Playing video games is a favorite pastime, but it has become a profitable business lately. Millions enjoy gaming – it’s entertaining, removes stress, and connects with others. But there’s a way to go beyond gaming and transform your gadgets into money-making machines. From selling accounts to playing profitable casino games and participating in tournaments, former enthusiasts, now professionals, are making a living on video games. Experts agree it’s challenging, but real-life experiences showed it’s possible to make money playing video games. Let’s find out how a gaming passion enters the business realm for your balance boosting.
Sell Your Account or In-game Digital Assets
Certain types of video games, especially massive multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPG), base their gameplay on character building. While progressing the story, players develop their avatars with different boosters. In the beginning, you have no experience or tradeable items. Still, along the way, complete tasks, fight, craft, or do what it takes to increase vital elements (mana, strength, agility, etc.) and inventory.
With the balance boosted enough, some players sell it to another gamer. This is a common practice in Overwatch and World of Warcraft. Moreover, a CS: GO player sold a knife for a whopping $200,000. Simultaneously, a Croatian gamer advertised a League of Legends account for $15,000.
But, there are some prerequisites for selling an account or assets. In the LoL example, we have a 10-year-old account. During the mentioned period, the account was never banned, and the player improved all Champions to a total mastery score of 432. The account has 1513 skins (of which six are ultimate) and a lot of other accessories and items. Fans of the League of Legends game indeed see great value in everything listed, so make sure you have what it takes when considering this way to earn money.
Consider the Best-Paying Real Money Games
Playing online games for real money is another option for consideration. The Internet is crowded with entertainment hubs; many accept small deposits to get you started. First, select a licensed and regulated site. Right after, register and verify to enter the members-only zone. From there, play demo versions to get the ropes. When feeling ready and competent, follow the deposit-related rules and discover payout details.
The latter is essential because it determines your money’s value. The fact proved in expert research is that online casinos which provide games with the highest RTPs guarantee the highest prizes, and you’ll encounter them in reviews of the best payout gambling platforms. We’ll show you some examples in the following text below.
The Caxino Casino offers the Money Train 2 slot, a bonus-packed game with an RTP of 96.40%-98%. Yukon Gold follows with the all-time favorite 3 Lucky Rainbows and its RTP of 96.47%. Players also love Amazing Link Catalleros since Ruby Fortune casino pays the projected RTP of 96.33%. Jackpot City sticks to another release in the family, Amazing Link Fates, and a higher RTP of 96.44%. LeoVegas goes above average payments with Gold Rush Express and an RTP of 96.45%- Finally, if you visit Play Ojo, check Sweet Bonanza as it has an RTP factor of 96.48%.
Try Game Testing
Related to high RTP online games, one should know the figure before pressing the “start” button. The advertised value is one metier, but real-life experience may differ. Yet, numerous professionals don’t have enough time to test all games. This is where you step up with innovative ways to make money. Knowing how slot machines and video games work and providing feedback to interested parties can be super helpful.
Furthermore, top-notch video game developers hire QA (quality assurance) testers. Their task is to spot bugs and eventual issues before a game goes online and accepts real money. Many such jobs are paying between $30,000 and $85,000. You only need an introductory course, some luck to get hired, and experience gained during the career.
Write Guides and Tutorials
While testing games, it’s possible to have enough time to write about them. A video game journalist is an emerging role at intermediate-sized gaming sites. The new effort level pays out, bringing additional earnings from writing game guides and tutorials. Writing game reviews and publishing on authority sites go hand in hand with this initiative.
Many newbies enjoy reading how-to video game guides. Before playing a round, reading a walkthrough is a practical resource to get the ropes or a bigger picture about features you will encounter in a game. Successful examples of this niche include websites with written guides and ebooks. There’s a chance to monetize your digital writings with ads and donations. Also, ebook selling is a reliable profit source.
Of course, there are rules if you want to overcome challenges in making money this way. Remember – the more popular game you’d like to write about, the higher the competition. Also, new releases may struggle to reach the audience, so it would be great to develop an SEO strategy. Strong writing skills are essential, ensuring dense, comprehensive, amusing, and valuable reading. Given that most of these guides pay around $200, it’s worth taking an extra effort.
Become a Tournaments and Esports Professional Gamer
Armed with knowledge and focused on high-paying video gaming, entering online tournaments would be a smart move. Note this is the most challenging of the mentioned ways to make money but with the highest profit potential.
While it may seem you’re skilled enough, there’s an army of esports fanatics across the keyboard and screen. Professionals earn a massive salary, generating money through winnings and sponsorships. Still, beating them tells a fascinating story.
To get started with professional gaming, do the homework first. Read guides and reviews, play the highest-paid eSports games, and inform about prospective eSports tournaments. Exercise until you’re ready to challenge opponents in local CS: Go and LoL tournaments.
Next, presuming to be realistic, it’s time to move on from small-scale to global video game tournaments. With enough skill and luck, make an extra profit by streaming your match or single games.
Stream Your Gameplay
Technological advancements and dedicated platforms allowed everyone to stream their gameplay. The plan is straightforward – live streams should generate income and create a loyal audience. One thing leads to another, so donations and subscriptions have a high monetization potential. Twitch and YouTube are popular streaming platforms, where the aforementioned has more money-generating features.
Twitch streamers are millionaires – Tyler “Ninja” Blevins earned $1,000,000 in 2022 for streaming a few EA Apex Legend’s launch gaming hours. The figure is even more significant in 2023. The army of 18.5M followers amassed $5M in a single month.
On average, “Ninja” earns $500K monthly. Alexandre “Gaules” Chiqueta comes second-best. The CS: GO streamer has 3.9M followers, making $410K monthly. Jaryd “summit1g” Lazar diversified his portfolio and streams GTA V, Halo Infinite, Raft, and SCUM. With a net capital of $8M, he collects $276K monthly.
Yet, building a live-stream audience is a long process. Even popular streamers needed 6-12 months to break ten concurrent viewers. Your regular audience should run in the thousands to profit from video game live streams. Present your personality with world-class skills in an oversaturated landscape or introduce attractive and not-yet-reached titles to succeed.
Wrapping Up
By delivering ways to escape reality, games are fun and engaging. Still, gaming may become a job and keep the amusing aspect. If you enjoy progressing levels, collecting items, and discussing the gameplay, this may be a starting point towards a thriving career. Gamers are long above basement geeks – they influence the audience and advertise products.
So, use your penmanship or presentation skills to start making money. The careers described here are fine for starters and have a high earning prospect. Pick a suitable one according to your preferences and bring your video game-playing to the next level.
