Make a living playing video games

Earning money playing video games is a dream that many gaming enthusiasts want to achieve. New professions have emerged in recent years, and some can be very lucrative! Did you know that the video game industry generates more money than the film and music industry combined?

To become a professional gamer , you will have to work hard! Fortunately, you will already be taking your first steps as a pro gamer by reading this guide! Here are the jobs you can do to make a living playing video games, along with some tips on how to do it.

Contents of this guide to video game professions:

• ⚙️ Become a video game tester

• 🏆 Participate in video game competitions

• 🎮 Become a professional esports player

• 👨‍🏫 Become a coach

• 🎥 Be a streamer on Twitch or YouTube

• 💻 Create video game review content

• 🙈 Farming

• 💰 Play to earn

• 💼 Manage and maintain your professional gaming career

• 🩺 Work is health!

Become a video game tester

Many think that becoming a video game tester is like being a mattress tester for Ron-pich Magazine: fun, relaxation, and above all getting paid to do what you know how to do best!

It's a little more complicated than that. But it's no less fun!

Professional video game testers are solicited by development studios to play the game before its official release . It is therefore necessary to spend a considerable amount of time testing the same level, again and again, to flush out the slightest bug or programming error.

• 🔧 On the technical side, it's about trying to cause bugs and report them so that the development team can fix them. All this requires rigor and attention to the smallest detail. You have to be able to detect an abnormal reaction of the game, note it and document it so that the developers can reproduce the bug and fix it. Do not hesitate to think outside the box and push the game to its limits!

• 🎮 For the practical side, we mainly analyze the behavior of the player. This is the somewhat schizo side of the job of tester : being both technical and rigorous, but also knowing how to behave like an average player, who doesn't ask himself all these questions! In this case, the teams of developers ensure above all that the gameplay of the game is accessible, the story understandable, that the progression curve is balanced, etc.

For this behavioral part, it is now rare to pay professionals to test the game.

The developers mainly analyze the games of the people they meet in the living room and through marketing processes such as early-access, private or public beta-test where there, it is the players who pay for access to the game! We will not cite the example of Blizzard and access to the private beta of Diablo IV from 100 euros pre-order… Oops. 🤐

💡 Our advice : look for studios and development teams currently working on their game. Contact them by showing them your motivation and your experience on the subject. You might start with volunteer assignments, but then you can learn the skills to become a paid professional video game tester!

Participate in video game competitions

Today, many video game licenses organize tournaments and competitions.

Whether you're crazy about Mario Kart, Fortnite, Hearthstone, League of Legends, Dota 2, Counter Strike or fighting games like Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, Tekken... The competitions are legion and some can bring in nice sums of money .

But to win these fabulous cash prizes, you need rigorous daily training! Players from all over the world compete in the most prestigious events and to succeed in becoming one of the greatest, the road will be long!

What must also be taken into account is that the competitions are not organized on a regular basis. Some tournaments take place once a year, others less often, and sometimes in other countries. Make sure you have stable income during down times .

💡 Our advice: start by getting your hands on titles that you particularly appreciate, because you will no longer count your hours spent on them. You can then climb the first rungs by competing against opponents like:

• 🥊 The matchmakings of the game in question

• 🥇Online tournaments

• 😡 Hugo's little brother who has been taunting you on PUBG for 3 weeks

• 🍺 Gaming bars near you

• 🎟️Conventions that organize tournaments

• 🕹️Official e-sport events to test the level a bit

Arm yourself with patience and perseverance! With time and practice, you will…

Become a professional esports player

Here, we are on the stratum above the practice of amateur tournaments. We go to the pro-gamers! By becoming a professional player, you and your team are paid by your sponsors to train and become the best, like at Atletec, our favorite team !

As a professional gamer, you will therefore need to spend between 35 and 50 hours a week working on your skills and performance on the game, like any other job.

In order not to skip the steps, you can start by integrating a team of semi-professional gamers. This type of structure oscillates between the associative environment and the professional level.

You share your schedule between your personal and professional life, and your passion for video games. This can be a good compromise to start making money playing video games , without having to make a professional career out of it, if you don't have the levers to do so.

You'll have just as much fun participating in tournaments and top competitions without the stress of the unstable income they can generate.

💡 Our advice : again, places are rare. Time and talent will be your weapons to get you spotted by esports coaches and integrate a team or a banner. You can start your esports career by joining gamer dating associations . You will build your network there and you will be able to measure yourself against opponents who will help you to be more efficient!

Become a sports coach

If you like competition but are even more interested in managing teams, you can also become an esports coach! This job consists of supporting players and teams in improving their skills and strategy to achieve their goals.

Coaches analyze the performance of players and teams, identify their weaknesses, and provide them with tips to improve their game. They help players prepare mentally for competitions, helping them manage stress and stay focused during games. matches.

💡 Our advice: it doesn't sound like it, but even if sports coaches don't (or no longer) play video games directly, they must have a thorough knowledge of the video games they are working on . This means that they regularly have thousands of hours of play behind them, probably a career as a professional esports gamer, as well as management and communication skills. A real titanic task that cannot be accomplished in a day!

Be a streamer on Twitch or YouTube

The first thing that comes to mind when it comes to making a living playing video games is, of course, the most well-known streamers who gather thousands of viewers on their channel.

