Do you love playing video games? Are you a gamer who wants to earn money by playing games? Then you are at the right spot! We have gathered some advice for you to earn money while playing video games.
- You can also earn money playing games through InboxDollars. After signing up, you’ll be able to select games like Solitaire and Sudoku, and there are cash tournament games you can play to earn cashback on every dollar you spend in the game. Plus, you get a free $5 with InboxDollars just for creating an account.
- Have fun and monetise your hobby. Learn How to Make Money Playing Video Games like a pro!
Find easy hobbies that make money with our tried and true list of 51 hobbies. Yes, you can even earn some extra cash by playing video games!
Why not make money from doing the thing you love? Spending time playing games can take up your whole day. While spending most of your time on your computer or your game box, make the best of your time and turn it into money! Don’t say it’s impossible to do so, there are many examples out there who make millions by just playing their favorite games. PewDiePie for example started making money by playing his favorite games online. After gaining a bunch of watchers and players, he made a YouTube channel and made videos about video games. His net worth is now estimated at between $14.5 million and $30 million.
You may not make as much money as PewDiePie, since he started doing this many years ago, but you still can make a lot! By making your own logo, expanding your marketing skills, and also gaining some imagination you can be the new gamer out there!
How to Make Money Playing Video Games
Expand Your Channels
Don’t just think of only playing video games. You should open a channel, blog where you play or share your games and skills. It could either be a YouTube channel, a blog, or even an Instagram account. Post about games, what you know, and also some reviews if you have in mind. After some time you probably will be more advanced and can post recommendations, tutorials, and even game hacks!
YouTube can be a money place for you. With the ads your videos will get with YouTube, you can be more active on your channel. After some time if you have more than 4,000 public watch hours in the last 12 months and 1,000+ subscribers then money will be on its way. Blogging also can continue the same way. As more blogs you write, the more readers and ads you will gain!
Quality Assurance Tester
Computer programming is known to be the background of video games. Designers and developers know how users feel when a new game release and how the gamers will want things to change. Technical problems won’t be your area to fix after some time. You might have a tester that can help you with the quality of the game your playing. Or, you can be the quality assurance tester for some other blogs or YouTube channels in the beginning. QA testers can still get pay between $10 and $15 an hour so you should give it a try!
Game Tester
The difference here with the QA testers is that game testers test the games that haven’t been out yet. While testing the game’s beta versions, you make comments as a gamer on what you would like to change or what you accept on the game.
Join Twitch
You may have heard about the video streaming platform Twitch. Twitch is a platform that was first introduced in June 2011 as a spin-off of the general-interest streaming platform Justin tv. It’s a top-rated platform now. “As of February 2020, it has 3 million broadcasters monthly and 15 million daily active users, with 1.4 million average concurrent users.” Twitch has a lot of partner programs and is very popular in the game industry compared to YouTube since there are only and mostly gamers streaming. You can make a lot of money by being a Twitch streamer! To be one you must:
- Have at least 500 minutes broadcast in the last 30 days
- 7 unique broadcast days in the last 30 days
- 3 viewers or more over the last 30 days
- At least 50 Followers
Contact Sponsors
If you get a sponsorship after some time, it can get you cash, product, or other facilities to keep playing. This will be the next level for you to earn more money. Don’t forget to contact them either from their mail or their social media accounts. So, how can you get sponsorship? You can prepare a game idea or a chart of how well you are at a game and impress them. After, you can search for brands that you think might be a go-to for you on your blog or channel. You should also keep the question “Will I use this brand?” in mind before contacting!
Compete in Tournaments
Events are happening every year on gaming and you can be one of the contestants in these tournaments! Search out which events are happening around your area and after you find some information about them go ahead and chose one. Try to focus on only one tournament and after you join and get accepted, do your best!
Get on an Esports Team
There are a lot of Esports Team out there waiting for other gamers to join. You can earn money depending on each game you play on the team. Besides playing games with your team, you can also join Esports to host the game events, coach online players, or act out as a referee.
Provide Game Play Tutorials
If you think you are very good at playing a video game then you can make money from producing the tutorials of the games! The YouTube channel or the blog you created can earn money with every post and every click you get from viewers. Even Google can pay you to display ads on your videos!
So, as mentioned the gaming industry is in the lead with being the biggest in its area each year. Whether you’re a starter, you can earn money with some time and effort put into it! Start making money with the advice of your choice!
Do you want to earn big bucks playing games?
Sounds like a dream, right?
But it isn’t – nowadays, there are even sites that pay you to play online games.
But that’s not the only way. There are so many ways gamers can earn cash.
Compensation for playing varies too. It can range from near minimum wage to six figures annually. eSports athletes, for example, can earn hundreds of thousands while game testers are paid the minimum daily wage.
InboxDollars: Paid over $57 Million to members to watch videos, take surveys, shop and more. Join InboxDollars Now and Get $5 Instantly!
Panda Research: Earn up to $50 per survey or offer completed. Join Panda Research Today!
