Yes, you really can get paid to play video games.

With the rise of Esports, Twitch, and professional gamers, there’s never been a better time to monetize your video game hobby.

And the cool part is, you don’t have to be a pro. Even casual gamers are getting in on the action, and in this article I’ll break down some realistic ways to make money playing video games.

1. Group Video Game Classes for Kids

One place to sell those group classes is Outschool. The K-12 online education platform has both academic and extracurricular classes.

In the extracurricular category, video game classes are a hot seller. Why? Parents love the idea of a safe, nurturing online environment for their kids.

I connected with Devyn Ricks, a mom of 4, in this video, where she reported earning up to $4000 a month playing video games on Outschool!

In a way, she’s getting paid to be an online friend to these kids.

2. Play-to-Earn Game Apps

Several smartphone apps let you make money playing video games in your spare time. Here are a few of Side Hustle Nation’s top picks.

KashKick

KashKick is a newer app that pays you to answer surveys, test new games (up to $150 each!), and redeem money-saving offers.

With the slogan “get paid to have fun,” KashKick is rated 4.2-stars in the Google Play store.

Bingo Cash

The popular Bingo Cash game app turns classic bingo from a game of luck into a game of speed and skill.

Each game only takes about 2 minutes to play, and you can earn real-world rewards and cash prizes (except in AR, IA, LA, SC, and WA).

With over 5 million downloads, the app has earned mostly positive reviews (players call it fun and addicting). In the negative App Store reviews, the most common complaint is that the ads claiming you can win big money with little effort are misleading.

As with all gaming apps, practice for free first. Then, never put more money at risk than you can afford to lose.

Solitaire Cash

I played my fair share of Windows Solitaire growing up, so Solitaire Cash got my attention.

The well-rated Android and iOS (4.6-stars from over 250k App Store reviews) game app pits you against similarly-skilled solitaire players. Everyone receives the same deck, and top 3 players who finish with the most points win.

Of course, I recommend practicing for free first!

Solitaire Cash is free to download and play, but real money tournaments aren’t yet available in AZ, IN, IO, LA, ME, MT, SC, and WA.

Mistplay (Android)

With more than 10 million downloads, Mistplay is an interesting app that rewards you for discovering and playing new games on your phone.

The more you play, the more “units” you earn. Then you can cash in those units for gift cards to your favorite stores.

Check out the games with 3x or 4x unit “multipliers” to earn gift cards faster.

3. Video Game Testing

Before video games get released to the general public, they go through quite a bit of play testing. This is where your vast experience comes into play!

Knowing how a great game should work and providing that feedback to the developers can be super valuable.

If you like game apps on your phone, KashKick may be worth a look. At press time, they were offering $90-120 to play certain games and reach specific milestones. 

Check out our full KashKick review to learn more.

Similarly, Cash Giraffe (Android only) connects you with new games that are trying to attract more players. The app tracks the time you spend playing and rewards you for hitting certain milestones.

As you earn more Cash Giraffe tickets, you can cash out for gift cards or deposit directly into your PayPal account.

While Cash Giraffe is relatively new, it’s earned positive feedback so far. With over 5M downloads, its rated 4.3-stars on the Google Play Store.

In addition, some people actually turn game testing into their career! Most game companies hire quality assurance (QA) testers to spot bugs and other issues with games before they go on sale.

A quick search on Indeed found a number of job postings with salaries ranging from $30,000-85,000 a year.

4. Video Game Coaching

Video game coaching is a great option if you have a deep understanding and passion for specific games.

You can instruct other gamers through tutorials, screen-sharing walkthroughs, and group classes. Wouldn’t it be cool to get paid to share your tips, tricks, and advice?

On platforms like Gamer Sensei, you can set your own rates (typically $30/hour and up) and availability. But not all coaches who apply get accepted. While this keeps quality high on the platform, it can be discouraging if you’re just starting out.

An alternative would be to set up some coaching gigs on Fiverr for your favorite games, or try and find clients locally.

