What gamer doesn’t know that old anxiety of constantly looking at the clock at the last hours of your workday barely holding back the temptation of running home to put on some comfort pants and play that one game that you’ve fallen in love with?
Well, what if I told you that, for some, playing their favorite game all day IS their main income source, and that some of those lucky souls actually make more than the average nine to five, bound-by-the-tie job.
Let us not forget that gaming as an industry has been making more money than Hollywood for a while now, and that it’s not just developers that are raking in the dough, but players too, now have a plethora of ways to monetize their hobby.
Don’t believe us? Here are some examples:
1. Pro-Gaming
The age when digital gamers will start to get the same attention and investment as celebrity athletes like Cristiano Ronaldo, or Tiger Woods, is no longer coming. It’s already here.
For example, the prize pool for the League of Legends 2015 Championship was $2,130,000, not to mention the fortune they got from sponsors that would pay any price to be at the center of attention for an audience of over 43,000 physical attendants, and 36, 000, 000 online spectators.
So, if you play a competitive game like Counter Strike, DOTA2 or any other of the sort, and you’re confident of your skills, you may want to consider joining local tournaments and making that slow climb to the top.
2. Streaming/Youtube
We’ve got three words for you: Pew Die Pie. Or is it just one?
Either way, you don’t need to have 109 million (and counting) subscribers to make a living off YouTube, and sure, the average ratings per view count depends on the type of ads that you choose, but after all the math is done, a YouTuber is making $9.90 per 1000 views.
This may not seem like much at first, but when you consider that there is no upload limit and that is just one of the ways to monetize your channel among stuff like, Patreon, sponsors and affiliate marketing, being a YouTuber starts to sound like a decent side-hustle at the least.
3. Meta-Gaming Market
You may have heard the legend of Zeuzo, the World of Warcraft character that managed to be sold for $9,500 online and wondered “How Come?”
Well, to put it simply, so long as there are people who are able to either get or create rare and unique online assets that they can sell, and people who find that the price is worth their proposed value, you are going to have a market for online game items.
In fact, there are entire platforms like Eldorado that are entirely dedicated to this market, where players can make a buck in trading Fortnite items, RS gold pieces or even entire accounts with each other.
Conclusion
As you go ahead to give one of the gaming business ideas we listed here a try, you may find people along the way that tell you its useless or even wrong to try to monetize your favorite hobby.
But remember, turning something you are passionate about into a source of profit is how some of the most successful people and businesses in history came to be in the first place.
So, as long as you are patient and willing to gather the necessary knowledge, and make the necessary investments into making it work, you can do whatever you want.