Seven Ways to Make Money Gaming

1. QA.

QA - Quality Assurance - is the job most people think of when they think of “getting paid to play games”. Basically, you’re the tester, you find the bugs, you provide feedback. It’s not an easy job - you must be very good at video games, and absolutely exhaustive in your playing method. You are not ‘playing’ the game, you are ‘testing’ the game - and there is a world of difference.

Competition is fierce, and salaries vary enormously. Research the company you want to work for before applying,

2. Pro Tournament Player

You do have to be very good. However, gaming is big business, and where there is big business, there are sponsors, advertisers and excitable millionaires. The only advice I can give you here is practice, practice, practice. For the most part these will be competitive games - mainly FPS.

3. Work for a Game Dev company

There are plenty of jobs in the industry, with a wide variety of related skills. This is the closest you will come to a secure, well-paid career. Consider the positions below, and take the accepted route of relevant degree, interesting resume, and acing the job interview. A portfolio of successful mods or indie games will also be very useful.

Be aware that people in game development companies work long hours sometimes, especially at crunch time. You will have to work in a team, and probably start by building “boring spin-off cliché 2000″, which will be a cynical money-making exercise. Don’t despair - work your way up the ranks, until you get to the ‘ideas’ level. Or get enough experience to start your own company.

Consider the following roles:

- Programmer
- Concept Artist
- Modeler/Graphics
- Audio / Music Composer
- PR and Community Manager
- Marketing

4. Leveling Characters and Virtual Gold

With some games it’s legal, with others it’s not. It’s definitely viable, and the plus side is you get to choose the game (though it will most likely be an MMO). Exchange rates will work in your favor here - sell your stuff for dollars, pounds, or euros, and live in a country with a low cost of living. Be professional, and treat what you are doing as a service-based business.

5. Game Journalist

Writing about games requires two things. Firstly: that you understand games, and secondly: that you understand writing for an audience. Game journalism is everywhere - not just in the dedicated magazines, but in newspaper supplements, online, and on TV. You can either be very serious, well written, and delve into the social and economic environment of video games, or you can write entertaining, pithy reviews and commentary.

You need to build up a portfolio first (writing a game blog is a great start), and you also have to be pro-active about finding work. You can read more information here.

6. Selling Games via Affiliate Stores

Affiliate stores can make a lot of money. The benefit is that you don’t have to buy or store the products, you just have to sell them. The downside is that you’ll usually only receive a tiny cut of the profits, which will mean you need to shift a lot of games. The easiest (and cheapest) way is via the internet. If you’re going down this route, understand that it isn’t easy. You will need to build a high-traffic website, which means having more there than just a store. You’ll need to understand SEO, marketing, and selling. However, if you already have a name for yourself in the gaming world, it could be a very viable opportunity.

7. Pull of an in-game heist

We’ve all heard of The Great Eve Scam, but smaller thefts, cons and scams go on all the time. It’s dangerous territory, and borders on the illegal (and occasionally tips right over the line). But it’s also rather cool, in a dashing piratical kind of way. It’s not for the faint-hearted, that’s for sure.

Do you make your money from making, playing or writing about games? Let me know in the comments!

Photo by Big-E-Mr-G.

Related Posts

• None Found

24 Responses to “Seven Ways to Make Money Gaming

Monique Says:
January 14th, 2008 at 12:17 pm

Good article, Keira. Especially fond of #4 having made roughly $2,500 from World of Warcraft thus far. The only problem with that one is a lot of people will hate you for feeding gold farmers, or n00bs, but honestly, it’s worth the shame for the amount of money it can pay off.

Hazel Says:
January 14th, 2008 at 4:52 pm

Have you heard about Kwari? It was mentioned in Edge a few months ago. It’s an FPS, where basically you buy ammo to play, then win money every time you hit another player, win a match etc. I guess it could really open up professional gaming to a lot of people.

PS. I don’t make any money at all yet - I don’t even have time to play much now I’m spending time working on programming.

Keira Peney Says:
January 14th, 2008 at 7:31 pm

@Monique - thanks! And to be honest, if someone is willing to pay you for it, then you might as well, no?

@Hazel - I have actually - I found it as I was looking at the pro tournament sites. It sounds interesting. I’m not so eager on the losing money part… seems a bit like gambling, rather than earning. All the others (maybe not the in-game heist) are pretty stable, with not much to lose aside from time.

It does sound like it could be quite addictive though :3

Donna Says:
January 16th, 2008 at 1:55 pm

The one thing I will say about the games journalist route is that it is likely one of the hardest to be successful at. I’ve been doing it for over 2 years and I’m still not doing it full time. You have to set yourself apart and to get paid for it you really do need to be a good writer and game player.

Still for all the stress and late nights that end up in a lack of sleep, I still love it.

Keira Peney Says:
January 17th, 2008 at 12:51 pm

@Donna - I would tend to agree. I’m not sure that there is any career in the games industry which isn’t incredibly demanding, simply because of the amount of (highly competitive) people who want in. I’m not a games journalist myself (unless you count this blog), but I do deal with them, and I’m often impressed by their ability to produce good copy to a tight deadline.

Atomic Andy Says:
January 17th, 2008 at 7:59 pm

Some friends and I managed to make about $1000 each in 2 weeks playing The Sims Online a few years back. Worked out to be about $25/hr in the beginning, but as other folks got into the game that amount dropped. We stopped when it dipped below $15/hr.