When creating your profile, put yourself in your potential customer’s shoes. Why should they hire you? What video game credentials do you have?

Your rates will vary based on your experience, the popularity of the game, and competition.

Most video game coaches charge by the hour — usually in the $20-200/hour range. However, you could earn even more with group classes.

5. All Skill Level Video Game Tournaments

You’ve probably heard of elite gamers winning big prize money from top-level video game tournaments. GameChampions lets players of all skill levels in on the excitement.

They use a “Fair Play Guarantee” to match you with players of similar skill, and have paid out over $10 million in prizes so far.

GameChampions is open to players 18 and older, but play-to-win money games aren’t available in all geographic areas. The company will give you a $5 sign-up bonus when you create your account.

6. Video Game Reporting

Another way to make money through your love of playing video games is to become a video game journalist.

The role involves reporting on video game news, upcoming games, writing game reviews, and even reporting from e-sport tournaments.

The two most common paths to get paid here are either as a staff writer for a gaming publication or as a freelancer. Your earning potential ranges from from $26,000 to $100,000 a year depending on your experience, writing skills, and portfolio.

7. Start a Video Game YouTube Channel

YouTube is still a popular platform that you can make money playing video games. Several avid gamers have created their own YouTube channel and stream their live gameplay or broadcast recorded videos that rely on followers and subscribers.

In addition to streaming, you can create:

gameplay tutorials
engaging video game reviews
helpful gameplay tips

Followers can recommend you to their gaming friends and the revenue can quickly become substantial. Video game YouTubers monetize with a combination of:

YouTube ad income
Affiliate marketing
Brand partnerships and sponsorships
Viewer support and donations
Merchandise and product sales

Typical advertising income for video game channels may be $3-5 for every 1,000 views. With a popular channel, that can add up fast!

Another common monetization strategy on YouTube is to make product recommendations, and use your affiliate link in the description. That way, you’ll earn a commission when anyone buys through your link.

8. Stream on Twitch

Twitch has become one of the most popular sites for gaming across the globe. It’s the go-to site for video gamers to earn money streaming their gameplay.

As your following grows, you’ll start to earn subscription and donation revenue. Top streamers make 6- and even 7-figures a year!

Twitch works best if you’re either very good at a certain game, and/or very entertaining to follow. Remember, you’re competing your followers’ for limited attention, so the content needs to be really compelling.

And similar to YouTube, as you gain trust and build a relationship with your audience you can monetize with donations, merch, brand deals, and more.

9. Crypto Gaming

The rise of cryptocurrency and NFTs have opened up another revenue stream for video gamers.

For example, in Axie Infinity, gamers raise, trade, and battle NFT pets known as Axies. As you level up, your characters become more and more valuable — and can be bought and sold.

The in-game currency, Axie Infinity Shards, can then be bought or sold on exchanges like Coinbase.

Crypto gaming is definitely an area to keep an eye on.

10. Create Video Game Guides

Years ago, a friend of mine was making thousands of dollars a month selling a Minecraft guide on Amazon. He’d self-published the book, had no audience, but people searching “Minecraft” on Amazon found it and bought it.

Video game guides or tutorials can show others how to complete tricky levels or improve their gameplay. It’s another way to convert your expertise into cash.

After you’ve created the guides, you can post them on your social media, upload them to YouTube, or sell the whole bundle as an online course.

This isn’t a video game example, but may still be relevant. Kat Norton created TikTok tutorials on how to use Excel better. Those went viral, and she ended up putting together an in-depth training program on Excel and other Microsoft products. (And turned those into a wildly profitable business!)

Could you do the same for your favorite game?

11. Sell Merchandise

As a gamer, you you know that a love of video games can be part of your identity. That’s why game-themed or game-inspired merch can be such a hit.

If you have some design skills, take a look at sites like Etsy and Redbubble to see what’s selling. You may not be allowed to use licensed characters in your design, but you can get creative to sell other products gamers would love.

