Feeling bored at work? Addicted to video games? The gaming industry is full of opportunity for ambitious fans!

Just because you want to play games all day doesn’t mean you can’t make money from it. Sadly there’s still a lot of work involved with it, but if you’re interested in video games as well as making money,

Game Testing

Make decent money playing new games on your sofa! According to a 2011 salary survey conducted by Game Developer Magazine, quality assurance testers in the video game industry with fewer than three years of experience earned an average of $36,136 per year. Those with between four and six years of experience averaged $45,769 per year.

Becoming a games tester actually isn’t that hard, most large game studios have openings for games testers. The job is to basically test the games being developed and report whatever bug you encounter.

Tournaments & Online Competitions

E-Sports Earnings is a community-driven competitive gaming resource based on freely available public information. The annual e-Sport competitions where the prize pools are in the millions! Check out the top video game competitions of 2016!:

• The International 2016 DOTA2 Championships:

Prize Pool= $20,770,460

First Prize= $9,139,002

• League of Legends 2016 World Championship

Prize Pool= $5,070,000

First Prize= $5,070,000

• The Boston Major 2016

Prize Pool= $3,000,000

First Prize= $1,000,000

• The Manila Major 2016

Prize Pool= $3,000,000

First Prize= $1,110,000

• Halo World Championship 2016 

Prize Pool= $2,500,000

First Prize= $1,000,000

• Call of Duty XP Championship 2016

Prize Pool= $2,000,000

First Prize= $800,000

Writing or Recording Reviews and Opinions

PewDiePie (Swedish web-based comedian and video producer, well-known as a let’s player on YouTube)’s  estimated monthly revenue from YouTube ads fluctuates between $140,000 and $1.4 million depending on viewership.

The great thing about it is that you can choose what games to review and talk about. Making money from this method is pretty much like any online business: you sell advertising space on your website or YouTube video.

Selling Game Accounts

Let’s Talk Numbers! Did you know the most expensive virtual items in video games?

• Club Neverdie in Entropia Universe – $635,000
• Crystal Palace from Entropia Universe – $330,000
• Amsterdam from Second Life – $50,000
• Ethereal Flames Pink War Dog in Dota 2 – $38,000

If you get bored of the game but still want to make some cash, you can just design and sell virtual items or characters for video games. Not every item worths the same price when selling. You’ll find that some items demand far more money than others. Why? The time spent on the item has a major impact on the cost of selling the item.

Creating Game Guides and Walkthroughs

While some gamers look down upon guides and walkthroughs as basically cheating, a lot of people love them!

Podcasts or Videos

Create a daily, weekly, or monthly show related to gaming. It could be an opinion-based round-table discussion, a series of interviews with high-profile players, tips and tricks for a certain game, etc.