Earn cash by playing games or testing them for their manufacturers. While the latter option may require some serious technical skills and proficiency, the former option is quite easy and entertaining. You do not require expensive PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo, or any such gaming consoles. You won’t make much money with these free games. The better way to make money playing games on the site is by logging into your account and navigating to the “Discover” section, where you’ll find an assortment of promotional offers. There, you can usually find a handful of free desktop and mobile games that offer achievement bonuses.
- Make Money From Home Playing Games Online
- Make Money From Home Free
- Make Money From Home Playing Games
Video games are a huge source of entertainment for many people worldwide. Gaming is a way to escape reality for a brief moment of time, and enter entirely different worlds of possibility.
Thanks to the invention of the internet, people are no longer forced into the 9-5 rat race as there are many different paths to making an income online, and one such avenue is through video gaming.
If you grew up playing video games just 20 years ago, you would never have imagined that people could earn money today by simply playing their favourite video games.
If you love video games, then why not make some money from it at the same time?
From making a few dollars as a side hustle, to turning your side hustle into a fulltime career passion, below are 9 ways you can make money playing video games right now.
1. Create A YouTube Gaming Channel
YouTube is a popular video-sharing platform, where people can create video content and then upload it to the platform. But you know that.
What you may not know is that you can either do pre-recorded videos or live videos, where people can watch you play games and then listen to you describe the games as you play. And you can make money from this if you have enough viewers!
The live video option also allows you to communicate live in chat with your subscribers, to add more engagement.
However, before you can start making any money from your channel, you need to understand that your YouTube channel will need to receive 4,000 hours of watch time and 1,000 subscribers before you can start monetizing your videos with ads.
If your subscribers really enjoy your content, then you can also setup a Patreon account, where people can donate money to you, to help support your channel and content. Or you can add affiliate links (for example, a link to Amazon that sells the game you are playing) in the description and mention them in the video.
To stand out with your gaming channel, you will need to provide a unique experience for your viewers, so that they will feel entertained and will want to keep watching each time you upload a new video.
If you plan to play video games or review them, start with more niche games and then work your way up to the most mainstream games (once you have gained a good following).
In the beginning, it can be difficult to gain followers, since the most popular Youtubers such as Ninja, PewDiePie and Markiplier will be playing the most popular games and receiving the most views from their videos.
However, do not give up just because you are not seeing immediate success in your channel, as it can take several months to start gaining any significant traffic to your channel and people may prefer your style over others.
The popularity of YouTube has even caught the attention of celebrities, such as Zac Efron, Will Smith and The Rock, who have all cashed in on their popularity, to start their own YouTube channels.
A couple of celebrities have even started their own gaming channels, such as Jack Black and James Buckley (Jay from the Inbetweeners).
2. Become A Twitch Streamer
Twitch is essentially a website dedicated to all things gaming. Twitch offers live streaming of thousands of gamers playing live, plus the ability to chat with and send messages to other users, as well as product announcements and events.
Twitch streamers can earn money through donations, advertisements, subscriptions and sponsorships.
There are several different ways for Twitch streamers to make money, however the four main ways include:
- Donations – viewers give money to the streamer, if they like their content
- Subscriptions – viewers can subscribe to a streamer’s channel, which will directly give money to the streamer each month (3 tier level ranging from $4.99 – $24.99 per month)
- Advertisements – streamers can add 30 second advertisements before their stream start
- Sponsorships – if a stream is popular enough, then companies will pay them to promote their brand
Some of the top Twitch streams do live streaming as a full-time job, however, you will need to create a large following for this to happen, which takes time and dedication. You can also use the videos you post on Twitch and upload them to YouTube to create another income source for yourself.
3. Game Testing (Playtester)
If you enjoy finding all the problems in a game and trying to break a game (while also getting paid to do so), then game testing is the job for you.
As a game tester, you will be able to get first access to certain video game pre-releases, (before they make its way to the masses) and asked to play the game extensively, with certain guidelines to follow and complete.
You will be required to write detailed analysis reports on how the game operated and if you were able to find any bugs (sometimes you will be granted a bonus amount of money if you can find a bug that no one has yet identified).
Some testing requirements may require participants to be in certain geographical locations, such as North America, Australia, or Canada. However, most companies will accept participants in remote locations too.
To become a game tester, simply keep an eye out on your favourite gaming company’s website or social media, as they will occasionally ask their community for testers. The alternative is to search on websites such as Playtestix, ErliBird, PlayestCloud and BetaFamily
4. Become A Gaming Coach
When sports progress, an entire industry grows along with it. Wherever there are potential professional players, there are always many teachers and coaches behind them, helping them along in their journeys.
If you already have an impressive status as a professional gamer (or are at least a skilled gamer), then you can become a coach of new up and coming gamers through recruiting students directly.
