How to Make Money Gaming: 11 Proven Ways (2024)

Here we’ll walk you through 11 ways you can get paid for playing your favorite games

Is it possible to make real money playing games? The answer is yes—absolutely! The global video game market is a multibillion-dollar industry, supported by billions of players and hundreds of thousands of employees. Within this huge economic sector, there are many ways to make money from home.

Ahead, you’ll learn 11 ways you can get paid for playing games, including methods that don’t require tech skills, as well as ones that leverage technical know-how.

But first, let’s start by looking at the bottom line: how much can you make playing games?

Can you really make money playing video games?

To appreciate the profit potential in gaming, consider the size of the video game industry.

The global video game market was valued at $195.65 billion in 2021, on track to increase at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.9% from 2022 to 2030, according to a report by market analysis firm Grand View Research.

The money you make gaming can vary. To start with a best-case scenario, consider the story of Eric Barone, developer of Stardew Valley.

Barone originally had no intention of pursuing a career in gaming. He only started developing video games to keep his coding sharp so he could impress prospective employers. He became obsessed with perfecting Stardew Valley, often working on it 80 hours a week until his girlfriend dragged him off the computer.

His hard work paid off in game quality. Stardew Valley was an instant hit upon its release in 2016, and by the next year, it had raked in $34 million. Barone soon had to hire staff to help him support millions of players.

Not everyone will achieve Barone’s level of success, but his story illustrates that you can earn a good living in gaming. To take another example, voice actress Elspeth Eastman, known for voicing Tristana in the game League of Legends, gets paid to stream live videos of herself gaming.

Because she has hundreds of thousands of followers, advertisers are willing to pay her for partnerships, and she also earns commissions for paid subscriptions. While she hasn’t disclosed her income publicly, analysts estimate that she earns as much as $1,000 a month from Twitch subscriptions and as much as $221 a month from her YouTube channel, in addition to her regular income as a voice actress.

Of course, you’re probably not a famous voice actress, and we can’t guarantee you’ll achieve the same income levels, at least not without a lot of hard work. But you can use similar strategies on a smaller scale to add to your current income or transition into earning a full-time living from video games. How much you earn will depend on which method you use and how you approach it.

How to make money playing video games

Some methods of earning money from gaming require you to be a professional gamer or developer. Others only require enthusiasm for gaming and a willingness to work. Here’s our list of the 11 best ways to make money gaming.

How to make money playing video games

1. Livestream

2. Create game guides on video platforms

3. Write gaming guides for your website

4. Offer game coaching

5. Become a video game journalist

6. Playtest video games

7. Do quality assurance (QA) testing

8. Become a video game developer

9. Host a gaming podcast

10. Participate in gaming tournaments

11. Try Mistplay