Thanks to print on demand technology, you don’t have to carry any inventory or deal with shipping. Simply upload your designs, set your prices, and the platforms take care of the rest.

Another angle would be to partner with popular streamers to make merch for their fans. Do they have a particular inside joke or catchphrase that would make a fun shirt? Reach out with your design samples and see if they’d be open to splitting revenue with you.

12. Build Your Own Video Game or App

How cool would it be to have your own popular game on the App Store? If you don’t have coding or game design experience, you can learn from top-rated courses like this one.

Developers earn a 70% royalty on any sales of the app or in-app purchases. For a popular game, that can turn into a serious income stream.

Sometimes the biggest hits are the simplest. Take Wordle for example, where you have 6 chances to guess a 5-letter word. Creator Josh Wardle sold it to The New York Times just a few months after starting it for more than $1 million!

Should the proposal be a hit, you can use your own gaming skills to develop the game you have always wanted to play.

13. Be a Video Game Developer

Your skills as a gamer can also be used behind the scenes as a video game developer. Becoming part of the video game industry itself can be a lucrative career choice and a video game developer is an in-demand skill.

In this role, you’ll be responsible for turning game ideas into reality through code and collaboration. Plus, per ZipRecruiter, game developers earn an average of $100,000 a year.

14. Teach Video Game Design

If you already have some experience in how video games are made, you could turn around and teach others. Instructors can make money teaching video game design techniques and basic coding vocabulary and concepts.

If you like working with kids, take a look at Outschool. Here you’ll create an engaging class for future game designers and developers.

If your content is better for adults, you might create a pre-recorded class for Udemy or Skillshare. For every student who joins, you’ll earn a small royalty, with top instructors earning thousands of dollars a month.

15. Be a Professional Gamer

Do you have the skills to go pro? There are video game tournaments across the globe, often with serious prize money on the line.

Choose a game you know you’re great at, look for some local or online tournaments to get experience, and keep leveling up.

While elite-level gamers earn millions of dollars, the majority are just scraping by. This is similar to professional sports or acting, where the average income is quite low, but the pursuit of getting paid to do what you love is a huge draw.

16. Become an E-Sports Star

ESports — short for electronic sports — is a form of competition where you can earn prizes by playing video games.

The typical format involves professional players that compete against each other individually or as part of a team in a multiplayer contest. The increasing popularity of esports has a lot to do with how streaming has developed in the last decade or so.

As more gamers want to see competitions featuring their favorite games, more game developers have started competitions to showcase their games and provide funding for those tournaments.

Typically, the games that are involved in competitions are first-person shooters, multiplayer online battle arenas, battle royale, fighting, real-time strategy, and sports.

If you excel in competition and need to push the boundaries in a particular game or format then there are several e-sport franchises to choose from. These include Dota, Counter-Strike, League of Legends, Valorant, Overwatch, Super Smash Bros., StarCraft, and Street Fighter.

Huge tournaments like the League of Legends World Championship and Intel Extreme Masters attract a big audience and even bigger paydays for the winners.

Getting Paid to Pay Video Games: Final Thoughts

You can turn your love of video games into a money-making hobby. There are opportunities to get paid:

playing
coaching
reviewing
streaming
testing
developing
teaching
and more

Which option is right for you depends on your unique skills, interests, and goals. But one thing is certain: the days of your parents telling you that playing video games is a waste of time are over!

Serious About Making Extra Money?

Start Your Free $500 Challenge. My free 5-day email course shows you how to add $500 to your bottom line.
Join the free Side Hustle Nation Community. The free Facebook group is the best place to connect with other side hustlers and get your questions answered.
Download The Side Hustle Show. My free podcast shares how to make extra money with actionable weekly episodes.

Frequently Asked Questions

How Can I Get Sponsors For My Video Game Playing?

Once you establish a following for your video game playing, consider contacting sponsors directly. Focus on specific brands you’re already a customer of that you know your audience will love. Impress them with the popularity and quality of your content on YouTube or Twitch.

