Top Games To Make Money
Are you a fan of playing video games? What if you could earn a living playing Call of Duty, Fortnite, or any of your other favorite games?
Top 5 EASY Ways To Make Money From Gaming Subscribe to never miss a Top 5 here: Follow us on Twitter to be informed when we. Internet has become one of the main source to earn money online. There are many across the globe who earn online just by working from home. The main advantage of working from home is the luxury of doi.
Well, it might surprise you to learn that there are millions of people earning money through the video game industry.
Video games are big moneymakers, with the industry expected to top valuations of $300-billion by 2025. You can get a slice of that pie if you know what to do, and how to position yourself in the video game world.
We put together this list of ways to make money playing video games. Choose an occupation that suits your talents, and start taking action toward achieving your dreams.
Try Mistplay: Earn Money for Playing Mobiles Games
Contents
- 2 1. Start a Career as a Game Developer
Mistplay is a mobile application that allows you to earn rewards in exchange for playing video games. All you need is an Android phone to get started. You can earn rewards for playing games, in-game achievements and other things which you can then cash in for gift cards.
You can read our full review of Mistplay here.
1. Start a Career as a Game Developer
If being a superstar gamer on social channels leaves you feeling nervous, then consider working in the industry as a game developer. If you prefer coding over gameplay, then this is the ideal way to earn money in the gaming industry.
Major players in the gaming industry, such as Blizzard and Ubisoft hire game developers at an average starting salary of $83,000. However, you’ll need to be able to handle working under pressure. Game developers have a full plate, and you can expect to work long hours and over weekends and public holidays, especially when it’s close to the games launch date.
If you don’t like the thought of working for someone, then you can always start a company yourself. The most successful example of an independent game developer is Markus Persson, the person responsible for creating the popular game, “Minecraft.”
Markus founded “Mojang,” and Microsoft eventually bought him out for a whopping price tag of $2.5-billion. All you need to replicate their success is a good idea and some help from business professionals.
Learn the Skills at Udacity
Udacity is an online school which teaches lots of different tech related skills with the purpose of helping you find a job. They have a programming school so you can learn what you need to become a game developer.
They are worth checking out as they partner with companies to teach you the exact skills that employers are actually looking for.
If you signup for a course you get :
- Real-world projects to learn from, created by from industry experts
- Access to a 1-on-1 technical mentor
- Personal career coach and career services
If you’d like to learn more, here’s our full review of Udacity.
Learn the Skills at Udemy
Udemy is another online academy for students and instructors with over 100,000 courses that are updated every month. Udemy has a huge range of Game development course you can take which will cover just about every aspect that an employer would need.
You can go at your own pace and they have a lot of industry experts on the platform. The courses are reasonably priced and they also often have sales on to grab a bargain.
Example – At the time of writing, their “Ultimate Guide to Game Development with Unity” is on sale, reduced from £169 to just £15.99!
If you’d like to learn more, here’s our full review of Udemy.
2. Create a Gaming Website
It’s never been easier to create your own website, and gaming sites have some of the highest traffic around. You could start a website reviewing games and if you build a large enough audience you will start to get free review copies of games and other types of sponsorships.
We don’t recommend you jump in and try to become the next Polygon, Destructoid or Games Radar as these sites have been around for years and are run by huge corporations with big budgets and you will never be able to compete in the search engines.
We recommend you pick a smaller niche in which you have expert knowledge to share. For example you might choose a particular game, a particular console or genre of games ( platformers, FPS, RTS, RPG etc ) and dive deep in to that subject, providing more indepth content you won’t find on the larger sites.
If you are wondering how to get started, take a look at our guide “How to Start a Blog & Make Money” which walks you through the entire process of picking a domain name, setting up your web hosting and getting started creating content.
Getting a brand new website off the ground is a slow process but if gaming is your hobby anyway it shouldn’t feel like a chore – take your time, share your passion and the money will follow.
3. Quality Assurance Officer
Video game programmer’s complete lines of code that bring a game to life. The developers spend hundreds, if not thousands, of hours building a game to ensure that the user experience is as immersive as possible.
Before they launch a game, video game companies rely on outside testing panels to explore the game before they complete the final version that goes to the market. As a quality assurance officer for a video game company, you’ll let the developers know what’s working with the game and where the game needs some attention.
