“Do what you love and you will never work a single day in your life”. It is one of the most common feelings you feel when you try to decide on a career path. Well, people love playing video games, do not they? Would not it be great if I could make a living like that?
The video game industry is one of the most profitable in the world, officially billing more than 1000 million dollars a year. This shows the great interest they arouse across the planet.
The truth is, you can make money with video games! But … it’s hard work. Many of those who follow this path surrender within a few years because the aspect of work far exceeds the fun.
Instead of doing what they love, they end up hating what they once loved. It is also quite risky. For every success story, there are hundreds of others who have tried and failed.
It is not something I would recommend unless you are young, single and willing to commit for several years knowing that all the time spent may have been useless. But it is certainly possible! Here are the best potential ways to turn this dream into reality.
1. Become a videogame blogger
If you’re looking for an easy way to start making money online by playing videogames, blogging is the answer. Many people today use the Internet in search of information and news on video games, creating numerous opportunities to write posts and articles to be organized in a dedicated blog, thanks to tools such as WordPress or Blogger.
Blogging on videogames is an activity that can be approached from many points of view, for example reviewing the games, writing down the pros and cons, making rankings and much more. You could also create a site that disseminates news and news about the industry, or even specializes in the particular gaming industry or talk about a particular series of videogames, vintage games or special topics such as the role of women in the industry.
No matter what you decide to write, the important thing is that you write things of quality subjects that people find interesting and that drives them to come back to read you. In addition to real good content, it will also be important that the site looks good and is easy to navigate. You can also use different templates to customize your site in no time.
Once you start writing, to make your blog a success you will have to start promoting it. Sharing your articles on Facebook, Twitter and other social media will help you attract readers. You can also post articles on forums or bulletin boards on the subject or agree with other bloggers to advertise your respective works.
To make money with your videogames blog, you’ll need to place ads with Google AdSense or Yahoo Publisher. These sites post ads on the site and you will receive money when someone clicks on it. Make sure that, whatever form of monetization you choose, it is interesting for the people who follow your site and for your readers, otherwise it will be difficult to earn money.
As you develop the site and increase traffic, you can get in touch with the various producers of video games to see if they can like the idea of reviewing their games. This will mean receiving free copies of the games so you do not have to buy them, which will also earn you money.
2. Write guides about the games
If you love playing videogames, you know how frustrating it can be to get to a point and not be able to go any further because you do not know what to do or how to complete a level. When it happens, you can often send documents on the net about how to overcome the obstacle.
Although there are many free resources on the subject, those paid are always the most requested by those who want the best tips and advice. Writing these guides can help you make a decent collection.
Killerguides.net is one of the main sources of video game guides related to MMO games. The guides of these games are real 80-page ebooks, sold at around $30 with authors who always receive a portion of the proceeds in the form of royalties. When you publish an ebook, you will have to keep it updated for as long as the game remains on the market, to continue to receive royalties.
You can increase your earnings by promoting your guides through social media and video game forums.
3. Make money with videos on YouTube
It has long since stopped being a secret of Pulcinella that the most famous “youtuber” of the platform have earned their living by uploading videos, and quite well, among other things. Some have reached it by playing video games and sharing it through their YouTube channels, where they are followed by millions of people.
Hundreds of thousands and even millions of video views, advertisements and contracts with major brands can make big revenue figures.
Reaching this requires a set of skills that go beyond the simple act of playing a video game and uploading it to the net. Knowledge of video and audio recording, communication skills, time and dedication is required, as well as arousing interest in published content; There are those who show their great skills for certain games and those who are able to create humor and fun based on it.
4. Become a streamer on Twitch
In parallel with YouTube, there are other players who choose to retransmit their games via streaming. This is why they are called “streamer” and use platforms like Twitch to record live while they play. The way to earn money is similar to YouTube, through “partners” that generate a monetization based on the number of followers and visits received from the channel.
In this way, the next step arrives with the advertisements that Twitch, in this case, distributes. Then there are the subscriptions, which unlike YouTube, are paid, which generates extra benefits and, if that were not enough, some ‘streamer’ choose to place a button for donations.
What does it mean? That the followers can donate money to the “streamer” to support them in their project to earn living playing video games. In terms of donations, they have come to see really amazing cases up to $ 10,000.
5. Professionally head Video Games
Before a video game is placed on the market, it must be tested to ensure that there are no bugs and defects that compromise its operation. Because this work takes thousands of hours, video game producers hire testers to try out the game.
Becoming one of these testers allows you to earn an interesting income, even if the task can be very complicated. You will have to be very careful to grasp the various details, attentive to details and keep a detailed and careful report of the various bugs you will find. In most cases, testers have cogent deadlines and must also find a number of errors or malfunctions.
Videogames testers earn between $ 17,000 and $ 25,500 a year. The best-experienced testers also earn $ 42,000 a year. You do not need a degree or other special experience to apply as a tester, even if people who also have programming skills, game design, graphic design and other areas related to the development of videogames may have more chances than others.
The world of video game testing can be very competitive, as many find the idea of getting paid to throw.
Before applying as a game tester, it is better that you are clear about some negative aspects of this profession. Hourly pay is often low, considering the intensity of work required to find the number of errors and bugs required before receiving a payment.
Given the intensity of the task, the testers are often unable to do other work. This sector is not very stable and you could even stay idle for some time periods. This means that testing can sometimes not be a viable option or a single source of income.
One very positive side, however, is that you can do the work from home. It is not necessary to have an office or in which part of the world you are, which makes this work particularly attractive.
If you want to succeed as a tester of videogames, you will have to approach the work more like an error finder than a competitor, so it is likely that the game will not enjoy you as much as when you did it for pure pleasure with the games you purchased.
In addition to this opportunity, there are also sites that allow you to earn small amounts of money to play games for small periods of time, such as PlayerResearch.com that will match a fixed amount to play 45 minutes and to respond to some questions or give your feedback on the experience you had.
6. Become an e-sportsman
For some time some video game players have become professionals who participate in championships and tournaments, with many fans watching their games.
Tournaments in the eSport world reward large sums of money for those players who win or reach final requests. The question is how to become a professional in this world and also, be successful.
ESports has more excitement than many people imagine- the final of last year’s “League of Legends“ tournament brought together 45,000 spectators at the Staples Center in Los Angeles and was seen on the Internet by 43 million spectators around the ball. In this sense, not all videogames have their adaptation in the world of eSports and only some have competitive modes and championships.
It is not easy to become a high-level player, but who knows? If you spend hours playing a famous game and you’ve become an expert, you can try this kind of adventure.
This is a site that can help you with your career in the eSport world- DreamTeam. It’s a kind of social network that allows you to look for coaches and teams.
