For many non-gamers, gaming is often seen as just a hobby. Some even think that it’s time-consuming and expensive. The worst would be thinking that gamers are suffering from some sort of addiction where it’s just a form of distraction from life responsibilities.
Many have fail to see the explosive growth in gaming. While gaming has been evolving since the 90s, the growth we see is not in gradual steps but in massive leaps. Gaming is not just a form of entertainment. Apart from cognitive and social benefits, it also provide learning and commercial advantage. But that’s a story for another post entirely in which I’ll cover it in the future.
What I want to focus here is to share how gaming can provide opportunities for gamers to turn their love for gaming into a proper career. I did some research by watching a bunch of YouTube videos and reading tons of articles on this topic. I have compiled here 10 + 1 ways how we, gamers, can make a living out of what we enjoy doing. The +1 way is what I do for living but it’s not often mentioned…yet, so I thought I’ll share it here.
While I include the difficulty level, investment level, skills required and potential challenges, please take it as just opinion. Different people have different skillsets and resources available. If it’s something you potentially see yourself doing, don’t let the difficulty level stop you from pursuing it.
1. Become a Streamer
Streaming is one of the most popular ways for gamers to generate income. Platforms like Twitch and YouTube, and to lesser extent, TikTok and Facebook as well, allow gamers to broadcast their gameplays to global audience. More than just the gameplay itself, the key success factor here involves engaging with your audience to build loyal following. As the viewership of your channel grows, you can get a lot of income opportunities through subscriptions, donations, sponsorships and ads.
Difficulty: Moderate to High
Investment: Moderate. For a start, of course you need stable connection, PC/console, camera, mic, and streaming software such as OBS Studio (free) or Streamlabs (free to use but have paid subscription to remove watermark)
Skills Required: Entertaining and engaging personality, consistency, marketing knowledge to grow an audience
Potential Challenges: Building a loyal following can take months or even years, and you’ll face fierce competition. Regular, high-quality streaming requires stamina and planning to avoid burnout.
2. Become a Content Creator
Gamers can create different type of content such as game tutorials, walkthroughs, reviews and tips. You can also just put your gameplays as a content with or without commentary. The most popular platform for this is of course YouTube but there’s also rising number of game content on TikTok as well. Once your channel hits the required number of subscribers and views, you can monetize it through Google Adsense. In addition, you can also generate income through affiliates, ads and sponsorships.
Difficulty: Moderate to High
Investment: Moderate to High. It really depends on your type of content. If you’re planning to record yourself, you obviously need a camera and mic, otherwise it’s just video editing software like Clipchamp or Capcut. If you’re on tight budget, just use the webcam and get a good mic instead. This can be a personal opinion but I would rather listen to good audio with a slightly blurry video of the creator than the other way around.
Skills Needed: Video editing is the crucial skill here. It’ll be useful to have additional skills such as storytelling, basic understanding of SEO, and content planning.
Potential Challenges: Video editing can be a pain. Sometimes it may take longer than your gaming time. But the important thing about content creation is to be consistent. YouTube or Google algorithm in general can be unpredictable as many have shared their experience on this, so you’ll need to experiment with different types of content to see what resonates.
3. Become a Game Journalist
If you happen to enjoy writing as well, game journalism might be the right fit for you. There are many
If you love writing and have a passion for gaming, becoming a game journalist might be the right fit. You could write reviews, features, and news for gaming websites or magazines. Some freelancers are even able to make a full-time living by covering the gaming industry.
Difficulty: High
Investment: Low (Just a computer and internet access)
Skills Needed: Writing, editing, knowledge of the gaming industry, sometimes video or podcast skills
Potential Challenges: Breaking into game journalism can be tough, especially if you’re freelancing. Pay can be low for beginners, and it takes time to build a reputation. You may also need to keep up with fast-paced industry trends.