A quality assurance tester is responsible for playing the game at the highest level, providing feedback to the developers of the experience that users can expect when they load it onto their machines and start playing the game. QA specialists play different builds and designs multiple times, giving their feedback to the development team.
When the QA tester has nothing to report, then the development team knows they have a finished product that ready for launch. Games can have multiple problems in the beta-testing phase. It’s common for glitches and mistakes to occur throughout the game, and QA testers are the developer’s last line of defense for finding all of the problems with the game before it goes to market.
Most QA testers work on contract, and it’s challenging to find a full-time position with a firm unless you sign up to be an in-house tester for a development company. On average, QA testers make between $10 and $15 per hour.
4. Video Game Tester
Some development companies hire gamers for in-house testing positions. Similar to a QA tester, a video game tester is responsible for playing the final version of the product.
However, these testers are successful and established gamers that have a foothold in the industry. Most testers have in-house positions with the development company, and they might also lead QA campaigns with other testers in the development phase of the game.
It might surprise you to learn that you can make a really good living as an in-house video game tester. The average pay packet for a tester is $67,813 per year, which is around 30% higher than the national salary average.
While testing video games might sound like plenty of fun, it’s also a lot of hard work. If you’re expecting to sit on the couch all day and play games, well, you’re partially right. Testers need to play the game thousands of times to uncover any issues with the gameplay before the development team prepares the game for launch.
5. Become a YouTuber
If you’re a successful gamer, consider starting a YouTube channel to increase your earnings. YouTube is one of the best platforms for gamers to put up their commentary on games.
You can live-stream your gaming sessions with commentary, review new games, or offer your thoughts on industry topics.
“PewDiePie” is the most successful example of a gamer that made money on YouTube. Currently, he has 102-million subscribers on his channel, and his videos have over 22-billion total views – that’s astounding.
As a result of his hard work building his channel, PewDiePie earns more than $500,000 per month from ad revenue on his videos, that’s more than $12-million per year!
All you need to start is to open your channel and start dropping content. However, it might take you some time to amass an audience and start earning money. YouTube has qualifying criteria; all new channels must meet before they can apply for monetization of their account.
As of 2019, YouTube’s Partner requirements for monetization need you to have more than 1,000-subscribers to your channel, as well as 4,000-hours of total view time on your videos over the last 12-months. YouTubers also create income through sponsorships as well.
When your channel starts gaining traction, you can reach out to gaming companies and other related industry partners to sponsor your videos.
For instance, you could get sponsorship from Razer for promoting their gaming products like laptops, headsets, and keyboards.
6. Stream Your Gaming Sessions on Twitch
Twitch is another online community started by gamers. The Twitch monetization model is similar to YouTube, where channels can earn advertising revenue through broadcasting their gaming sessions.
However, the requirements for monetizing your channel are laxer than YouTube, and you need the following to be eligible for ad revenue.
- 500-minutes of total broadcast time within the last 30-days
- 7-unique video broadcast days within the last 30-days
- A minimum of 3-concurrent viewers over the previous 30-days
- A minimum of 50-followers on your channel
The requirements are reasonably easy to achieve, and if you release exciting content, you could expect to achieve monetization for your channel in a month.
One of the most popular streamers on Twitch, “Ninja,” earned north of $10-million in 2018 from sponsorships and ad revenue on his channel, with the top 10 gamers streaming on Twitch earning a combined income of more than $20-million.
However, while these gamers have exceptional results, you’ll have to offer the community something special to earn income at this level.
Most players streaming on the platform earn anywhere between $10,000 to $40,000 per year – which is still a decent income for playing games and having fun with your friends online.
7. Compete in Gaming Tournaments
Gaming is becoming a big business. Today there are gaming tournaments for popular games like “Fortnite” and “Call of Duty.” These tournaments happen all over the world, from the United States to Japan. Registering for gaming tournaments is not a full-time occupation, and you might not have the opportunity to enter every tournament.
Epic Games hosted the 2019 Fornite Tournament, awarding a $3-million grand prize to the winner, 16-year old Kyle Giersdorf. Kyle played in front of an audience of over 2-million viewers, beating out the competition to claim his throne as the king of Fortnite.
