How To Turn Your Love For Playing Video Games Into Money Making Opportunities

As a passionate gamer, it may sometimes feel like there is never enough time in the day to indulge in your passion. Working and life responsibilities take up all your valuable time, and after all, you need to make money to get by.

But what if we told you that you could make good money from playing video games?

Yes. Gaming as a profession is not only a reality, but it’s also a very lucrative one. The gaming industry is valued at over $120 billion and growing. The average salary you can earn as a video gamer is $70,000+ annually, and this is more than the annual earning average for most industries. With the gaming industry booming this year, there has never been a better time to turn your passion and interest into an income source.

Start your own YouTube Channel

With a webcam, you can become a YouTuber and post gaming content on your channel, and make money through it. People who have tried this have made a lot of money, but it’s not a get-rich-quick scheme you have to put in the work to ensure you are successful. The famous gamer PewDiePie has established an excellent channel making over $100,000 a week from his YouTube channel.

First, you have to monetize your channel so that the traffic to your YouTube channel can bring in some hard cash. It can take months to get the traffic and people to view your content, but consistency, compelling skills at playing, and a winning personality are essential if you want to stand out from the many gamers taking the same route as you.  

After you have gained enough followers, you can create content on any topic you like about gaming. You can play games and give reviews, tips, and guidelines about mastering the game. There are so many gamers at home who will enjoy quality content on gaming.

Join Twitch and stream your gameplay online

If you play video games frequently, then you probably have become exceptionally well at some games. You may also have some valuable tips and tricks to get bonus points or how people can unlock new features in certain games. If so, you can stream your gameplay online and earn some money from it.

You can easily do this on Twitch, an online platform where gamers meet and share their gaming techniques, expertise, tips, and tricks with people worldwide. Not only will you gain an audience from this site, but you will also earn directly through the platform. 

The requirements for earning on the platform are reaching the one hundred subscribers threshold. For this, you have to create amazing content with your witty humor, and your mastery skills at playing a game are all you need to start earning on Twitch. The site pays $5 for every subscriber who views your channel.

Quality Assurance Tester

Have you ever played a game and felt something about it was wrong and shouldn’t have made the final cut? Then gaming companies need your services as a tester, and what’s more, you can be paid for it.

Video game creators spend a lot of time developing a new game before releasing it to the market. Before launching, the game video game companies need independent people to play the game and provide feedback. The new game is usually tested to ensure there are no glitches or other technical problems that would affect the gameplay.

Getting work as a QA can be tricky, and it’s not the best-paying job. However, if you are fortunate enough to land a testing role, you can make an average of $15 an hour, plus you get to enjoy new games before anyone else.

Get paid to play directly

This may come as news to many, but yes, some sites pay you to play video games. You won’t receive cash upfront, but you may receive payments in the form of cryptocurrency or electronic payments like coins or tokens. You then turn them into gift cards or prepay cards such as Swagbucks, InboxDollars, or Banatic.

Most of these sites are looking for you to play the games and give reviews about the games you play on the site. A good example is InboxDollars, which is a service for marketers to reach potential customers, and then they share some of the income they earn from advertising.

Contact sponsors

When you get subscribers on your YouTube channel or stream to generate more revenue, you most likely need to contact sponsors the same way television producers seek sponsors for their programs.

To get sponsors for your channel, the first thing you need to do is to prepare how you will impress them. Next, search for brands that you like that may want to sponsor you. Consider if you would use their products or services. Then you can use social media to contact the relevant person in the company, mainly the marketing manager, and then pitch your proposal. Remember, you are not selling anything, but you are trying to convince them you bring value to them or their products or services. 

If you love gaming, you can turn it into a money-making opportunity and, as Mark Twain once quoted, “find a job you love, and you will never work another day in your life.” This means that happy people tend to earn more because they are working on something they are passionate about. 

If you are passionate and a gaming expert, you can turn this into something lucrative that earns you money. From uploading videos on YouTube, live streaming on Twitch, being a quality assurance tester for companies that develop video games, being paid to play, and earning from sponsorships, the money-making opportunities are endless. 

However, like any other business running a successful gaming business requires planning and preparation, starting with your finances, how you will pay tax, accounting, and the like. Not to worry, though; you can get professionals to help you with this side of the business, and you can find them anywhere, for example, if you’re in Atlanta, search for a CPA near Atlanta.