How many times as a gamer did you hear all kinds of mess indicating video games are a waste of time? If it’s more than zero, it tends to get annoying! This holds especially true for those of us that have made a job/career out of it. As it turns out, there’s a nice variety of ways to make money playing video games. Did you notice how that said “playing” video games?! Yeah, it did! Here’s a nice set of methods to make money with games.
The Video Methods
Doesn’t always require hefty hardware
Potential sponsorships
Lots of creative freedom
Hefty competition
The video based methods are the most common ways to make money playing video games. This includes live streaming and video recording and later uploading. With live streaming, you will need hefty hardware. Keep in mind that you’ll be playing a video game, recording it, and uploading it all at the same time. That will take the stronger hardware and the time to set it all up properly. With video recording, you might not need such hefty hardware. Even just enough hardware to screen record the game while you’re playing. The microphone is optional in this case but usually nice! The good news is that the recording software (usually OBS) for either is free. The majority of this will ultimately depend on what you really wanted to do.
The fun part of the video methods is how creative you can get with it. Yes, videos/streams about the strategies and tactics of the game(s) in question can be entirely serious stuff. It can also be completely crazy and/or hilarious! No one said you have that limitation. While they were at it, no one said you have to limit yourself to videos of just strategies and tactics. Ultimately, they’re your videos. What all you say, goes. However, the best advice is to never cheat in the games you’re recording/streaming. You’ll end with problems.
Now is where you’ll be seeing the real problem. That’d be that you’re not doing that much in the way of new. Currently, there’re millions of gaming-related video channels/streams going on and growing. Getting your videos/streams views is your bigger problem compared to the competition. The recommendation to help is to learn SEO topics for starters.
Hunt and Sell Method
Fairly easy to do
Many games qualify
Very repeatable
Can get people banned
Depending on where you happen to reside and what game(s) you’re dealing with, this can be a great source of income. It’s got to the point where some gamers have quit their regular job. It’s because they made more money with the Hunt and sell method compared to their regular job. In any case, this is a common method for how to make money playing video games. You’d be surprised at how many games you can do this with! All you need is the time to build up your account(s) and any characters involved. That’s what makes it so easy to do.
Basically, the best way to use the hunt and sell method is to find some game(s) that are popular enough and have trading systems. With the trading systems, you’ll have plenty in the way of repeatability. With the popularity, you’ll have a big enough audience. MMORPGs are the best bet for this method. Just build up your account and characters in the game(s). You have to get them to the point where you can easily gain sellable things (in-game currency and items). From there, find buy and sell websites, Facebook pages and/or other methods to sell. Of course, do your research to find out if the websites and/or Facebook pages are legit first.
Scammers in the games are pretty common, hence the advice to research things first. The bigger problem is not getting banned. This applies mostly to you and partially to others. If someone you sell to gets banned, that’s their problem and typically their own fault. Getting you banned by bringing your hunt and sell activities to the attention of GMs or Admins is your fault/problem. So watch it!
Game Testing Job
Can be done anywhere
Popular job
Direct contact with the devs
Requires high attention to details
How about a method to make money playing video games right from the developer of said game(s)?! That’s exactly what the title of game tester will get you. The fun part is that the job itself can be done from basically anywhere. Yes, some employers will require you to be working in-house. That’s mostly to try to prevent leaks and it can be faster communications. Others will have you working in your house if you wanted to. Pretty much anywhere would do as long as you’re getting the job done!
There will be a lot of times, like here, when you’re told to do your research about things. It’s this particular make-money-playing games method that’ll produce mountains of research. This happens to be one of the most popular jobs in the gaming industry. Lots of gamers would just love to get the title. I suppose it is nice to be well into a game long before its release. That and possibly long after its release. Then just imagine if the said game(s) became popular. Since you have a hefty head start over others, you do have the potential for a lot of info sharing. Just be sure to know all info sharing restrictions before doing so!
Yes, it can be a fun job but it’s absolutely a job. You’d be wise to treat it properly. This isn’t for everyone. You’re not really there just playing video games all day. The people that hire you to find problems/bugs in the game(s) you’re working on expect results on time. They already know things are never perfect on the first try. You better know exactly what you’re doing before getting into this.
Writing: Articles, Game Guides and Related Content
Nice creative freedom
Play first, work later
Good money-making potential
Really not for everyone
I bet you didn’t think of this one, huh?! Thankfully, it’s a really good one depending on you. This one is a tricky method to make money with games. Most of the trick is within your own creativity. You’d want gamers to either come back for more of the same and/or new stuff you cook up. That’s because they think it’s a good idea. A good way to make them think that is to get creative about your guides. This isn’t just about the info you provide or the jokes you happen to include. It’s also about how well detailed, fun, and easy it is to read.
In order to make proper game guides, you will have to play the games first. Hopefully, you’ll quickly come up with things others can use. There’s no substitute for experience with this method. If you only research the game(s) you’re writing about, there’s a great chance you’ll get terms wrong. There’s also a great chance you’ll get details wrong. That’s a great way to lose trust in your guides. With the money making potential involved, that’ll be a career killer. Don’t worry about finding the work. Again, there’s a good reason that there’s good money making potential here. You can start your own blog or get into a freelancer site or six and easily find game guide writing work.
