How to Make Money by Playing Games

Nowadays, many people are struggling to make money through online but most of them love to earn while enjoying their process. So gaming is one of the most enjoyable activities to make money. If you are still wondering how to make money by playing games, you are in the right place to get the full knowledge about how to do it and get paid for your effort.

There are billions of players and hundreds of thousands of employees who support the multi-billion dollar worldwide video gaming market. There are numerous home-based employment opportunities in this big economic sector.

In this article, we’ll go over 25 different ways to make gaming money playing, both ones that don’t depend on technical knowledge and ones that do.

Can You Really Make Money by Playing Video Games?

Consider the size of the video game business to get a sense of the profit possibilities in gaming. Globally, roughly two out of every five people play video games, and the number of players is expected to increase from 2.95 billion in 2022 to 3.07 billion by 2023, according to a report by game market research company Newzoo.

According to a study by market research company Grand View Research, the worldwide video game market was estimated to be worth $195.65 billion in 2021 and is projected to rise at a CAGR of 12.9% from 2022 to 2030. According to industry data examined by market research company IBISWorld, this enormous business employed close to 300,000 people in 2020.

Here Are 25 Ways On How To Earn Money With Play Games In 2022

1. Direct Payment For Playing

The first method you can play and earn money is get direct payment through the games. The best example for this method is Mistplay.

Mistplay is a fantastic Android app that is a great way to earn money while playing mobile video games. This is one of the best ways to make money as a gamer.

The app offers users a setting where they may take part in games and win prizes. By completing in-app challenges, users can win gift cards from online stores like Amazon and Google Play and even virtual Visa gift cards.

You are entitled to payment with Mistplay the moment you begin playing. Even better, you may level up your avatar with friends to accomplish real-time engagements and accumulate units more quickly.

Additionally, they facilitate user communications and provide a chat option to promote connections among members. Another crucial point is that there are no additional costs for consumers to download, sign up for, or play games on Mistplay.

Pros:

The app is legitimate and pays on time.

Cons:

Pay is low.

Getting started: Simply download the app using this link and play the game to earn money.

2. Earn Money by Live Streaming

Anyone can livestream their gaming live to the globe. Build a sizable audience that you can pay for with adverts or a devoted audience (to monetize with donations and subscriptions). Twitch is the most popular streaming site. However, YouTube is also a choice.

The streaming market is already saturated. Given the abundance of other popular streams available to view, why should someone watch you? The difficult aspect is that. Make a name for oneself by having a unique sense of humor or personality, playing at a high level, or participating in niche gaming.

Pros:

Real-time engagement
More cost savings

Cons:

Technical problems
Real-time mess-ups

Getting Started: You only require a decent computer, a few games that people love to watch, a charming personality, and streaming software. Ensure that your internet upload speed is sufficient to support the stream and that your PC is powerful enough to handle the games you’re playing. Develop yourself as a brand and build your audience through social media.

3. Making Game Tutorials For Video Platforms

Another option to make money by gaming is to create instructions for video games and post them on websites like YouTube. The following are some of the reasons why video game players look for guides:

to determine whether a game is fun
to get better at playing
need expert gaming advice
to stay up to date with gaming news

By establishing a video game guide channel that provides the following:

game reviews
advice for beginners on tutorials
advanced advice for experienced gamers
gaming news
commentary on gameplay that is entertaining or educational

Pros:

Easy to start
No need for a high budget

Cons:

Making a good audience at first is hard

Getting Started: Choose a gaming niche that interests you and make videos about it. You can buy some cheap gadgets when starting out. You have to be creative if you want to succeed in this field.

4. Blogging About Games

Gaming guides can be sold both in written and video form. One choice is to market written game guides on your website. These can be sold separately or along with videos.

What subjects should a written guide for a video game cover? Things to think about include the following:

Walkthroughs that provide players with basic information about their actions, including where they travel, what they do, what enemies they face, what awards they receive, and what certain skills and equipment do
Instructions about game mechanics
hints and techniques for complex games

Pros:

Little startup costs required
Unlimited income potential

Cons:

Crowded Space
Easy target for criticism

Getting started: It’s fairly easy to get started in this field. All you have to do is play the game and know well about it. Just create a website and start writing about games.

5. Play in Gaming Competitions

If you are willing to make thousands of dollars, then here is the best way to earn that amount of money. Participating in video game events around the nation doesn’t require you to be an eSports legend.