4. Become a Competitive Gamer (Esports)
If you’re exceptionally skilled at a particular game, esports may be a good consideration for you. For eSports, there’s a focus on certain genres such as FPS (Counter-Strike) or MOBA (League of Legends). Competitive gaming is a global phenomenon with huge tournaments offering prize pools in the millions. Teams and individual gamers can also gain sponsorship deals and contracts.
Why companies are willing to invest so much into eSports? Well, it’s for the viewership of course. eSports events have even surpassed traditional sports in audience size. For instance, according to JC Sports News, the 2022 League of Legends World Championship Finals attracted over 5.14 million concurrent viewers, outpacing many traditional sports events. This goes on to show that the influence of esports is solid, making it a viable career path for passionate gamers.
Difficulty: Very High
Investment: Moderate to High. Competitive gamers typically will aim for high-end gaming PC or console, high-speed internet since esports mostly involve multiplayers. Gamers may also engage in the service of gaming coach as well.
Skills Needed: Exceptional in-game skill, mental resilience, high-level focus, and teamwork if it’s played in team.
Potential Challenges: Esports is very competitive, and only the top players make it just like traditional sports. Top players will typically get signed by companies managing them. It requires countless hours of practice, strategic thinking, and handling high-pressure situations. The level of income depends and can be inconsistent unless you’re at the very top.
5. Become a Game Tester
Game developers are always on the lookout for testers to make sure their games are running smoothly before they launch. If you’re a seasoned gamer, you’ll probably agree with me that there’s hardly any newly released games that’ll be 100% error free. Therefore, game testing is definitely in demand and can be a gateway into the industry for all you passionate gamers. Apart from making money, you get to play pre-released versions of upcoming titles before anyone else, which is pretty awesome. If you’re interested to explore, you can check out Game Tester or Play Test Cloud
Difficulty: Low to Moderate
Investment: Minimal. Usually just a PC or console that fit the requirement of the game and internet connection
Skills Needed: Contrary to popular beliefs, you don’t need to be a skilled player. In fact, when a player is too skilled and provide feedback such as the game level is too easy, developers will end up making a game too difficult to appeal to mass audience. The skills you need here are your attention to details, patience in observing and repetitive plays, and ability to document bugs.
Potential Challenges: Boredom perhaps? It can be quite mind-numbing because game testing can be repetitive. You need to keep playing the same levels repeatedly. It’s often contract-based or one-off, so it may not provide a consistent income stream, and it’s usually not as glamorous as it sounds.
6. Coaching and Mentorship
Competitive gaming (esports) is just like any sport where you may possibly need a coach. If you’re a skilled player prefer to teach or manage players rather than competing yourself, you can consider coaching and mentoring as a profession. You can help players level up their skills, improve their ranking and prepare them for competition.
Difficulty: High
Investment: Low to Moderate. Coaching can be done in-person or online. If the latter, you need internet connection, streaming or meeting software.
Skills Needed: Expertise in the game for one, ability to teach and communicate well, and possibly you need to have the skills to build up a good personal brand.
Potential Challenges: It takes time to build credibility as a coach unless you’re already an influencer within the gaming sphere. It also requires patience and the ability to convey complex strategies in simpler terms.
7. Selling In-Game Items or Accounts
Many games allow players to trade or sell rare items or accounts for real money. Games like World of Warcraft, Counter-Strike, and Fortnite have in-game economies where you can sell skins, weapons, or rare accounts at a high price. For instance, there’s a Market in Steam where you can sell these items to other players.
Difficulty: Moderate
Investment: Moderate to High. It really depends on the game and the items you’re trying to acquire. I would say the investment here mostly involve your time spent grinding in the game to obtain rare items that are in high demands.
Skills Needed: In-depth knowledge of the game’s economy, and the ability to find or grind for rare items.
Potential Challenges: Not all games allow this, and some have strict policies against selling, especially account selling. Profits can also vary widely. You may make money but remember that it takes time and dedication to acquire valuable items.
8. Modding and Creating Custom Content
Players with skills to develop game assets or mods can do so to enhance the gaming experience. Many gamers are willing to pay for mods, maps and skins in games like Minecraft, The Sims and Skyrim.
