Financial Blog

Life after college could be the hardest. During this time, you need to decide what you’re going to be and how you’ll walk your career path. If you can just play games and make millions out of it —you’ll take the opportunity wholeheartedly.

On second thought, it can actually happen. As the saying goes, “Do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life.” We all love to play, be it sports or video games. We’re all kids at heart. Today, playing games stepped up big, it’s now more of a career than recreation for some.

We’re not talking about earning coins here, successful gamers (professional or not) bag hundreds of thousands — even up to the millions. The question is, how can playing games for long stack up enough money for your bank account?

If you want to achieve work-life balance while earning like a superstar, here’s a list of gaming activities and career paths that you might want to check:

Playtesting

The concept is self explanatory: play testers are given game access while it’s still on its testing period. They are asked to look for irregularities within the game, like bugs, glitches, as well as crashing points. These testers usually have the final say if a specific game is ready to be launched.

Fun fact: Legit play testers earn approximately $18,000 or P90,000 per month.

Streaming

Players who are enthusiastic and entertaining enough land spots on streaming platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, and Twitch. Live streaming demands a vast amount of dedication but it’s worth everything if it turns out successfully.

Felix Kjellberg a.k.a. ‘PewDiePie’ is the most followed YouTuber as of 2021 with 110 million channel subscribers. The Swedish gamer now has a net worth of roughly $40 million, but it took him roughly three to four years to gain this much. Most of his revenue came from numerous ads that run in his streams.

He usually plays mobile, PC, and PlayStation games while sharing his thoughts or insights about the game. PewDiePie sometimes eats while playing, converses with his friends, or just does his usual errands like there’s no camera in front of him. Kjellberg admits that he’s not good at any game but he gained fame through humor. Sometimes, all it takes is the guts to face in front of the camera and just be yourself.

The great thing about streaming is anyone can do it. Even if you’re not a pro gamer, you can start streaming your games on various live streaming platforms. In the Philippines, streamers such as Alodia Gosiengfiao and ChooxTV have millions of followers on Facebook live. They earn millions of pesos through ads as well.

Joining the professional league

In the professional realm, there is competition, and of course, a ‘God mode’ skill level with which to contend.

Those who want to try out for a professional team give up important things and usual routines to train. In various parts of the world, mainly in Europe, Asia, and North America, players leave their homes and families to live with other aspirants for months (or even years), all without any assurance of making it to a professional gaming team.

People who pass through the funnel after training and knock-out matches become certified eSport athletes—they earn most from endorsements, salaries, and tournament winnings.

Just take a look at OG. At such a young age, Johan “N0tail” Sundstein, earned $6.8 million just by playing DOTA2 and having fun with his teammates. Fellow OG teammates such as Anathan “ana” Pham and Jesse “JerAx” Vainnika also became multi-millionaires when they’ve won back-to-back TI championships.

Filipinos belong to the cream of the crop in world stages. Last 2018, TNC Predator, spearheaded by Carlo “Kuku” Palad, won $500,000 of pot money playing DOTA2 in the WESG. And in 2019, they bagged $686,000 in The International just by being 9-12th in the standings.

In South Korea, Lee Sang-hyeok, aka “Faker”, garnered an estimated amount of $1,170,000 from 41 tournaments’ pot money alone by dominating the League of Legends Champions Korea and World Championship. Lee dropped out of high school to train and play for SK Telecom T1. Today, his net worth is at $4 million.

Our take

To sum it up, earning millions is usual for young gamers with ages ranging from 19 to 26 years old. Moreover, most of them retire before they reach 30 due to professional burnout according to some life testimonials of retired gamers.

“It’s all fun and games” until it turns into a routine. What happens when the limelight is taken out and frustration starts outweighing amusement? That’s something we’re all not sure of.

It’s great to invest in the future or to at least have savings account for emergency funds. A healthy life after retirement is as lovely as earning huge bucks while we’re still young.