Ever wondered how you could make money from playing video games? While some grown-ups might say that video games are useless and they’ll never get you anywhere in life. I am here to say otherwise.
There are many celebrity gamers, such as Ninja (a famous Twitch streamer) and Pewdiepie (a famous YouTube content creator), who make money off of recording themselves and their screens while playing video games. Pewdiepie is one of the special cases though since he has become a millionaire from playing video games.
Although it's unlikely that the rest of us will reach that level of popularity, there is a process you can follow to start making your content more engaging and potentially generate some income.
First, stream on platforms like YouTube and Twitch to get viewers who’ll possibly donate money to you because they like your streams and overall content. But if you’re not one for recording your reactions or actually playing the video games, you can make your own. While this way might not be as promising, it has some chance of success.
And if you're not interested in the financial benefits, video games can also develop your skillset. For example, if you’re just wanting to improve your typing speed, you can use the chat in some games. Eventually, you’ll grow accustomed to typing with greater accuracy, and in some games, you have to chat quickly to get your message through fast enough to either your teammates or other players in the game.
Regardless of your motivations, remember, if you’re going to stream or make videos, make sure that you’re happy about what you’re doing. If you’re not happy about making videos and/or streaming, then you might want to stop, because would you really want to stick to a repetitive job that pays well but isn't any fun?
In any event, if you’re just looking for success and money, here’s what I’d recommend:
Just starting out with a YouTube account, you should go with the trends. In other words, post content that's popular with viewers. As you start to get a following, keep going with the trends until you get to a consistent number of views on each post. At this point, you should start streaming. (You might think that Twitch is for streaming and YouTube is for just normal videos, but you can actually livestream on YouTube too!). If viewers like your streams/content and you establish a good-sized following, some of them may start donating money. Once you start streaming, you’ll be able to get a wider range of people to watch your channel. And since you went with the trends earlier, you can just post some more livestreams and earn more money from your fans. Be sure to thank them! (Always make sure to keep your audience happy.)
Overall, you could achieve success on any platform in a variety of ways; it’s all up to what the online community wants and what you want.