game that needs to be tested at that moment. You’ll also play games that are not yet completely finished, which might shave off some of the fun in the game.
Tip #8: Video game coach
I spoke briefly about professional gamers earlier in this article. These gamers are so good at the video game they play, that they can earn serious money with it. Now these teams also have a coach. A coach who makes sure they sleep, eat and train properly. However, this is not the coach I want to talk about in this article.
Professional gamers have fans. Fans idolize professional gamers. Many fans want nothing more than to be as good at the game as their own idol. That’s why private coaching sessions are regularly offered.
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