make money gaming – Alan Spicer – YouTube Certified Expert

Given the enormous growth of video games in recent years, it is not surprising that it now forms the basis for a diverse range of careers.

Being involved with the creation of video games is no longer the only way to get paid in the gaming industry, with millions of gamers checking gaming media outlets regularly, an eSports sector worth hundreds of millions of dollars a year, and no end of opportunities to make content around video games, there has never been a better time to be interested making a career around video games.

Of course, YouTube has enjoyed plenty of growth itself during this time, so it only makes sense that a lot of people would look to combine the success potential of YouTube with the demand for video game content.

Still, getting started in this world isn’t always intuitive, and there is a lot of competition, but if you’ve found yourself Googling how to make money on YouTube playing games, you’ve come to the right place.

Get yourself a beverage and make yourself comfortable while we take a deep dive on how to make money on YouTube playing games.

A Brief Note on the Legalities of YouTube Gaming Content

The legalities of gaming on YouTube (or any other video platform for that matter) are deserving of a post of their own; however, it would be irresponsible to not at least cover the basics here.

The specifics will change depending on the publishers and developers in question. It can range from studios like Devolver Digital—who actively encourage people to make content using their games—to Nintendo—who only recently started allowing gamers to create content using their games at all!

For the most part, the rules around video game content can be boiled down to this; you have to add something to the footage.

This could be a running commentary, a review, humorous editing, or any number of options. In other words, you can’t just record a playthrough with no commentary and expect to make money. For one thing, it is against YouTube’s policies to do that, but also it may result in the publisher or developer getting your channel struck.

This is because many larger studios have a similar policy to YouTube, stating that any content made using their games must be transformative. It’s also worth noting that there is a much smaller audience for videos that are essentially just watching someone else play a game with no additional input.

Ideas for Gaming Videos on YouTube

Now that that’s out of the way let’s look at how you can make money playing games on YouTube. Before we get into specific video ideas, it’s worth taking a moment to say that, whatever you do, you should enjoy it on some level.

There is entertainment value in seeing someone who dislikes a particular kind of game playing that game, but if you don’t enjoy any part of the process, you will soon get burned out and not want to continue making videos.

And if there’s one thing that can guarantee you won’t make money on YouTube, it’s not making videos on YouTube.

For most kinds of gaming videos, on the other hand, you should enjoy the game you are playing. If you are forcing yourself to play something you have no interest in, that will come through in your video, and there is a very strong chance your viewers will join you in not being interested.

Now, let’s take a look at some ideas for gaming videos on YouTube!

Let’s Play Videos

Probably the most popular kind of gaming video you will find on YouTube are Let’s Play videos, though the term “let’s play” is rarely used anymore since this is kind of the default state for gaming content on YouTube.

These kinds of videos involve the YouTuber playing a game while commentating on what is happening, often with a live feed of their face in a corner of the screen, large enough to see how they are reacting but not too large that it gets in the way of the game.

For the viewers, a large part of why they will tune in is for the YouTuber themselves rather than the game.

The most successful Let’s Play YouTubers have an entertaining persona, and the viewers are typically there more to see that persona than they are to see the game that is being played in the video.

This is how YouTubers like PewDiePie are able to transition from these kinds of videos into other types of content because their subscribers want to see them, not the game.

That being said, it pays to keep your finger on the pulse of what is popular in the YouTube gaming scene, even if you are trading on your screen presence.

It doesn’t hurt to have a go-to game or genre that you cover, but sometimes certain games become incredibly popular, and it can be an excellent opportunity for your channel to grow by capitalising on this kind of trend. The recent explosion of interest in Minecraft, a decade after it first came onto the scene, is an excellent example of this kind of thing happening.

On the subject of having a go-to game or genre, many YouTubers are incredibly successful in making videos playing a specific game. An excellent example of this is Glock9, a YouTuber who almost exclusively makes videos playing the popular survival game, 7 Days to Die, and has seen his subscriber count explode in the last year, gaining nearly 200k subscribers.

If you opt to focus on one game in this manner, don’t be afraid to try something new every once in a while.

You don’t want people to lose interest in your channel before you have had a chance to work through potentially new directions your channel can take. But that could very well happen if you stubbornly stick to the same content even when it is clear people are getting weary of it.

Become a Streamer

In the not-too-distant past, taking this path to make money with gaming would have seen you heading away from YouTube and over to Twitch.