How Much Do Customer Service Representatives Make When Working For Video Game Companies?

Typically, a customer service representative for a video game company will make between $13.50 to $20 an hour.

Customer support and customer service are essential factors for any company. If you know your way around a certain game, you can help customers and deliver support via an in-game chat function. You may want to consider an internship first if you want to go on this career path.

An automated business can help you make the 4-Hour Workweek a reality.

And while most businesses can be automated to a certain extent, some models are more ripe for automation than others.

In this post, I’ll break down Side Hustle Nation’s top automated business ideas, based on:

Interviews with over 500 entrepreneurs
Feedback from the 50,000+ members of the Side Hustle Nation community
15+ years of side hustle experience

Ready? Let’s do it!

1. Vending Machines

Vending machines are one of the oldest automated businesses. They’re literally robots that collect money when you’re not around!

The challenge is managing inventory and keeping the machines stocked, especially if you have several locations. Still, the thought of returning to a machine and finding it filled with money is pretty motivating.

For more on how the vending machine business can work, check out my interview with Matt Miller, whose passive income empire started with just $36 and a bag of gumballs.

2. Self-Service Car Wash

Another automated business is one where the customers do the work. 

For example, Hannah Ingram bought a self-service car wash in Tennessee with no money down. Then she set out to improve the business and now earns around $5k a month — in exchange for about 30 minutes of work a day.

Business owners are retiring every day, and may be looking for someone to continue their operation. Sites that list businesses for sale include:

BizBuySell
LoopNet
Crexi

With SBA financing, you can acquire a profitable business with as little as 10% down.

3. Laundromat

For Jono Santamaria, a laundromat met his criteria for an automated business:

It was already operational and profitable (he bought it from the previous owner)
It’s relatively hands-off (the machines do the work for you)
He could improve the business (by applying some digital marketing skills)

The purchase did require an upfront investment, but was somewhat secured by the business’ track record of revenue, equipment, and remaining lease.

Then Jono set about improving the laundromat’s online presence and making other tweaks. Those optimizations ended up tripling the business in 12 months!

4. Automated Email Sequences

Email is a great way to make automated sales. You can set up a sequence using tools like ConvertKit or ActiveCampaign, and recommend products that will help your audience.

Those products could either be your own or those of your affiliate partners.

Rosemarie Groner has tried it both ways, starting with affiliate products that her audience of “chronically disorganized” moms could use. Following that strategy, you earn a percentage of every sale.

And it can really add up — building her business, Busy Budgeter, to $25k a month. From there, she started building out her own library of digital products, and selling those via automated email sequences as well.

“My goal was to be able to walk away, to come in and check on it every couple of months,” Rosemarie told me.

She admitted it wasn’t easy, but the result was a more consistent income. This enabled Rosemarie to take 5 months off, and work an average of 12 hours per week the other 7 months!

Here’s some more info on how to get people on your email list to begin with.

5. Printables and Spreadsheets

One of the most interesting automated businesses I’ve come across is selling printables.

These are digital files you upload to a marketplace like Etsy. Think:

budget templates
chore charts
habit trackers
meal planners
intake forms
wall art
and more 

And the best part? When someone orders, the file delivery happens automatically.

On The Side Hustle Show, Rachel Jones explained how she earned $10,000 a month from her portfolio of printables.

If you have an eye for design and can be quick to act on trends, you could capture lots of customers.

Similarly, Emily McDermott built a cool remote side hustle selling spreadsheets on Etsy. She specializes in budgeting templates, and has sold over $250,000 worth of them!

6. Self-Publishing

Self-publishing on Amazon is one of my longest-running automated side hustles. I started in 2012 and still remember the thrill of receiving my first author royalty direct deposit.

(It was something like $46.42!)

What makes it automated is that Amazon handles all the file delivery for you. Even for the paperback editions, they print and ship them out to customers whenever you get an order.

