More Than 10+ Ways to Turn Your Gaming Passion into Profit

What if I told you that you can start making money from just playing video games? In today's article, I'll be showing you more than 10+ ways that you can get paid doing what you already love: gaming.

1. Live Streaming

We're starting strong with live streaming. This is a great way to make money if you're particularly good at gaming or you're naturally drawn to just entertaining others. People love watching others play games for various reasons, but the main ones are:

• To pick up tips: For example, if you're an advanced gamer, this is what people will likely tune in for.
• Exceptional gameplay: If you're really good at a game, then they'll tune in to watch your exceptional skills.
• Entertaining narration: Many viewers love the entertaining narration that comes with a live stream.
• Community: Lastly, they're looking to connect and build communities with others in the gaming community who may also be watching.

If live streaming is the route that you want to go down, then once you've drawn in an audience to your live stream, there are a few ways that you can start making money. Viewers may make donations to show appreciation for good or entertaining play. Some may even sign up for paid subscriptions if they feel it's worth it. You can also sell tickets for special events or live streams.

Now, if you manage to build up a good following or community, then you could also secure sponsorship from gaming brands. Similarly, advertisers sometimes even pay players with large followings. Marketing partners will also pay gamers to promote their products during their live stream. And if you become really popular in the gaming world, then you can even begin to make and sell your own merchandise.

So ask yourself: what makes you interesting to watch? Do you have a knack for storytelling and narration, or are you just really skilled and experienced at playing particular games? Once you have your answer, start looking for a platform for live streaming. Some popular options are Twitch, YouTube Gaming, Facebook Gaming, and DLive.

2. Creating Game Guides on Video Platforms

The second way that you can earn money from gaming is by creating game guides on video platforms. Guides are popular within the gaming world because people want to know if a specific game is for them. They may want to learn how to play a game, learn some tips, or stay up to date with the latest gaming news.

Keeping these things in mind, you can create a platform dedicated to your guides that combines game reviews, tips for both beginner and advanced players, gaming news, or any other thoughts that you have on gameplay. Once you've established your guide, you can monetize it through donations and subscriptions from viewers, ads and sponsorships, and affiliate marketing from other gaming brands.

3. Written Game Guides

Gaming guides can also come in a written format as well, and you can sell written guides for a particular game through a website if you have one. Some things you want to consider for your writing guides are:

• Walkthroughs: These are details for players that outline what they should do during certain moments of a game.
• Tutorials on game features: If a game just dropped a new feature, people are going to want to know how it works.
• Tips and tricks for advanced play: Beyond just the basics, experienced players are always looking to refine their skills, so offering any tips for them to master difficult levels or improve their speedrun times is always helpful.
• Expansion options: Some games have ongoing DLCs, seasonal content, or modding communities that add a new experience to the game. Covering expansions will help keep players informed on new ways for them to enjoy a game.

Once you've formatted your written content, you can add screenshots and other graphics to make it easier for your readers to see what you're referring to. You can also include video content on your site to supplement your written content.

4. Becoming a Gaming Coach

Becoming a gaming coach is another great option to make some extra money if you're an experienced gamer. Coaches help their clients improve their gaming skills by offering services like reviewing recordings of game replays and offering insights. Sometimes they provide guidance through strategies, tips, and practice drills, or even by observing live play.

They can also provide services in a one-on-one setting or to a group via webinars or workshops. Your prices should reflect your experience, so the higher your skill level and the more insight and experience you have, the higher your rates.

5. Game Journalism

If you've got writing skills, you could be making money as a game journalist. Gaming journalists can get paid to do things like writing gaming reviews, reporting gaming news, interviewing figures in the video game industry, and covering game industry events.

Of course, you'll need to have some strong writing skills for this. If you don't have one already, I recommend starting a blog to start building your experience and developing an online portfolio of your writing to show editors. You can monetize your blog through ad revenue and affiliate marketing. Once you've got the writing background down, you can start looking for opportunities to contribute freelance articles and, if you're lucky, even get hired as a full-time employee.