Swagbucks: Get paid to watch videos, shop online, take surveys and more. Join Swagbucks Now & Get a $5 Instantly!
Smart App: Earn $15 a month just for installing their free app, plus loyalty bonus every three months! Join Smart App Now
Daily Goodie Box: Want free stuff? DGB will send you a box of free goodies (Free Shipping - No Credit Card). Get your box now!
Branded Surveys: This survey panel pays you $1 just for signing up today & they pay via PayPal within 48 hours! Join Branded Surveys
Quick Fact:According to the ESA (The Entertainment Software Association), the gaming industry pulled in a whopping $20.77 billion in 2012 from video games, hardware, and accessories. Yeah, gaming is that big!
Sounds interesting?
Read on to learn how you can make money with those video games.
1. Get paid to test games
Big video games firms hire video game testers. The job is to basically test the games being developed and report whatever bug you encounter.
An alternative name for game-testing is “ play-testing”. This term has been romanticized in the past as people often think that game testing is an easy task. But it can be quite the opposite.
For starters, the pay is low. Video game testers are often paid a minimum salary.
Job security is another issue. Plus, not all games are enjoyable. Some testers need to play video games that are for kids. The job too can be monotonous and repetitive.
But, if you like video games, I don’t think any of that would matter.
If you’re interested, check out our post on video games testing jobs.
2. Farm gold & other items
Farming gold has been around for quite a number of years.
Have you played the multiplayer online RPG such as the World of Warcraft?
If yes, then you have seen those spammers’ advertisement of their gold prices within the game.
Video Games That Can Make You Money Online
Selling items within games is nothing new. Try recalling Diablo 2. It had a certain system of black market selling style with players being allowed to sell their items to fellow players for cold cash.
Item selling in games even became more mainstream with Diablo 3 and its real money auction house. This was a turning point, as the virtual items and currency trading became embedded in the game.
Blizzard makes $1 from each sale or 15% for currency and commodities, and additional 15% when you use PayPal. So you see, virtual selling was more than allowed, it was promoted.
3. Participate in eSport tournaments (and win)
Competition brings big bucks. This is how very skilled players make so much money. Playing professional level video game competitions are often called as “eSports”.
We’ are not talking about coins here, we’re talking of large cash winnings…
The team that won at Valve’s 2011 DOTA 2 tournament went home with one million dollars, $100,000 was given to the winner of the 2011 North American Star League Starcraft 2 tournament while the winner of last US Monopoly National Championship took home $20,580.
Of course, only a number of players receive big cash payouts at competitions. Just like in any tournaments, those professional video gamers who win are those have the talent and the dedication.
Finding corporations to sponsor you as a professional gamer is another way of earning cash in tournaments. Nike and Nascar, for example, are heavily into corporate branding and have sponsored some professional gamers.
In the past, even the likes of Intel, Western Digital, and SteelSeries, a developer of gaming peripherals have also ventured into corporate sponsorship of gamers.
4. Record Let’s Play videos
Now, this is where YouTube becomes useful for gamers who want to earn for playing.
Are you the type to play plenty of games?
Free Online Games That Pay Real Money
If so, you can earn money streaming video games. It’s known as “Let’s Play” on YouTube and tons of gamers are making good money doing it.
Of course, you have to talk throughout the game, explain what and why you’re doing something, basically, narrate your gameplay.
Not surprisingly, there is a lot of competition out there, so you have to stand out.
You also need to be realistic about the earning potential. You see, the way you make money here is by enabling ads. These in-video ads earn you money for every click and impression. And that means the more people watch your videos, the more you’ll make. So in the beginning, you won’t make much (if anything at all). You have to slowly build your viewership. But once you do, it’ll be worth it.
The best part about this whole experience is that it becomes a form of passive income. Once you put the video up, you’re done. The video will stay up, earning you money, for as long as the video is up.
5. Share your expertise
If you’re an expert, you could get paid to teach.
Believe it or not, there are people who are willing to give some cash for what you know about games.
You can, for example, turn your knowledge of a certain video game to an eBook and self-publish it on Kindle. You could create an eBook where you share cheats, how to beat certain levels, how to get the best of a game, etc.
Need some inspirations? Check out this Amazon best sellers list, all related to video games.
6. Write about games
Have you seen those video game websites full of advertisements?
There are tons of game related websites out there that consistently have to pump out new content. They employ hundreds of thousands of full-time, part-time, and freelance writer.
If you have a flair for words and a decent amount of knowledge on gaming, then you may want to try to get hired as a writer for these sites.
Here are a few sites that pay game writers:
Final thoughts
If you like playing games, these are some awesome opportunities for you to not only do something you enjoy but also get paid for doing it.
That said, you have to be realistic about it. A lot of these opportunities should be looked at as ways to make money on the side. They won’t replace your day job. Sure, there are people who make their living writing about games, but for the majority of us, it’s just a great way to make a little extra cash in our free time.