Competing typically entails taking on the opposition at smaller tournaments conducted at conventions or online. This is a fantastic way to make money from game while having fun.

You might win hundreds of dollars for each victory, depending on the popularity of the competition and you’re ranking. If you’re thinking about participating in gaming competitions for cash, you should first obtain some practice.

Pros:

Enjoyable
Competition makes you work harder

Cons:

Feeling down after losing
Less of sleep

Getting started: If you are good at playing games, you can join a gaming competition in your local area, or you can try it online on Facebook or some other popular competition.

6. Quality Assurance Tester | QA Tester

To inform developers what works and what doesn’t, video game businesses frequently need unbiased feedback from people who aren’t engaged with the game directly.

What is a Quality Assurance Tester responsible for?
Play through various character builds, game modes, and designs.
Any hiccups, faults, or errors should be reported.
Describe your feelings while playing the game.
Actively attempt to “break” the game to discover potential user-side issues.
Plays a game repeatedly till there is no problem.

Pros:

It is a good way to break into the video game industry,
pay is excellent.

Cons:

It can be mentally draining to work.
Less of sleep

Getting started: Improve your gaming technique. Develop your technical expertise and game-testing skills. Participate in open beta testing to develop your skills. Finally, submit a job application for a game tester.

7. Hosting A Podcast For Gamers

If you don’t like to play but still wants to earn through games, you can earn money by presenting a podcast if you enjoy talking about video games. Podcasts can contain a variety of game-related topics, such as:

Commentary on gameplay
Game reviews
game related news
interviews with professionals from the gaming business
Question-and-answer sessions with the audience
Humor

Podcasts can be made money in a variety of ways, including:

Donations and crowdsourcing
selling premium material like coaching or courses
Organizing special events
advertisement income
sponsorships by brands
promoting things through affiliate marketing

Pros:

exclusive attention
Easy to build a loyal base of listeners

Cons:

Consumes much time
needs more equipment

Getting started: You will need a microphone, audio editing software like Audacity, and a podcast hosting service like Buzzsprout in order to start a podcast.

8. Video Game Development

Another option to make money playing games is to work as a game developer if you have the drive and skills necessary. Game developers take game concepts and turn them into computer code that may be used to play games. Additionally, they test the games. Before or during the programming phase, some developers might also help to design innovative game concepts.

Pros:

allows you to express your creativity
can work independently

Cons:

highly competitive
Long work hours

Getting started: You have to learn a programming language like C++, C#, JavaScript, Java, and Python. Once you have enough skills to develop a game, start applying for jobs on Upwork or Fiverr.

9. Sell Virtual Products Or Accounts

Depending on how much time you’ve spent in a game, you might be able to “flip” other players your account or in-game goods. For instance, you may sell some of the Steam Trading Cards you acquired through playing video games to gamers who wish to collect them. Although you won’t get rich off of this, you might be able to make enough to pay for your next game.

Pros:

No storage space, and the cost
No shipping hassle
No inventory shortage

Cons:

Competition
Takes time
You should have the skills

Getting started: Find out what items from the games you want to play go for a fair price by doing some research. Buyers and sellers of gaming goods can connect on a website like PlayerAuctions.

10. Offering Game Coaching Tips

Becoming a video game coach is another option to earn money while sharing your gaming knowledge. Clients that work with video game coaches can play more effectively. Game coaches could offer the following services:

reviewing game replay videos and providing analysis
supplying direction through tactics, advice, and practice exercises
Seeing a live performance

Game coaches may offer services one-on-one or in a group coaching context, such as a webinar or online workshop.

Pros:

It’s Fun!
Your Skills Will Improve

Cons:

Have to deal with different people
Takes time
You have to be good at what you do

Getting started: Once you have the right gaming skill, you can advertise them and find clients that pay you for coaching them

11. Contact Potential Sponsors

You should probably get in touch with sponsors once you’ve gained a following (on YouTube, Twitch, or anywhere else) to increase your income. The way TV producers used to find sponsors for their shows is pretty similar to how this works now.

You have to first impress them in order to get sponsors. Make sure your channel expresses a specific aesthetic and ethos that may also be consistent with the objectives of your advertisers. Next, you should look for brands that you enjoy that might be interested in supporting you. Also, think about if you would buy their stuff (because you will be marketing for that company)!