Fortunately, YouTube has started to make serious moves into the streaming arena, and they have seen lots of gamers choosing their platform for streaming as a result. Perhaps the most significant sign of changing times was the arrival of DrDisRespect—an immensely popular Twitch streamer who, after being banned from Twitch for unknown reasons, chose YouTube as the place to continue entertaining his millions of fans.

In a way, streaming content is a lot like Let’s Play content at first glance. The main difference is that streaming is live, so there is no editing of your videos before they go out. This also means you can interact with your subscribers in real-time, as they will be in the chat while you game.

Features like membership and super chat will allow your subscribers to support you in other ways besides the ad revenue that your streams generate, and, should you choose to enable it, your streams can continue living on your channel like regular videos when you are done, creating more potential for earnings with future watches.

One thing to note when starting a career as a streamer is that you will need to have complete control of yourself and your feed.

There are countless stories of people letting an incredibly offensive word slip out of their mouth onstream, or absently engaging in a bit of casual animal abuse.

Incidents like this might not be enough to take down some of the biggest streamers in the world, but they could easily stop your channel from growing.

Reviews and Commentary

Though it’s not strictly playing video games on YouTube, creating reviews and commentary of games will require you to play those games, even though it isn’t necessarily on camera. That being said, you will probably want to use footage of you playing the game for visuals under your commentary.

The thing to remember about this kind of video is that people are not coming to watch you play the game, they are coming to learn about it.

With that in mind, you should tailor the gameplay footage to show the particular aspects of the game that are being talked about at any given moment in the video. And, as far as the talking goes, be sure to cover everything that might be important.

If people are going to come to you to get a sense of whether a game is worth buying, they’ll want to be sure they have a full picture by the time they have finished watching.

You might have noticed that this section is called “reviews and commentary“. True, reviews are a kind of commentary, but there other ways to approach this kind of video.

For example, retrospective videos on important games throughout gaming history, or breakdowns of why a particular game had the impact on the industry that it did. This type of video is incredibly popular in the retro computers community, as talking about games from the 1980s and 90s is right in that wheelhouse.

General Advice

Choosing the style of YouTube gamer you want to be is essential, of course, but there are some factors that are applicable regardless of what kind of video you intend to make.

Find a Niche

If you’ve spent any time reading advice on succeeding on YouTube, you will already know this one. Finding your niche might be the most significant key to success on YouTube (after making great content, of course). If you are one of a very small number of people serving a particular niche, you stand to gain a lot more views from that niche by virtue of there not being many other options.

In short, you reduce your competition.

Now, you may be supremely confident in your ability to bring in the subscribers, and perhaps you don’t worry about competition for that reason.

Unfortunately, given the sheer volume of YouTubers out there, it can be very difficult to get noticed, even for an extremely talented and entertaining YouTuber. But if that talented and entertaining YouTuber chooses a niche, they are more likely to be seen by the people with that interest, and from there the talent will take over.

Once that YouTuber is established, they can branch out into other areas.

In terms of gaming, your niche could be very specific—such as videos on one particular game—or a little broader in scope—such as a particular genre or style of game—but you should try to narrow it down to something. Just playing video games will likely get lost in the algorithm shuffle.

Offer Something Unique

As important as finding your niche is, there will still be more work to do.

The chances of you finding a niche that is both dramatically underserved but also popular enough to attract the kind of numbers you would need to make money is very slim. In other words, you’re still going to have to get noticed in a crowded field of competition, even in a focussed niche.

Granted, a much less crowded field, but crowded nonetheless.

The way you get noticed is by offering your viewers something that other YouTubers aren’t. For personality-based YouTubers, they are the unique component. For other kinds of YouTuber, consider offering a unique perspective.

As an example of how the same niche can be approached in different ways, consider these three channels on computer keyboards.

TaeKeyboards is a channel that covers both reviews and modding of mechanical keyboards and is very analytical in approach. Keyboards are explored in-depth, and all the details are laid out for the viewer.
:3ildcat is similar in that it does reviews of a sort, as well as modding videos. However, this channel is considerably more aesthetic and does not feature any spoken word. Instead, the content of the video takes place over pleasant music with annotations.
Chyrosran22 focuses on keyboard reviews (often older keyboards) and often uses more… colourful language.

Granted, they are not gaming channels, but all three of these channels take a very different approach to what is essentially the same topic.

Conclusions

Gaming is a huge industry, and there is a healthy demand for gaming content on YouTube.

If you can get over the initial hurdle of attracting viewers, and you have something unique to offer them, you will struggle to find an audience with as much earning potential as gaming.

Of all the niches that video streaming platforms like YouTube have either created or allowed to flourish, few can boast as much unprecedented growth as gaming.