However, if this option isn’t working for you, then you can also use the approach of signing up to sites such as Gamer Sensei or Fiverr, where teachers can earn upwards of $30/hour for their skill and expertise.
Another option is to become the coach of an Esports team, where reportedly coaches of large teams can earn upwards of tens of thousands of dollars per year, while also receiving complete benefits.
5. Create Gameplay Tutorials & Guides
Gamers always need guides and tutorials to find hidden Easter eggs in games, or getting help on a level that they have been stuck on for a while and have no idea how to progress further. To create these guides or gameplay, you can either upload videos of gameplay to YouTube, create a website dedicated to writing gaming guides, or simply publish a guide as an eBook on Amazon.
The first 2 options generate income for you through monetization with ads, while the eBook can generate money through sales.
To make money through creating gameplay tutorials or guides, you will need to focus on popular games. However, the more popular the game, the more competition you will encounter from others also creating gameplay tutorials.
To make your tutorials stand out from the crowd, you will need to offer a unique experience for users, with more meticulous detailed information than others, which means you will have to spend additional time to demonstrate your understanding of each game.
In addition to becoming an expert in your gameplay tutorials and guides, you will also need to have fundamentally sound writing skills. Guides need to be written in meticulous detail and presented with enough understandable material to keep the reader interested, while also engaged in the content.
To get started, find a popular game, such as a new release game, where players are having trouble solving a problem or where not many tutorials have yet been released.
Next, learn all the ins and outs of that particular game problem, then show others how to solve the issue for themselves with your tutorials.
In MMORPGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-playing Games), focus on creating gold guides, levelling guides and raid guides. For PvP games, such as Call of Duty, Battlefield or Overwatch, focus on creating build guides and mechanics guides.
6.Become A Professional Gamer
Becoming a professional gamer and trying to carve out a lucrative career from professional gaming is the hardest task to achieve in this list, but if you like competition and are willing to put in the long hours to master your craft, then this may be an option for you, but not a guarantee to make money.
If you want to earn big money from professional gaming, then you will need to get into eSports, either by joining an already existing team through tryouts, or creating your own. The big money comes from winning eSports championships and landing investors or endorsement deals.
As eSports continue to grow in popularity, the prize money also continues to grow into the millions of dollars. Just recently in July 2019, an American teenager from Pennsylvania took out the top prize of $3 million for winning a Fortnite tournament in New York.
Global revenues from eSports competitions will hit $1.1 billion in 2019, an increase of 29% since 2018, thanks to the surge in popularity and the revenues from sponsorship deals and advertising.
7. Play Online Games Through Point Clubs
There are several sites such as Swagbucks and MyPoints, which offer their members the opportunity to earn points by playing online games, and then convert those points into either gift cards or PayPal payments.
However, this method often requires the user to spend some money upfront (e.g. you have to purchase some tokens to play the games initially). If you like to play games such as Deal or No Deal Slots and Bejewelled 2, then this option is great for you, and will allow you to earn some gift cards or PayPal payments in return for playing games.
8. Farming Game Characters
This strategy won’t make you rich, but if you like to play games for hours on end, then this can be a useful way for you to earn some extra money, while also having fun playing games. The best games to try this strategy on, are RuneScape and Counter Strike.
The strategy works as follows:
You can create a character in game and “level” him or her up (raise their skills). You can find people that will actually pay money for a high-level character that they don’t have to level themselves, because they don’t have time or they find the leveling part of the game boring: They just want to do the missions and other fun stuff and skip the boring parts.
In the case of RuneScape, the higher the characters level, the more quests you will have access to and will be able to complete.
The easiest way to do this is to “farm the character”. This means you spend a lot of time doing boring things in the game to level up the character, such as repetitive missions or fighting non player characters or even just trading, whether it be for a particular skill or for in-game money.
A game like Eve Online has passive skill learning, where you buy the skills in game and set them to level up even when you are not online.
These don’t take much effort to learn (because your character doesn’t have to do anything in the game), but you do need to earn in game currency to buy the higher level skill books, which may require you to run a few missions here and there.
So you could potentially create a few different characters and only need to login every now and then to micro-manage their skill learning, then sell them on playerauctions.com or playerup.com once they have “matured”.
You can actually make a lot of money doing this, as some characters can sell for over $1,000. Others sell for less than $100, depending on what level they are at.
This method really depends on how much skill you have at levelling, and how motivated you are to play the game.
9. Selling In-Game Items
Another way to make some money is to sell items that you acquire in a game. Usually the more popular online games have a marketplace where players can trade items such as weapons, skins, clothes, etc.
Some games that allow this are Counter Strike: GO, Team Fortress 2, Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds and DOTA 2.