Pros:

No need to work hard
Good income

Cons:

Hard to find sponsors
Have to say what they say you to say

Getting started: After building a good audience, get in touch with sponsors who like to sponsor their products on your channel.

12. Work For A Game Company Providing Customer Service

Gamer support is necessary, just like it is in every other business. In the video game industry, working as a customer support representative may be very profitable. The pay rate for a customer support agent ranges from $13.64 to $20, on average.

Some businesses even employ in-game administrators that take part in the game and provide support through the in-game chat feature, similar to Blizzard.

Pros:

Good pay rate
Fun to talk about games

Cons:

Have to talk for hours with customers
Sometimes boring

Getting started: The best approach to begin this career path is by obtaining an internship. Your customer service skills will be more important to your employees than your gaming skills. You must be a people person with exceptional communication skills.

13. Create & sell Products Inspired by Video Games

The creation and sale of products based on your favorite games are one of the most amazing methods to earn money while playing. If you search “Legend of Zelda” on Etsy, you will find more than 16,000 items, including t-shirts, figurines, coffee cups, and more.

The sky is the limit in terms of how much money you can make if you choose this path because you’ll be starting a business. With the appropriate product and exceptional marketing skills, reaching $50,000 annually is achievable.

Pros:

Ability to start your business from home
You are your own boss!

Cons:

Taxes
Difficult to build trust with your customer

Getting started: To get started on this, you must decide precisely what kind of things you wish to sell. From there, you can estimate the materials required to create those goods.

14. Farm In-Game Currency

Many Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) games offer an in-game currency that players may purchase if they don’t feel like working for it.

Next to customer service employment, this is most likely the opportunity with the most time commitment and lowest income.

Gold farmers in nations like China carry out this work every day for a low salary. Although it’s not the most common way to earn additional money through gaming, this is still an alternative that should be mentioned.

Pros:

A side income if you love playing games
fun

Cons:

risky
Low pay

Getting started: Play online games to gain virtual currency and other items, then sell them to other gamers for real money.

15. Kids’ Video Game Group Lessons

Outschool is one place where those group classes can be conducted. The K–12 online learning environment offers both academic and extracurricular classes.

Video game classes are very popular among extracurricular activities. Why? Parents love the concept of giving their children a secure and supportive online environment.

We got in touch with Devyn Ricks, a mother of four who teaches gaming, and she revealed that she can make up to $4000 per month playing video games on Outschool!

Pros:

Have fun with kids
Can work from your home

Cons:

Should be careful to deal with kids

Getting started: Grow the skill and sign up on the above-mentioned site and start teaching the kids about gaming.

16. Crypto Gaming

Another source of income for video gamers has emerged thanks to the growth of cryptocurrencies and NFTs.

The NFT pets known as Axies are raised, traded, and fought in games like Axie Infinity. Your characters gain value and may be purchased and sold as you level them up.

Axie Infinity Shards, the virtual money used in the game, can then be bought or sold on platforms like Coinbase.

Crypto gaming is unquestionably a trend to watch.

Pros:

Many opportunities
Don’t Have to work hard

Cons:

Risky

Getting started: Simply, you can buy nfts from trusted sites and sell them by keeping a profit.

17. Create A Custom Video Game Or App

Owning a well-liked game on the App Store would be so awesome. If you have no prior expertise with coding or game design, you can learn from highly rated courses or simply from youtube.

In-app purchases and app sales generate a 70% royalty for the developers. That may develop into a significant source of cash for a game that is well-liked.

Sometimes the biggest hits are the simplest. Consider Wordle, where you have six chances to correctly identify a 5-letter word.

Pros:

70% profit
Can play ads to earn money

Cons:

Hard to build a game

Getting started: You can create your own game if you know how to code, or you can simply hire a developer to do the work. After that, upload it to the app store.

18. Teach Game Development

If you are already familiar with the creation of video games, you could instruct others. Video game creation strategies and fundamental coding terms and concepts are profitable subjects for instructors.

Take a look at Outschool if you enjoy dealing with children. Here, you’ll design an interesting course for aspiring game designers and programmers.

If your subject matter is more appropriate for adults, consider producing a pre-recorded course for Udemy or Skillshare. You will receive a small royalty for each new student that enrolls; top instructors might make thousands of dollars per month.