Twitch may be the first name that comes to mind when you think about making gaming video content, but it is only very recently that YouTube began to compete with Twitch in the live streaming arena directly.

Even before that, YouTube acted as an excellent complementary platform for Twitch streamers to put highlight videos out on. Now, of course, YouTube is making moves of their own in the streaming world, which only increases the number of ways you can make money with gaming content on the platform.

The truth is, there are many ways to make money as a gaming YouTuber. Sponsorship, affiliate marketing, live stream super chats, superstickers, YouTube premieres, donations and directly selling services like direct gaming advice or multiplayer games where you join their fireteam in a co-op game – and even a few ways to make money on YouTube with gaming content if you aren’t a gamer.

This post will cover more than just video ideas for gaming content. There are some interesting legal question marks over this niche that deserve mention.

So keep reading as we explore how to make money on YouTube as a gamer.

Affiliate marketing is one of the most powerful tools for any budding YouTuber or Twitch gamer looking to make money online but it an be full of jargon. That is why I wrote a deep dive into affiliate marketing for beginners to help you wade through all the confusing words and get you on the path to making money online fast – without any need to buy silly expensive courses.

Gaming Content and Monetisation

If you intend to make Let’s Play style videos, there is a question of rights ownership that may affect your ability to make money from your content. YouTube has its own policy on software and video game content, which essentially boil down to it being fine to monetise as long as there is commentary and instructional value that is associate with the video.

All of that is a wordy way of saying you can’t just have an hour of video game footage playing while you talk about something unrelated to the game, or don’t talk at all.

You won’t be prevented from making this kind of content, of course, but YouTube may demonetise it, which will put a major roadblock in your efforts to make money as a YouTube gamer.

The other thing to note in the legal realm of YouTube gaming is the policies of the companies behind the games themselves. Though they have since eased up on their draconian approach to gaming content, Nintendo has been an example of this for some time.

This is because they would routinely claim videos of their games through YouTube’s Content ID system, claiming the revenue those videos made.

Since then, Nintendo has adopted a more fan-friendly approach, instead issuing a set of guidelines that state more or less what YouTube’s own policies state—that you have to add commentary or creative input to the content. If you want to just upload straight video of Nintendo games, you have to do it using Nintendo’s own tools.

That being said, it is worth noting that Nintendo chose to soften their stance on this after negative feedback, but there is no legal impetus for them to do so, and nothing to stop them from going back to a more hostile approach in the future.

Of course, there are more than just the Nintendos, Sonys, and Microsofts of the world.

The Internet has fostered a vibrant independent game development scene, and many of the developers and publishers in that scene are more than happy to let YouTubers make content using their games as it brings more exposure to their product.

An excellent example of this can be found at Devolver Digital, a small game development studio who actively encourage people to make content using their games, and even have a page on their site where you can enter your channel name to get written permission.

Choosing Which Games to Make Content Around

Once you’ve made peace with the various legal hurdles surrounding intellectual property, there is the small matter of what kind of content you intend to make.

There are plenty of different types of gaming video you can make, and we’re going to list a lot of them shortly, including examples of each.

As with any attempt to create regular content—especially if you intend to make money from it, one of the best things you can do is play to your strengths. It will not only produce better content, but it will also make your life more comfortable since it is always less work to do something you are good at than it is to do something you struggle with.

As an example, let’s consider a personality-based YouTube gaming channel. This is a channel where the YouTuber themself is what draws the views because the subscribers like to watch that person specifically. With a channel like this, the YouTuber could theoretically play anything they wanted, and the views would still roll in.

But by playing to their strengths, they can make better content and attract more views than just those diehard fans who will tune in for anything.

Two examples we have picked out are PewDiePie and DrDisRespect. Both of these YouTubers are incredibly popular, and could probably make a video of them eating a sandwich and still get millions of views. Despite this, they have clear strengths in the video game niche.

For PewDiePie’s part, he greatly enhanced his popularity by playing horror games. It was his comical reactions to jump scares and tense moments that pushed his channel into the upper echelons of YouTube during his early days of making videos, something that he would not have been able to reproduce with a different genre of game.

This stage of PewDiePie’s YouTube career is an excellent example of playing to your strengths, as PewDiePie started out making video game commentaries, but it wasn’t until he started making horror game videos that his channel really took off.

In the case of DrDisRespect, as his name suggests, his gimmick is being disrespectful. Now, while he could be disrespectful while playing a casual, friendly game like Animal Crossing, it wouldn’t have quite the same impact as it does while playing competitive multiplayer shooters. DrDisRespect, for all his gimmicks, is a very good gamer and has plenty of opportunities to boast during his playthroughs.

