Ten years ago, the possibility of sitting on the couch and profiting was close to impossible. Little did we know that one day there would be stadiums full of people watching 3 random guys playing video games, and being one of the most profitable industries in the world!
As more and more people begin to casually enjoy the incredible variety of games out there, the industry continues to grow alongside it, creating job opportunities that might not have existed 10 years ago.
In honor of my favorite hobby, I’ve decided to put together a list of different job markets that exist purely on the strength of video game popularity.
Let’s Play personalities
For those unfamiliar, a Let’s Play is simply one or more people adding commentary over a video game. The commentary isn’t similar to sports, instead usually going for a comedic tone and it lets players focus on adding more entertainment than what the base game would offer the viewer.
Most Let’s Play videos are exclusive to YouTube and the medium has birthed huge stars most notably being the controversial “PewDiePie,” who is currently under fire for using the n-word during a recent broadcast.
Tying in sponsorships from companies, ad revenue, and partnerships, being a Let’s Play personality is a legitimate career path that many have chosen to pursue, just remember that having a camera and an Xbox doesn’t mean you’re interesting to watch.
Some of these breakout stars have even managed to get television deals where they translate their Let’s Play format for channels like Disney XD and Cartoon Network. Even if you don’t understand the appeal I’m sure you’ve seen an 8-year-old watching a Let’s Play.
E-sports
E-sports is exactly what the name presents, electronic sports. Selling out arenas and stadiums, the e-sports craze shows no signs of slowing down in popularity as more game developers are now designing their games to be E-Sport friendly.
Thousands of people go out to to watch two teams play each other in a specific game, the most popular being League of Legends.
E-sports events have been broadcasted on ESPN many times and with teams being sponsored by companies like Pornhub there’s a huge cash cow for everyone involved.
More and more games developers are pushing for their product to be featured in an e-sports tournaments for the wide-reaching marketing. On the other hand, companies who have nothing to do with gaming are creating their own e-sports teams to cash in on the revenue.
After all this time it seems that playing games all day can actually land you a job (if you’re good enough).
Mobile gaming
Mobile gaming is the biggest, most profitable gaming market in the whole industry. With most mobile games taking a lot less effort to make than the development of a traditional AAA title, the turn around on mobile gaming is huge.
We all remember Flappy Bird, an incredibly simple game that didn’t really have anything going for it. The developer of the little mobile game was rumored to be making around $50,000 per day before he took the app off the market.
That number hasn’t been verified but keeping in mind that it went viral and showed ads after every death, it’s not outrageous to believe in that wild number.
If you know your way around game development, it’s probably in your best interest to make an addicting app that can go viral and make you some easy money.
Gaming journalism & media
This one is kind of a no-brainer, where there’s an interest, there will be a journalist right behind it feeding you all the information you’d ever need.
As gaming continues to grow so will gaming media. With the opportunities to review, preview, dissect, and break news on games it is the perfect career for a video game lover.
With multimillion dollar companies like IGN and Gamespot pioneering video game news they’ve successfully managed to create hundreds of jobs revolving around their passion for gaming.
Gaming news is always looking for competent gamers to talk about games all day, it’s a great industry to be in if you love gaming and flexing your words.
Twitch
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xP9Lw4VXuA
Twitch.com, formerly known as Justin.TV, was recently bought by Amazon and is a gaming juggernaut.
The platform allows any user to to start a live broadcast of the game they’re currently playing with a chance to gather viewers who can directly donate or subscribe to the streamer.
Twitch gives the user a chance to immediately gain income from their service just by playing a game.
The most successful Twitch streamers can make over $100,000 a year, this is definitely the minority but impressive nonetheless.
Twitch streamer GubbaTV is estimated to make over $70,000 a year, sometimes getting $1,000 donations from her fans.