Can Self-Employed Gamers Say Game Over to the 9-to-5?

14

There’s money to be made in gaming. There might not be a lot of money if you’re a casual player. In fact, you might make nothing at all from your gaming exploits. However, you have the potential to make money and that’s the important bit here. You might never become the next multi-millionaire superstar, but you can earn a living as a self-employed gamer. And if the gaming gods bless you with some skill, a personality (which isn’t always easy to find in this business) and a bit of luck, you could make a lot of money.

You only have to scroll through a list of gaming gurus to see that’s true. Tyler Blevins, aka Ninja, made $17 million from gaming in 2019. At his peak, the American was raking in $500,000 a month from Twitch streaming alone. Perhaps the most interesting thing about Blevins is that he’s not that good at gaming. OK, so he’s far better than the average player. However, compared to the elite gamers of today, he’s not the force he was back in 2009/2010. He didn’t even qualify for the inaugural Fortnite World Cup, and he’s won less than $100,000 from eSports competitions.

We’re not trying to dump on Blevins’ gaming abilities (although many like to). The point here is that he’s made a lucrative career out of gaming, even though he’s not at the elite end of the eSports spectrum. How? Well, as his moniker suggests, Ninja is very good at kicking down doors. He’s able to spot opportunities and take advantage of them. That’s led to a string of high-profile sponsorship deals and partnerships. These deals are with companies inside and out of gaming. The combination of over 40 million followers, partnerships with Red Bull, and appearances on mainstream TV shows like The Masked Singer, has made Blevins a star.

How Gamers Can Make Money

All of this has also made him rich and inspired a new generation of gamers. Few will rise as high as the blue-haired Blevins, but many have the potential to climb up the ladder and make a living from gaming. A report from eMarketer in 2019 found that advertising spending within the US mobile gaming market topped $3 billion (£2.2 billion). That figure is increasing all the time, so how can aspiring gamers get their hands on a slice of this pie? Well, here are some ways gamers are making money:

• eSports competitions and prizes
• A salaried player for a pro eSports team
• Twitch streaming (tips and ad revenue)
• Sponsorship deals
• Merchandise
• Paid-for social media content, including YouTube ad revenue
• Coach
• Content creator, blogger, or writer

Those are just some ways you can make money as a gamer. Another overlooked source of income are investments. There are approximately 4.3 million self-employed people in the UK. Of those that are self-employed, less than 33% are paying into a pension. Making money in the present is great, but what about later life? That’s where a self-invested pension plan (SIPP) comes in. These tax efficient investment products allow you to buy shares and shield the profits from capital gains tax. Your investments are yours to make, but it presents an opportunity to invest and prepare for your later years.

OK, so you can’t release your money from a SIPP until you’re 55. There’s also the possibility of your investments losing money. However, the point here is that if you’re going to become a self-employed gamer, you need to think ahead. It’s like playing COD without knowing the mission you’re on.

So, while you should maximise the ways you’re able to make money in the present, it also pays to bolster your future earning power. Even if investments aren’t guaranteed, they have the potential to increase in value. That brings us back to the start. You might not make a living as a self-employed gamer, but you can. The industry is full of potential. All you have to do is find an opportunity.