UFC superstar, Sean O’Malley states that he earns $4,500 per month playing video game tournaments at home while he remains under suspension from the league for a USADA doping violation. That’s a great way to earn money while you’re stuck at home doing nothing.
8. Sign On to an eSports Team
With total revenues exceeding $869-million in 2018, eSports is becoming a global behemoth in the online video gaming world. Goldman Sachs expects the industry to triple by 2022, earning a staggering $2.96-bliion in revenues.
If you have a talent for gaming, then you can sign with an eSports team to play in tournaments hosted all over the world. Most eSports players average around $1,000 to $5,000 per month, and an annual salary of $60,000 is no small chunk of change.
Esports continues to grow, with regular tournaments held for games like League of Legends, Starcraft 2, Counterstrike, and Fortnite, among others.
If you want to earn a place on an eSports team, you’ll need to earn your keep. You’ll need a YouTube channel with a decent following, and it’s best if you specialize in a specific game, such as Fortnite or Call of Duty.
You don’t necessarily have to be a gamer to find work in the eSports industry. There are employment opportunities for the following positions in the eSports community.
- Hosting and emceeing live eSports events
- Commentating on eSports tournaments
- Coaching other sports players
- Managing eSports players
- Tournament referee
- Social media management for tournaments and teams
- Marketing and sales for eSports events
9. Video Game Journalism
If you have a talent for writing and reporting, you could make it with a career in video game journalism. Most video game journalists earn between $26,00 and $30,000 per year, making it one of the lowest-paying jobs in the sector.
However, if you have a passion for gaming, and you enjoy writing and drafting reports, then this job could be an excellent opportunity, even as a side-hustle.
To start as a journalist, you might need a degree in journalism, and some experience working in the sector. Some companies also offer paid internships where you can get a foothold in the industry.
You can also carve out a career as a freelance writer, you won’t need any formal education, just a sold grasp of the english language and a flair for writing in an engaging way.
We go into to more detail about this in our guide to becoming a freelance writer.
10. Customer Service Representative
The gaming industry requires a reliable support network, especially during a new release. As a customer service representative, you’ll assist gamers in overcoming the problems they experience while playing the game. You might have to deal with some angry clients, and the pay isn’t great, with most reps earning between $13 and $20 per hour.
There are game companies like Blizzard that also hire in-game administrators that play the game and offer other gamers support through an in-game chat. When applying for this position, the gaming company will care more about your customer service skills than your gaming skills.
11. Design and Sell Gaming Merch
If you search online for “Super Mario Bros t-shirt,” you’ll get thousands of results. It’s the same for any merchandise involving gaming.
Coffee mugs, mousepads, clothing, and cellphone covers are just a few examples of popular merch that gamers snap up in the millions.
- You can use a site like Teespring, Printful & Printify to help you sell t-shirts and other clothing online.
- All you need to do is hire a designer on a site like Fiverr and have them make you a design you think might sell.
- Then drag and drop your design onto the t-shirt or coffee mug on Teespring, and get a link from the platform which you can promote on social platforms.
Visit any YouTubers channel, and you’ll see that they all have merch available for sale. Merch is one of the most significant revenue streams for gamers, earning them thousands of dollars a year in profits.
12. Farm Gaming Currency
While most of the world already know about digital currencies like Bitcoin, many don’t realize that mining gaming currencies can also produce significant profits. Gamers use in-game currencies to purchase a variety of in-game products, such as weapons. People that don’t want to spend the time playing the game for a currency can purchase it from you to buy what they want in the game.
13. Coaching Gamers
If you’re a whizz at a specific game, then you can sell your skills online as a video game coach. Some coaches can earn as much as $200-per hour for teaching others their skillset. You’ll likely have to amass a following on YouTube or Twitch to gain your reputation as a coach.
The Final Thought – You Can Achieve Anything You Want in Life
Who would have thought you could make a living through video games?
Any of the careers mentioned above can net you real money in your bank account for involving yourself in the gaming industry.
If it’s your passion, then give it a shot, what do you have to lose but time?
The world of video games has changed for good. It's now possible to make money from playing your favorite games, but to get cash for doing what you love, you'll need to be good.
In this article, we take a look at the top games you can make money from playing and introduce the methods available to start your journey in your new video game career.