Pros:

Can earn high income if succeed
One time work

Cons:

Takes time to create a course

Getting started: Record a course by yourself and upload it to Udemy or Skillshare.

19. Writer Of eBook Games Guide

As a writer, you can be asked by a business to create an eBook guide, or you might decide to do it yourself.

You’ll frequently find folks producing video game books quickly because it takes significantly less time to develop an eBook from scratch.

It is your responsibility as a games guide author to skillfully walk players through as many facets of a given game as you can.

Pros:

Easy to start if you are creative
Good pay

Cons:

You must be creative

Getting started: This kind of work is occasionally advertised on websites like FlexJobs.You can watch an online tutorial on youtube and learn to write an ebook games guide.

20. Video Game Bodyguard

Like a real-life bodyguard, a virtual bodyguard’s responsibility is to keep their client safe as they play video games like Escape from Tarkov.

As a gaming bodyguard, your duties can be:

Protection from enemy fire for the player.
Locating the player’s goals and stuff.
Assisting the player in exploring the map.
Ensuring the player’s survival!

As your bodyguard and live guide, player socwork on Fiverr costs $15 for a 90-minute session and raises the price to $25 for extra premium services.

Pros:

Good pay

Cons:

Not easy to find

Getting started: Since this is such specialized work, you will probably need to promote your skills on services like Fiverr or build your own website.

21. eSport Professional Gamer

The fact that you can play video games without any prerequisites is one of its best features.

Hardcore gamers that specialize in particular games like League of Legends, Fortnite, or Dota 2 are known as eSport Pros.

$25 per hour is the typical eSports pay.

A player by the name of JerAx, Jesse Vainikka, made more than $3.1 million, or about $8,667 per day, in 2019, the same year that the worldwide esports market revenue surpassed $1 billion.

Pros:

Enhanced socialization
Improved decision-making and problem-solving skills

Cons:

Mood and sleep disturbances
Joint pain

Getting started: Be ready with the right tools and choose the game you like. And start the competition.

22. Speedrunner

Speedrunners finish video games as soon as they can, typically within predetermined time limits as listed on Speedrun.com.

Your popularity and capacity for pleasure will determine this. Most speedrunners broadcast on Twitch and make money from contributions or participation in competitions.

A Mega Man 11 race with a huge $25,000 prize pool was held on Twitch Rivals in 2018.

Pros:

High price pool
Right way to showcase your gaming talent

Cons:

Hard to find work

Getting started: Speedrunners are not usually employed. Instead, it’s up to you to locate employment that highlights your skills. Live-streaming, signing up to perform at a convention, or getting employed by a media company like IGN are all possible ways to accomplish this.

23. Game Community Moderator

A mod oversees or collaborates with a team to look after a community, whether it be through moderating comments or responding to people’s questions about game-related problems.

These are the folks that operate in the background of online communities, providing users with a secure means of resolving conflicts and monitoring the most offensive communications. They are available to remove content, prohibit people, or just respond to inquiries as they arise.

You can earn an average pay of $18 per hour.

Pros:

Earn money by doing what you love
Can work from the comfort of your home

Cons:

You have to carefully approve offensive posts

Getting started: Join a gaming forum or community. Prove to them you are capable. Be a community moderator and earn money.

24. Voice Over Artist (VO)

Do you like to do voice overs to gaming characters and make money in the game? Then this work is right for you. It’s like giving life to a character.

Voice-over artist contributes their vocal talents to create engaging characters.

It’s a highly skilled position that appears difficult to get into. I would advise you to get in touch with smaller game studios, such as mobile developers or crowdfunded games on Kickstarter if you want to give this a shot.

Pros:

It’s a fun job

Cons:

You should have the skill

Getting started: Improve your skills first, then apply for a job and start working as a voiceover artist.

25. Tech Support For A Games Company

Similar to a moderator, you must have a thorough knowledge of a game’s technical specifications to be successful in this position.

Tech support typically handles more challenging inquiries, such as coordinating to eliminate bugs or figuring out precisely what went wrong for a player.

You can earn an average of $21 per hour.

Pros:

Huge pay rate
If you love gaming, this will be fun

Cons:

Getting this job is hard

Getting started: You have to be talented to get an opportunity to work in a gaming company. If you have the skill, you can apply for a job and start working.