The Complete Guide To Making Money From Playing Games
For many of us, gaming is a big passion that we hold dear to our heart. We love playing games, and we wish we could do it for a living. How amazing would it be if we could sit at home and make our life about gaming?
Well, thinking about this, I’ve decided to create a guide to making money from playing games. There are many ways in which you can do this, and I’ve listed the top four ideas for you to read and see how you can get involved.
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Professional Gaming
The world of esports has become so big that it’s now a very realistic career path for many gamers. There are handfuls of pro gamers that are earning six figures from playing their favourite video games. As you can imagine, this is a very attractive opportunity for anyone that sees themselves as a talented gamer. The obvious question to ask is how can you start making money like this?
To begin, you need to get good at a game. We’re not talking fairly good or good enough to beat your mates, we’re talking seriously good. Ideally, you should play a game that has a good competitive scene as you can view your stats and progress well. Lots of console games, like FIFA and Call of Duty, have rankings systems you can look at. If you make it really high up the rankings, then you know you’re good at that game. While console gaming is popular, PC gaming remains the best for competitive games, with games like CS:GO.
When you get good enough, you need to start entering tournaments. There are sites like GameBattles where you can enter online tournaments or competitive matches and earn money if you win. Not only do you get money for winning, but you also get noticed. Start winning lots of matches and tournaments and you’ll eventually be snapped up by a professional gaming company. They’ll offer you a contract, and you can get paid by them to keep playing the games you love.
Along with money from the contract, you can also get a lot of money on the side too. Companies will want to sponsor you and shower you with endorsements if you represent them. When it comes to making lots of money, professional gaming is possibly one of the top routes to take. It’s also worth noting that you don’t have to sign any professional contracts if you don’t want to. However, if you’re truly set on gaming for a living, then it makes a lot of sense as you are guaranteed regular payments just like a normal job.
Gaming Wagers
Another way you can earn money from playing games is by taking part in wagers. This is the idea that you wager some of your own money and potentially win more from the game. There are many ways in which you can do this, and we’ll discuss everything in the next few paragraphs.
The first and most obvious, thing that comes to mind is an online casino game. Using the new .casino domain NewCasinoSites can show you that there are loads of different websites offering instant play games. All you have to do is sign in, play a game, and wager some money. The amount you win will depend on the game, and there’s not a massive skill level here. You don’t have to spend ages trying to learn how to play a certain game or getting to grips with the best controller layout, etc. It’s all pretty instant, and the games are more casino based than anything else.
The second idea is somewhat similar to becoming a professional game. By this I mean it’s only a good idea if you’re very good at gaming. Here, wager matches take a different form as you go up against the opposition. There are sites online like umggaming.com where you can pick different games and enter wager matches. Both players stake some money on the contest, and the winner walks away with everything. It’s a concept that’s very popular as you can earn a fair bit of money and don’t need to have a professional gaming contract or anything like that. Anyone can do it, you just have to be confident in your gaming ability or risk losing all your money on wagers.
Gaming wagers of any kind aren’t for everyone. This is mainly because you need to wager some of your own money to make money. Many gamers don’t like taking this risk, even if they’re highly talented.
YouTube Gaming
Now, what if you like gaming but you’re nowhere near good enough to win wager matches or game professionally, can you still make money? Well, yes, you can! I’m sure you’re all well aware that there are loads of YouTube channels out there dedicated to gaming. It’s an incredibly simple idea; you record yourself playing games, and you upload it to YouTube. If your content is engaging and fun to watch, you’ll grow a following and be able to monetise your videos. This means you can put adverts on them, and earn money from people watching them.
Of course, earning money from YouTube gaming is easier said than done. The secret lies in your content and your approach to gaming. Some channels are dedicated to playthroughs or tutorials where they play games quite seriously for others to watch and enjoy. Then, you have gaming channels that are more about having fun. You play random games while filming your reaction and interacting with the audience. This builds a rapport with them that entices them to subscribe, sending your sub count soaring.
One of the keys to making money from YouTube is getting together with a group of other gamers. Group gaming is popular as it gives you more people to play and interact with. You can banter with one another, making the content more enjoyable for the audience. This is a highly successful idea for people that like playing funny games as it makes the content easier to make and you can find better games to play as a group.
Also, you need to be persistent and consistent if you want to be a success on this platform. Create an upload schedule and try to produce content as often as you can throughout the week. Some gaming channels are posting daily, with others are posting twice a day, and then some that post three or four times per week. Generally speaking, the gaming scene on YouTube is very much centred around regular uploads.
Two things are great about this idea, one; you don’t need to be good at gaming at all. Two; you can make lots of money on YouTube as well as on YouTube. Ad revenue isn’t your only source of income, once you have a large base of subscribers you can sell merch or even set up a Patreon for people to donate money to.
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Streaming
Following on from this idea of YouTube gaming we have something very similar in streaming. I could’ve included this in my YouTube points, but I felt like there was enough added stuff that it deserves a section all on its own. You see, streaming is different to being a gaming YouTuber in that you stream games live instead of pre-recording and upload them. Many hardcore streamers are sat for hours on end playing games with people watching them live. Twitch is probably still the main streaming site for people to make money on, but YouTube is also taking streaming seriously. It’s highly possible to be a streamer on YouTube but not be a proper YouTube gamer by the way.
Again, you can make money from streaming games thanks to ad revenue. When you get a large enough following, you’ll be allowed to run ads on your streams whenever you want. This is good as you can choose to run longer ads or more valuable ads when you have a bigger following on your stream. But, there’s also a donation feature on both Twitch and YouTube that lets your followers directly influence your revenue. If they like what they see, they can support you with a donation. This can be anything from a couple of dollars to a few thousand dollars. I know, who would donate a few thousand dollars to a streamer?! It sounds ridiculous, but it has happened on occasion.
Streaming success rates depend on the games you stream. You need to play something people can watch for hours on end without getting bored. Competitive games like LoL have always been popular, but the big game right now is Fortnite. There’s another tip for you right there; choose games that are trending if you want the most success.
On that bombshell, we’ve come to the end of this gaming guide. If you really want to start earning money from gaming, then these are the best four options for you. Regardless of whether you’re a good gamer or just like playing for fun, there’s still a chance for you to earn some big bucks.