To get noticed by your peers and develop your notoriety, what better than to broadcast your games online and accumulate views on your Twitch lives or YouTube videos?

To be honest, it's a great idea! But there again, to draw regular and significant income from it, it is a real work that must be done daily to maintain the interest of your spectators.

You can start by building an online following using social media, gaming forums, streaming platforms, and gaming communities.

But how to manage your community and develop your notoriety on these distribution platforms?

• 😎 Be yourself : People come to Twitch to see someone play. It is above all a personality, a character, a character that we come to see. A dose of humour, dynamism and your unique personality will help you build your community.

• 💬 Interact with your community : talk to your viewers, answer their questions, crack jokes, and create an interactive experience. To stimulate interest and interactions with the public, you also need to have the soul of an animator to make the live interesting.

• 📅 Be regular : Try to stream at regular times so your fans know when you're online. Establish a program for the week, prepare event streams, identify the times when your community is available. You need real planning for your work!

• 👥 Share your content : Use social media to share your streams, highlights, and fun times with a wider audience.

• 🤝 Network : Collaborate with other streamers and attend events to grow your audience and build professional relationships. Find sponsors and don't forget that Twitch raids, game content drops, live tests of new games are all possibilities to make your place in the circle of streamers!

• 🥳 And above all, have fun! If you're having fun, your audience will feel it, and you'll be more likely to develop a loyal and engaged following.

💡Our advice: viewers of a Twitch or YouTube channel are often there to watch YOU play . It doesn't matter the game in question, be it FIFA or Adibou, as long as you like it and allow you to host an engaging live show for your viewers. On the monetization side, know that you are paid around €2.50 per monthly subscription on Twitch, not including donations and advertising. On YouTube, you need to have 1000 subscribers and 4000 watch hours to be able to monetize your content.

Create your video game review content

Playing video games is good, but you want to grow your business a bit by offering content that is a little more critical. This is perfect, since very often gamers consult the opinions of others to find out whether they should buy a game or not!

Having built your notoriety online thanks to your streamed games and growing your community, you will soon be asked for your informed opinion on a particular title!

If you have a journalistic soul, you can create your own blog to publish your tests, files, tutorials, guides, written interviews and conquer a new audience. You can thus supplement your income by monetizing your blog through advertising, sponsors, and affiliate links.

If you are more focused on video content, then you need to develop your skills as a director and editor to create shows on your channel, in addition to your lives!

💡Our advice: broadcast your test and review videos in short and well-structured formats . You can thus complete and diversify the content of your channel and attract a wider audience, which does not necessarily have time to watch you live. The more regular and widely viewed videos you offer, the more YouTube will promote you. If the video content kicks you, it's a necessary step towards notoriety!

Farm and resell your player account

If you feel like a beast of burden, there is always the practice of farming. Farming consists of harvesting virtual resources in a video game and then reselling them to other players for real money.

Most of the time, this translates to practicing the game for hours, manually performing repetitive tasks to collect the resources . We don't know where the fun is hiding, but it's well hidden!

The smart ones collect resources in an automated way with software or robots to do their tasks for them. Thus, they can amass objects, virtual currencies, equipment in a short time.

💡Our advice: uh, how to say... Farming is not the most brilliant career that we can recommend. It is alienating, repetitive work, which certainly can be lucrative but which ruins the gaming experience. Some consider that it damages the integrity of the game and its community and the practice is rather controversial.

Play to earn games

Play to earn games (“play to earn money” in good French) are games that allow you to earn real money by playing.

These games offer a tangible financial reward to players: this can be digital currency, NFTs, or other digital assets with market value. Players then redeem their winnings for real money, vouchers, or to purchase virtual in-game items.

Play to earn games have grown rapidly in recent years, and of course have attracted great interest from players for their economic opportunity.

How to manage and maintain your career as a professional player?

You have understood it, earning a living by playing video games is possible , but these are real full-time jobs that require a lot of time and investment!

The trap of jobs based on passion is that you quickly lose track of time and the boundary between hobby and work quickly becomes very blurred!

This is all the more true since it is a very competitive environment where you have to know how to constantly renew yourself and remain attentive to trends. This can generate stress and impact your daily life, be careful!

Then, to effectively manage your career as a professional gamer , you need to think in terms of working time and compensation. You will have to manage your employment contracts, your income, your expenses, etc.

👉 Don't hesitate to diversify your sources of income to secure your money.

Take care of your online image. Your brand is you! The slightest slip can tarnish your reputation and damage your partnerships and professional opportunities.

When you become your own boss, it is highly recommended to surround yourself with other professionals to help manage your business and avoid pitfalls!

Work is health !

Like many professions, and especially in sports competitions, healthy living is also the pillar of your success .

Do not ignore your hours of sleep , your physical activity, or the quality of your meals. You don't become the Usain Bolt of video games by ordering tacos at every meal!

Since the video game professional is (very) often in front of a screen, special attention must also be paid to the exposure of the eyes to blue light and their eyesight checked regularly. Ditto for the wrists and hands, which are enormously solicited.

The final word: how to make money playing video games

Earning money playing video games is no longer a crazy idea or a hobby. It's a career in its own right, which can offer incredible opportunities for those with the necessary passion and perseverance. Success in this area requires specific skills and qualities, as well as ethical and responsible practices, for your health but also for your image. We hope that our tips have given you some ideas and motivated you to pursue your dream of becoming a true professional gamer!