I’ve added several more books to my portfolio since then and consistently earn a few hundred dollars a month.

One of my books is actually free on Kindle if you want to check it out:

The Side Hustle: How to Turn Your Spare Time into $1000 a Month or More

7. Drop Servicing

Chris Schwab started a residential house cleaning business back when he was still in college. In less than two years, he’d grown it to $60,000 a month—all while never mopping a floor or dusting a shelf himself.

Despite dozens of competing cleaning services, Chris discovered there was still opportunity. He figured that out while perusing Yelp reviews of existing cleaning companies.

“No one complained about the cleaning itself,” he said. “What people complained about was the customer service. They didn’t know when the crew was going to show up; they couldn’t get a quote; no one was answering the phone. I knew I could do that, and find cleaners to do the actual work.”

Since then, he’s delegated much of the customer support as well. When we caught up, the business took just a few minutes a day for him to manage.

8. Passive Investments

Fundrise is a cool “alternative” way to invest in real estate.

With just a $10 minimum investment, you can start building a portfolio of pre-vetted commercial properties. I’ve been investing with them since 2015 and they’ve paid dividends every quarter so far.

(Disclosure: when you sign up, I earn a commission. All opinions are my own.)

Check out my full Fundrise review to learn more.

Curious about other alternative investments? Play around with this cool tool to see what else is out there:

9. Create Product Review Videos

If you’re accepted into the Amazon Influencer Program, you can get paid to create short video product reviews.

In turn, Amazon displays those on the relevant product pages, and rewards you a commission when someone makes a purchase after watching your video.

I made over $700 doing this in my first few months, with very little effort! (After uploading, it’s totally automated.)

Plus, I’ve connected with other side hustlers earning $2,000 a month sharing their opinions on Amazon products.

10. YouTube Automation

Tony Lysandrides runs several YouTube channels, and what’s unique about his videos is he’s not on them. They’re faceless videos intentionally engineered for virality.

With a dedicated team of freelancers from Fiverr, Upwork, and OnlineJobs.ph, he earns up to $14k a month in ad revenue from his “YouTube automation” business. 

He currently has four team members:

a researcher/scriptwriter, who creates the scripts for the videos
a voice actor, who brings the scripts to life
a video editor, who creates the videos, complete with background music, stock footage, and animations
a thumbnail designer, who creates clickable thumbnails to bring in views

Tony oversees the whole process to ensure quality videos, but at this stage, the whole operation is largely automated.

11. Sell an Online Course

In 2014 I created an online video course on Udemy about how to launch non-fiction Kindle books on Amazon. It earned $3500 in the first couple months, and has gone on to earn automated sales ever since.

The total is now over $27,000!

All I have to do is respond to the (pretty infrequent) student questions or comments. 

What could you teach? Consider what people already ask you for help with. What do you know more about than the average person?

With services like Teachable, it’s never been easier to create and sell an online course of your own. These can command premium prices ($100-$2000 or more) and allow you to help more people than you could with one-on-one consulting.

Over the years on The Side Hustle Show, we’ve seen people making money with online courses on just about every topic imaginable. Some of the more creative case studies include:

Piano
Sourdough baking
Motorcycle repair
Getting dressed in the morning
Helping toddlers read
and so many more!

How will customers find you? If you don’t have an audience, one method to try is the YouTube-to-evergreen-webinar model, as described by Nate Dodson in this episode.

12. Print on Demand

Another fun, automated business for creative people is print on demand.

Print on demand is a great way to make money online because you can sell physical products without holding any inventory.

How it works is you:

Upload your designs to sites like Merch by Amazon or Redbubble
When someone orders, the site prints and ships the item on your behalf
You collect a royalty on each sale

My wife and I love to see the Redbubble sales notifications come through — sometimes from designs we uploaded years ago!

13. Sell Stock Photos and Videos Online

If you love to take pictures, you may be able to capitalize on your hobby by selling stock photos and videos. The biggest platforms are Shutterstock, iStock, and Dreamstime.