We ran it very much like a business, with a logo, website and everything. We didn’t have the lowest prices or the most “simoleons” but we did have immediate delivery upon purchase. So we carved out a little bit of a niche.

That route is hard to make any decent money on these days though. The Chinese have it on lockdown. Unless you have an exploit (like we did) it is hard to justify the time spent.

Keira Peney Says:
January 18th, 2008 at 9:44 am

@Atomic Andy - Yes, if you get in early you can make a killing. After a while it gets diluted, especially since MMO gold is ‘infinite’, and therefore the economy has to go screwy after a while.

Congrats on your $1000 though

Jigsaw hc Says:
January 21st, 2008 at 2:30 pm

I have a couple friends who level up characters on Halo 3 and then sell them. Seems that people who are really into getting achievements but are not good at shooters are having trouble getting some of the achievements that require getting a pretty high rank.

Keira Peney Says:
January 24th, 2008 at 8:39 am

Jigsaw - yeah, a lot of people want to be high-levels, and get to see end-game content (or get higher achievements) but don’t always have time to do it themselves.

I think it can be a useful service. It’s not something I would ever buy, but definitely people can make money from it.

Garg the Unzola Says:
April 15th, 2008 at 3:44 am

Great blog! I am currently studying multimedia, so your blog is fascinating. As a curiosity, I wonder how many open source people get into the gaming industry? Does and open source background compare well with a more traditional background?

games Says:
April 19th, 2008 at 6:39 pm

games…

If you already have a web site and are trying to decide between an email newsletter and a blog, note the main difference: a blog is a“ pull” (i. e. readers have to find it and go there) while an email marketing message or newsletter is a“ push”…

mr. traffic Says:
July 16th, 2009 at 9:50 pm

Great post and will pass this on to my clients.

Game Tester Says:
December 3rd, 2009 at 10:38 am

Thanks…this is awesome…I really appreciate that you post this

Rhonda J. Cumbie Says:
December 13th, 2009 at 8:26 am

I am truly impressed with the general content of your blog. It is obvious that you know you topic and you are passionate about it. I wish I had got your ability to write. I have bookmarked your site and look forward to additional updates.

youproblog Says:
January 24th, 2010 at 2:33 am

Hi, I found your blog on google. I’m pretty happy to have found your blog because I think it is informative! I will definitely come back! Great resource for my students. Youproblog

Roop Sharma Says:
January 31st, 2010 at 11:55 pm

Saltmarch Media is organizing India Game Developer Summit Event in Bangalore. This Summit will be a boost for the Game Developing Industries. It covers the topics like Online Gaming, Gaming Business, Gaming Career, Making money in Gaming, Audio in Gaming, Mobile Gaming and Adobe Flash Platform and has 1 day workshop at the end as well. Any one attending this event?

Register at gamedevelopersummit dot com

Bill Says:
February 3rd, 2010 at 11:00 am

For certain people, beta testing can be a good choice for earning extra money, or a chance of getting into the games industry without a degree. Don’t assume it’s just sitting down and playing games all day though, it’s tough work, long hours, and the pay isn’t great to start with!

Gamer Bill Says:
February 3rd, 2010 at 11:07 am

For certain people, beta testing can be a good choice for earning extra money, or a way into the games industry without a degree. Don’t assume it’s just sitting down and playing games all day though, it’s tough work, long hours, and the pay isn’t great to start with!

Gilbert Mahe Says:
March 5th, 2010 at 9:10 pm

Between me and my wife we’ve owned more mp4 players over the years than I can count, including Sansas, iRivers, iPods (classic & touch), the Ibiza Rhapsody, etc. But, the last few years I’ve settled down to one line of players. Why? Because I was happy to discover how well-designed and fun to use the underappreciated (and widely mocked) Zunes are.

datafeedr reviews Says:
March 8th, 2010 at 8:34 am

Affiliate programs allow you to generate income from your site or blog’s content and traffic, allow you as well to turn into a sales person for another website’s product, service or content.

Elias Singh Says:
March 20th, 2010 at 8:45 pm

Dear Webmaster

Please take a split second to learn about BlogSenseWP (http://short.ie/gi4gqm).

BlogSense is automation aid for Wordpress. (I know there are a bunch of them on the market, but BlogSense has been in development for about 8 months now and is finally ready to compete and out perform the big boys.) Not only does it lead the market in features, and content sources, it provides a members only community that’s frequently updated with the fresh content relevant to automation and internet marketing.

Highest Regards,

Fermin Prall Says:
April 22nd, 2010 at 3:58 pm

I always enjoy reading spot on articles by an individual who is definately up to snuff on their chosen subject. I’ll be watching this post with great interest. Keep up the great work, I will be back

Dawn Lanfear Says:
June 23rd, 2010 at 4:41 am

Making cash on the internet always is annoying at the start but Its those that be persistant to it that achieve results.

work at home income1416 Says:
July 14th, 2010 at 1:36 pm

The best website I visited yet, http://www.isotx.com you rock!!

scrambled brains think alike:
You will not prompt to me, where I can read about it?

Leave a Reply

Name (required)

Mail (will not be published) (required)

Website