These games all have large market places on the Steam community forums where you can go and sell your items. Some rare items have sold for thousands of dollars in the past, although most items sell for just a few dollars and even a few cents.
Most of the time, these items don’t even give you any advantage in the game, they are purely for cosmetic purposes and bragging rights ie: “I have this rare item and you don’t, so I’m better”.
If a game is new and seems to be generating a large player base, this can be quite a lucrative opportunity for a skilled player who can play long hours of the game when it first comes out.
What are your financial goals? Some people want to pay down debt. Others want to save for retirement or a dream vacation. Maybe you want some extra spending money.
It’s harder to do any of those things today. We’re working more, earning less, and the cost of living continues to rise. All of this adds up to a population that’s just getting by.
There are a lot of ways to make extra cash in the gig economy. That can mean working two jobs when you barely have the energy for one.
You can make money playing games. It’s a way to unwind, earn extra cash, and work towards your financial goals without burning yourself out.
Do you want to know more? Read on to learn the top ways you can make cash by playing games.
1. Turn Games into Points
There are sites like Swagbucks and MyPoints that offer games for points. With Swagbucks, you can also take surveys if you qualify. The points can then be converted into gift cards or cash.
2. Bingo!
Bingo can be a little cutthroat when you’re playing at the local church on Wednesday nights. You have to contend with the oldtimers who have their particular seat and their way of doing things.
Get in their way, and it’ll turn into an embarrassing tongue-lashing. You can completely avoid that by playing online bingo from the comfort of your home.
Oh, you can make money playing bingo, too. Check out BingoZone, which has bingo games going on around the clock.
3. Be a Game Tester
This is the perfect job for gamers that have to critique every element of playing a game. Developers often seek feedback from testers to track the performance, story and overall enjoyment of playing games.
Take a look at your favorite game publisher’s site for opportunities to test games. There are other sites that contract with publishers to find the right beta testers for them.
4. Play the Lottery
Are you a fan of playing the lottery? That’s another way you can make money. There are sites that sell tickets and give you Superlotto numbers and other lottery games. It’s a quick and easy way to play the odds and make some money.
Teach Others
OK, you may be surprised to know that there are other gamers willing to pay good money to learn about making money playing games.
How much you can charge and how you coach other gamers largely depends on your experience. If you have some experience as a gamer, you can freelance as a coach or be a paid coach through a site like GamerSensei.
For professional gamers with a lot of experience, you can afford to charge more for your skills and experience. Your expertise can lead to you being the coach of an eSports team, with your salary paid for by sponsors.
5. Online Casino Games
Do you consider casino games a way to spend money? That they just provide entertainment and that’s it?
Your thinking can use an adjustment. You don’t need to be on the professional poker tour, but you can make money playing slots and other online gambling games.
Make Money From Home Playing Games Online
You’ll need to learn the lingo of online casino games and find games that have a high percentage of payouts.
6. Write About Games
If you have a way with words, you can combine that with your knowledge of
The best part of writing about games is that you can be on the press list of game publishers and hardware producers. These companies will often send out free (yes, free) copies of games and gear in exchange for reviews.
You may have to hold off on publishing the review until a specified date, or sign a non-disclosure agreement to make this happen. It’s well worth it to get your hands on games ahead of everyone else, write about them, and make extra money,
7. Cash in on Useless Knowledge
For gamers that can kill at Jeopardy and other trivia games, you can make money from being a well of useless knowledge.
The game site Givling is probably the most interesting one around. It’s a site that’s focused on doing good. You play trivia, you make money while you win.
On the other side, proceeds from the games go towards crowdfunding. Those funds help people pay off mortgage debt and student loans.
8. Auction Your Creds
Make Money From Home Free
How many games have you beaten over the years? Did you know you can sell your game accounts to others? This is a great way to make money for all of the time spent beating a game.
You dnt necessarily have had to beat a game to sell your credentials. Your account is worth a lot if you progressed far or collected a lot of bonuses and coins during gameplay.
9. Build a Server for Gamers
Gamers depend on a server to play. You can build and start to fund your own community for Minecraft and other games.
It will take a bit of start-up capital to get started, but you can use your community to build a nice stream of passive income. That comes in the form of monthly fees that you can charge for gamers to use your server.
Make Money Playing Games
You don’t have to trade your quality of life to reach your financial goals. You can make money playing games. That gives you a creative outlet without burning yourself out.
You don’t have to be a hardcore gamer to make money. You can play games for points that lead to cash. The lottery, online casinos, and trivia games are good alternatives to the shoot ‘em up games.
Make Money From Home Playing Games
Once you do build up a nice nest egg of extra cash, you can finally take that dream vacation. Check out the Travel section of this site for some travel inspiration and tips.