But be warned: this is very much a volume game. Since you only earn a small royalty on each sale, the most successful sellers have tens of thousands of images in their portfolios.

14. Self Storage

Self storage appears on lots of lists of automated business ideas, and for good reason. Demand is strong, with more than 20% of Americans using self storage.

Plus, modern tools make it possible to run facilities remotely, though there can be a significant upfront investment.

A smaller scale alternative is an online platform called Neighbor. Neighbor helps you turn your extra space into cash.

What could you rent out?

Think parking spaces, sheds, garage storage, attics, side yards. Top hosts are earning $1000s a year relatively passively.

Check out our full Neighbor review to learn more.

15. Product Licensing

Product licensing is a unique way earn residual income from your ideas—while letting someone else do the work.

For example, Nate Dallas and his brother split $300,000 in royalties from a Pictionary-inspired card game they licensed to Mattel.

The duo (a dentist and a preacher) didn’t have to design it, produce it, or sell it—but they found someone who could—and they cashed the checks.

16. Sell Your Bandwidth

A new app called Honeygain has been building a lot “buzz” lately. According to the site, you can earn up to $30 a month when you share “your unused net traffic with data scientists.”

(Figures based on sharing 10 GB a day, which is a crap-ton of data!)

After you install the app (available on Windows, MacOS, and Android), connect it to the Internet, and earn rewards on autopilot. On average, it takes users 48 days to reach $20.

Get a $5 bonus to start.

Before you get started though, make sure you’re truly on an unlimited plan as it sounds like this could chew through a lot of bandwidth in hurry!

17. Build a Helpful Website

Online publishing can be extremely lucrative.

It does take a ton of work to create the initial content, but once your content is ranking in Google, it becomes semi-automated. After all, I don’t need to be sitting at my desk to make money — and hundreds of people can visit my site at once.

For example:

Scott earns 6-figures a year from his bird-watching blog
Shelley earns $50k a month from her travel blogs
Andrew earned over $1.2M from his gift ideas site

Their sites are monetized with advertising and affiliate partnerships, which scale as your traffic increases.

Want to start a blog of your own? Check out my free 6-part video course on how to start your own site.

18. Rental Properties

With the right tenants and team in place, owning rental properties can be a pretty automated business. 

(And to be fair, there are lots of burnt-out landlords who will tell you it is anything but.)

Dustin Heiner — a husband and father of 4 — started building his rental portfolio while working for the county government. He was ultimately able to retire in his 30s, generating $15k a month in cash flow from his properties.

Still, real estate side hustles come in many different forms, ranging from single family rental properties to commercial buildings and even raw land investing. Make sure you’re choosing a model that fits with your goals.

19. Software

Software is the ultimate scalable, automated business in that the same underlying code can be sold to an unlimited number of customers.

A premium software tool can be sold either as a one-off purchase or a recurring monthly subscription.

As a customer, I’ve bought both smartphone apps and desktop software. If you don’t have the technical chops to build something like this yourself, you could always partner or hire someone who does—or white label software that already exists.

The biggest consideration is to make sure there’s a hungry market for what you’re building.

Look to tools like AppSumo or ProductHunt to gain initial traction.

Automated Business Ideas: Your Turn

Let’s not kid ourselves: building a business is hard work.

But you’ve probably heard the phrase that an entrepreneur is someone who lives a few years like others won’t to live a lifetime that others can’t.

What that means is if you build your business the right way, you can set it up to be automated or semi-automated, in just about any industry.

I hope these automated business ideas sparked some inspiration and puts you on the path to stop trading time for money.

Serious About Making Extra Money?

Start Your Free $500 Challenge. My free 5-day email course shows you how to add $500 to your bottom line.
Join the free Side Hustle Nation Community. The free Facebook group is the best place to connect with other side hustlers and get your questions answered.
Download The Side Hustle Show. My free podcast shares how to make extra money with actionable weekly episodes.