Difficulty: High
Investment: Low to Moderate. You’ll need software or tools, and of course PC capable of running modding programs.
Skills Needed: Programming or design skills, creativity, understanding of game mechanics and modding tools.
Potential Challenges: Creating quality mods that people want to pay for takes technical skill and creativity. On the other hand, there are many cases of game modding that violate the terms of service or infringe on the IP of the game developers.
9. Game Design and Development
Gamers with a creative side might consider getting into game development. Whether you’re designing characters, creating worlds, or programming game mechanics, there’s always demand in the gaming industry. If you know programming language, you can even develop the game on your own. Many indie developers start small but find success by releasing their own games on platforms like Steam or the App Store.
Difficulty: Very High
Investment: High. You definitely need a proper PC setup that can support game design software. You might possibly need an education in game design.
Skills Needed: Programming, design, animation, storytelling, project management
Potential Challenges: Developing games requires both technical and creative expertise. Indie development often involves long hours, financial risk, and uncertainty. However, if you create a hit game, the rewards can be significant. Stardew Valley is a good example of a success story. The game is developed by Eric “ConcernedApe” Barone, who initially only wanted to use it for practice to improve his programming language C#
10. Affiliate Marketing
This may require gamers to be a streamer or a content creator where they can build a following. Once they’ve established themselves as influencers, they can collaborate with brands and platforms to promote relevant products or services such as gaming equipment, games, or in-game credit top-ups. By joining affiliate programs, gamers earn a commission for every sale they generate through their referral links. This can be done via blogs, social media, or YouTube channels.
Difficulty: Moderate
Investment: Low to Moderate (Blog or website, social media presence, sometimes paid ads)
Skills Needed: Marketing, SEO, knowledge of affiliate products, content creation.
Potential Challenges: Building a significant online following can take time, and your income will depend on your ability to drive sales. Consistent, quality content is crucial, and the competition in affiliate marketing is high.
11. Game-Based Learning Designer
Here’s where I can personally share my experience. As a game-based learning designer, I’ve taken my love for gaming and applied it to the learning and development role I’ve been involved in for the past 20 years. My team and I design learning experiences using game mechanics, turning “boring” lessons or training programs into interactive, engaging and definitely effective experiences.
I believe that the same skills gamers use such as problem-solving, strategy, decision making and collaboration (in co-op and multiplayer games) can be applied to real-world challenges. It’s a field that combines creativity, education, and gaming, and for me, it has been incredibly rewarding.
Difficulty: High
Investment: Moderate. May require formal training in instructional design or game-based learning. I’m certified in both instructional design and game-based learning. However, you can choose to self-learn as well.
Skills Needed: Game design, education psychology, knowledge of instructional design, creativity, storytelling
Potential Challenges: This field requires an understanding of both gaming and learning design principles. It may involve balancing engaging gameplay with learning outcomes, which can be challenging. Building experience and credibility in this niche can also take time.
There’s no one-size-fits-all answer to how gamers can make a living, but the opportunities are tremendous. Whether you’re a content creator, streamer, or competitive gamer, the gaming industry comes with endless possibilities.
It’s time we change the perception of gaming from just a “hobby” to a career path that’s full of potential. If you can live your passion and make it profitable, why not start today?
There may not be many resources out there on this yet but I manage to locate these books that discuss how to make a living as a gamer or about the gaming business that you can read:
1. YouTube Secrets: The Ultimate Guide to Growing Your Following and Making Money as a Video Influencer by Sean Cannell and Benji Travis.
Although not strictly for gaming, this book is a valuable resource for gamers who are looking to create successful YouTube channels and build a following as a content creator.
2. Game On: The History and Business of Video Games by Dustin Hansen
This book provides an overview of the gaming industry’s history and its growth into a multi-billion-dollar business, offering context for aspiring professionals in the field.
These books can provide gamers with insights into different ways to make a living from gaming, whether through esports, streaming, or content creation.