There are lots of places to look for opportunities. You can look at the submission guidelines of gaming websites you'd like to write for and pitch article ideas to them. You can network with other writers and editors within the industry that can help you land something, or you can browse through job sites for any open roles.

6. Playtesting

The next method is playtesting. Playtesters provide video game companies with feedback on how easy and enjoyable a game is to play. Doing this helps game developers identify glitches that detract from the user experience and can help make improvements to enhance gameplay.

To get into game testing, you'll need to combine a passion for playing with a good work ethic. You'll need to be able to follow directions, meet deadlines, and communicate feedback effectively. You can find playtester jobs through job postings, or you can even try contacting certain video game companies yourself to see if they need playtesters.

7. Quality Assurance Testing

Next is quality assurance (QA) testing. QA testers review gameplay from a technical perspective rather than focusing on improving user experience like playtesters do. QA testers focus on fixing any technical issues that may underlie the user experience. Some of their responsibilities may include playing games and providing technical feedback, writing bug reports, recording crashes, and passing on feedback to other members of the development team, such as engineers, designers, and artists.

QA testing roles vary in how specialized and focused they are, as well as their seniority. Some roles will focus mainly on general testing of the games, while others will focus on specific technical aspects of gameplay. It's also an area of the gaming industry that will need certain qualifications. Gaming companies generally prefer QA testers who have an International Software Testing Qualifications Board (ISTQB) certification. Other positions may even require computer programming or graphic design degrees. Volunteering as a beta tester can also be a great way to gain experience while you're qualifying for junior or trainee QA testing roles.

8. Becoming a Developer

Becoming a developer is another good way to make money with gaming. Game developers take game concepts and turn them into programming code that can be used to play games. Some developers also contribute to the creative development of gaming concepts prior to or even during the programming phase.

Once again, this option is pretty technical, which means you'll need to have specific coding skills. It's necessary for developers to know relevant programming languages like JavaScript, Java, and Python. This means that a degree in software engineering or computer science may be necessary for some jobs, though this is less critical than actual programming know-how. If you want to gain experience as a developer, you can practice developing games on your own. Start with simple games, and as your skills improve, try more complex projects. This will help you build a portfolio that you can use to demonstrate your skills to employers.

9. Hosting a Gaming Podcast

Nowadays, it seems everyone wants to get in front of a mic, and if you're one of those people, then hosting a gaming podcast can be a cool way to earn money, especially if you have a lot of thoughts on gaming and gameplay. The good thing about podcasts is that they can be as niche as you want. You can cover things from game reviews, industry news, have interviews with big people in the gaming world, or even just give commentary on specific gameplay.

Once you've landed on what you want your podcast to be about, you'll want to monetize it through things like crowdfunding, sponsorships, hosting exclusive events, or selling premium content like tutorials.

10. Gaming Tournaments

Another way that you can make money is through gaming tournaments. These are becoming more and more popular, and there are a lot of ways to get involved. If you're a skilled player, you can enter and compete for cash prizes in esports competitions or online video game tournaments. Or, if you're good at event organizing and marketing, you can host your own gaming tournament, recruit sponsors, and charge entry fees to participants and promotional fees to advertisers.

If you're good at marketing, you can also use a tournament to sell products for yourself, a sponsoring brand, or an affiliate marketing partner. I recommend looking at games that tend to hold tournaments. Some popular ones are Dota 2, Call of Duty, and Fortnite. Get familiar with these and then begin tracking down the tournaments. You can use sites like Gamer Saloon and Basify to help you find some.

11. Get Paid with Mobile Gaming Apps

For this last money-making idea, you'll need two things: a love for mobile games and an Android phone. If you have both, then Mistplay is a great way to earn extra money while playing games. Simply find a game that you like and start playing it. The longer you play, the more units you earn. You can then convert these units into gift cards.

So there it is, more than 10+ ways to embrace your love of gaming and start making some cash.