League of Legends
One of the most popular esports titles in the world is League of Legends. This is a MOBA game where 5 players fight against another 5 players in a battle arena. Each player picks a champion and must fight an opponent on one of three lanes.
Whilst it's extremely hard to get good enough to play in the top leagues hosted by Riot games, there are still plenty of smaller tournaments and cups available for you to take part in.
If you think you're a good enough player, check out platforms like Challengermode. On these websites, you can enter tournaments and get paid to win. The cashouts are usually very small, but there are always plenty of tournaments to enter so it could prove to be a nice bit of extra cash for doing what you love.
Make Money Games For Free
There are 5v5, 3v3, and even 1v1 tournaments available so you don't necessarily even need to have a team.
Counter Strike: Global Offensive
Counter Strike: Global Offensive is easily the most popular first person shooter esports title. It's hard to get into CS:GO competitively because you'll need to be very good and you'll need four like-minded team mates to work with.
If you already have a team, you can start to sign up for qualifiers online. Many of the world's largest events host qualifiers so that new teams can have a shot at playing for money on a big stage.
You'll need to be very good, put in the hours to practice, and treat playing like a real job, so it's not all fun and games. However, for dedicated players with real skill, there's a lot of value in playing CS:GO competitively if they are willing to put in the time and effort.
Dota 2
Dota 2 is another MOBA game, like League of Legends. It's just as popular and it see hundreds of teams competing for money across dozens of tournaments every year.
The platform for newer players to get paid to play Dota 2 isn't as good as League of Legends, so you'll need to work really hard. The offset is that each year, Dota 2 has one large tournament called the International with upwards of $20 million in prize pool money up for grabs.
Many would suggest that playing in the International is an impossible dream, but the chance is certainly there for the 0.1% best players in the world.
Hearthstone
Hearthstone doesn't have as big of a scene as many of the other competitive games in this list, but there's still a strong esports community which hosts regular tournaments with prize pools.
Hearthstone is also a card game, so you are able to play in tournaments on your own and it relies more on tactical thinking than any other kind of dexterity or aim ability.
Rocket League
Rocket League strangely has a very popular esports scene despite the game being such a good sell for casual gamers. In Rocket League's competitive scene, three players are on each team.
Getting paid to play Rocket League works just like most of the other games in this list. You must practice, get good at the game, and then qualify through different qualifying events.
Because Rocket League is such a different game to others on this list, it may be an opportunity for you to make it in esports.
Call of Duty
Call of Duty has always had a strong esports scene thanks to support from Activision, but it's looking like Activision's esports spending is going to go up.
This means there's more opportunity to make it in Call of Duty esports and more chance to make real money for playing. We are expecting to see competitive scenes for the main multiplayer for Black Ops 4, as well as the Blackout battle royale mode.
Call of Duty wagers are also an option to make money. In wagers, you and a team of players put down a real money wager, and then go up against another team that has done the same. The team that wins takes the full wager amount from both teams after a small cut from the wager platform. Popular wager platforms include UMG and gamebattles.
Fortnite
Because Fortnite has become so popular, the creators, Epic Games, are just pumping cash into their esports scene for the sake of it.
As a result, there are dozens of tournaments with million dollar prize pools going live all of the time. To take part in these tournaments, you'll need to build a good social following and be good at the game.
Unlike most other esports titles, however, you'll need to rely on your own following on live streaming sites like Twitch to get invited to events. Luckily, even streamers with just 100-200 live viewer peaks often get invited to Fortnite events.
If you are good at Fortnite, you can also attempt to make money in wager tournaments just like with Call of Duty.
Top Games To Play To Make Money
PUBG
PUBG is another battle royale game like Fortnite and it also has a very young esports scene. PUBG esports is a different experience to Fortnite, however. You'll need a strong team of four and will need to qualify for events through different regional qualifiers throughout the year.
This means you'll need to be skilled and have a team of equally skilled friends to compete with. The great thing about PUBG though is that because it's so new, it won't take long to get up to standards with the current meta and the average competitive skill level.
Summary
Free Games To Make Money
Thanks for reading our article. Just like with everything in life, earning money from playing games takes effort, patience and practice, but it is certainly possible.