This method is truly not for everyone. First, you’ll need to be articulate with great attention to detail. Next, you need to be able to come up with strategies and tactics others can use and repeat. So everything has to be legit. Lastly, it must be fairly fun and easy to read and understand.
Cryptocurrency Games
Can be fun
Various challenging aspects
Nice money making potential
Can be difficult to set up
The cryptocurrency games method only started several years ago as of this writing. So yes, there’s a hefty amount of money making potential involved. That’s if you can get around the usual pitfalls. The main pitfalls include the plentiful amount of scammers and getting into the games. Getting into these games is a pitfall because most require you pay to play. That’s usually fine since all you have to do is get good enough in the game(s) and you’ll make your money back. Beyond that, there’re a lot of crypto games out there and more being made.
Currently, two of the top-rated crypto games are Axie Infinity and Plant vs. Undead. Yes, a lot of other similar games have been out there or are being developed. It’s these two that have been getting a lot of attention lately! Both provide a great way to make money playing video games. With Axie Infinity, you can simply play and earn SPL. Later you can trade and/or sell it. Eventually, it’ll be money in your pocket! You can also breed Axis for use or sale. Plant vs. Undead is still being developed but it has the features so you can make money with it. Currently, you only have to take care of your farm. Later, the PvE and PvP modes will be added.
These things are not taken lightly. So you’ll have to set up various accounts. This includes an account on Binance or another cryptocurrency trading platform and various cryptocurrency wallets. That’s only the beginning! You still have to install and set up the game(s) on your PC/mobile device. Lastly, many of the crypto games only allow one account per household.
What are the Best Methods to Make Money with Games?
When you look at the video methods, you’ll notice the competition is massive and not messing around. You can always try but you’ll definitely be working a lot on it. Landing yourself a game testing job can be pretty cool stuff. Unfortunately, it’s really not for everyone. The crypto games have nice gains potential. Unfortunately, crypto prices bounce heavily which can result in sad players. The best ways to make money with games are hunt and sell and game guide writing. Both require playing games and both have really good money making potential.
FAQ
There’s no doubt that a lot of gamers are interested in methods to make money playing video games. There’s also no doubt that this also causes more questions! We’ll answer some here but if you have another related question, please feel free to ask in the Comments section.
As it turns out, there’re a massive amount of mobile games that claim to reward you with money and/or cryptocurrency via playing their game(s). The good news is that there are some that do. Unfortunately, the large majority of them (around 97% of them) are a complete waste. They either don’t pay you at all or make it so incredibly hard to get to a minimum payout, it’s not worth trying. You’d spend more charging your phone. Do note that there are some (extremely few) that do payout. Also unfortunately they pay so little that they only qualify as time burners. They can be fun but ultimately, they’re just time burners!
To be able to get into the best ways to make money with games, you only need enough hardware just to play the games. In the case of mobile gaming only, it’s a bit tough since most mobile games that qualify don’t have a player-to-player trading system. That and it’s not so fun/easy making game guides (or articles in general) on a mobile device! For something like the video methods, you’ll most likely need seriously strong hardware for the live streaming. So do make note of expenses before getting into these things.
This is mostly aimed at PC MMORPGs. Most, if not all of the MMORPGs have a trading system. With that, you can send items and/or in-game currency to the players you’re selling to. So as long as you have legit buyers and you are a legit seller, you’ll have a good source of income.
The idea here is to make money playing video games. The other writing jobs/careers involved don’t require the writer(s) to play video games. Take the example of a story writer. It’s not necessary for a story writer to play the game they’re writing a story for. It’s the same with the writer(s) that get(s) hired to make character backgrounds and various other written aspects of the game. The good news is that a writer can get into the gaming industry with a nice paying job because there’re a variety of options towards this. That same writer can get multiple writing jobs too. That one can be with the same employer or multiple employers. There’s a lot to it.
That would be one method to prevent some “rich kid” from having 200 accounts at the same time. Do you see how this can be a problem?! Said “rich kid” can be dumb as a rock. Hopefully, the developers are not! It’s also a method to prevent people from horribly flooding the game servers. With the crypto games, a massive amount of money is involved. Not just for the developers but also for the players. So they’ll do everything they can to prevent the one person, basically anyone, from pretty much taking over the game.
Yes, this is a popular way to make money playing video games. Mostly this is meant for mobile games. You can also do this with PC-based game accounts. To this day there are players selling and buying Clash of Clans accounts. Now, look at games like Mobile Legends: Bang Bang. Those accounts sell too! However, this is one of the most time-consuming methods before a payout. You will be facing the problem of trying to make large amounts of “dummy” email accounts intended for sale. Then you have to build those accounts up enough to attract buyers. Having legit buyers is always a problem. All of that and I’m pretty sure we have enough ban hammer-dropping ideas already!