There may be a bit of trial and error in finding your strengths, but it is a worthy goal to achieve, especially when you are just starting out.

Who knows, maybe PewDiePie would have just been another successful YouTuber with a few million followers had he not started making horror game videos, rather than the most successful individual YouTuber in the history of the platform.

Different Types of Gaming Content

Before you can play to your strengths, you need to know what kind of content there is a market for. Of course, it’s worth noting that there will always be rewards for those who can think outside of the box and be successful because of it.

What we are about to list are established types of gaming content with proven popularity. We are not saying these are the only options if you want to make gaming content.

Unfortunately, if you want to blaze new trails, you will be on your own on that journey. After all, it wouldn’t be trailblazing if there was a post like this one telling you how to do it!

Straight Playthroughs

These are the kinds of videos that companies like Nintendo won’t allow you to monetise, so you will have to think carefully about what games you intend to make your videos around if you choose this path.

With a platform as big as YouTube, there is an audience for just about everything, including watching games being played. Sometimes it is merely a desire to watch the narrative in some of the more cinematic games, other times it is a gamer wanting to see parts of the game they missed but are not prepared to play the game again. With enormous open-world games like Fallout 4 and Grand Theft Auto V, it is easy to miss a lot of the content available to you. It can even be people who can’t play a particular game for one reason or another but still want to see it.

If you choose this style of gaming video, you will want to make sure you are offering something to the viewer. If you are showing the cinematics, don’t have 3 hours of regular gameplay in between.

Gameplay With Commentary

You may have seen these videos labelled as Let’s Play videos in the past. These videos involve the YouTuber playing through a game while talking about it. Videos like this will often have the YouTuber’s face in the video so the viewers can see their reactions.

This is by far the most popular kind of gaming content on YouTube, and both of the above examples of PewDiePie and DrDisRespect fall into this category.

Speedruns

If you are a particularly talented gamer, there is a whole niche around the ability to complete video games as quickly as possible. There is no limitation in terms of the game, with everything from retro platformers to huge open-world role-playing games being completed in ludicrously short spaces of time.

One example of this kind of channel can be found in GarishGoblin, who may not have that many subscribers, but has been able to amass millions of views with various speedruns in the Halo franchise.

Comedy Videos

Comedy gaming videos can come in several forms. One of the more famous examples is Red Vs Blue, a series on the Rooster Teeth Animation channel that features comedy sketches acted out using the Halo video game franchise.

Another example is SovietWomble, who creates highlight videos from his streams, often with humorous edits and effects to enhance the final product.

These types of videos are considerably more work in terms of editing when compared to something like a commentary video. On the other hand, they require less skill at actual gaming, which makes them an excellent option for people who enjoy gaming but aren’t necessarily that good at it.

Update Videos

Update videos could take the form of a general roundup of gaming news; however, that would be a competitive niche to enter, and one that would contain several media outlets. Success may be more attainable with a model like that employed by the YouTuber, ShadowFrax.

ShadowFrax makes videos detailing the latest updates surrounding the game, Rust, an open-world multiplayer survival game that is continually getting new content and updates from the developers. T

here are hundreds of popular games in active development, and finding one that you like and focusing your content on that could be an excellent way to create gaming content.

How to Make Games

This option is a little less attainable for your average YouTuber, but if you have the ability, making videos on how to make certain popular games may be a good option, as demonstrated by small YouTuber, b3agz, whose videos on how to make Minecraft and 7 Days to Die have amassed hundreds of thousands of views despite only having a few thousand subscribers.

Of course, you don’t necessarily need to create full step-by-step tutorials in the way that b3agz does; you could make videos analysing game mechanics, or talking about the methods behind certain aspects of the game. There has never been a better time to be providing resources for game developers, with game development being more popular now than at any point in its history.

How to Make Money on YouTube as a Gamer Conclusions

Ultimately, the key to making money on YouTube as a gamer—or as anything else, for that matter—is to make good content that people want to watch.

Granted, you must navigate the hurdles we mentioned above regarding intellectual property rights, but once you have done that, the first thing you should be focussing on is your content.

If you make good content, your chances of succeeding on YouTube—and making money as a result of that success—will be significantly improved. And, while we can’t guarantee a good video will make you money, we can say with confidence that a lousy video won’t make you money.

Or, perhaps more accurately, it could make you money, but it will be a short term thing that could damage your earning potential in the long run, as your channel will get a reputation for poor content, both in the eyes of the viewers and of YouTube itself.