Get Paid to Play: How to Become a YouTube Gamer?

Gaming is one of the fastest-growing industries of the decade. The US gaming industry’s revenue has almost been doubled in 2020 ($60.4 Billion) compared to what it was in 2010 ($39.62 Billion). The increasing popularity of the gaming community is one of the most prominent reasons for it. Did you know that two of the top five YouTube channels with the highest number of subscribers globally are from the gaming industry?

People not only love to play games but also like watching gameplays of others. One of the upsides of being a gamer is you can make money while doing what you love. If you are figuring out how to make money through gaming, your search ends here. In this blog, we will discuss tips and tricks to be a successful YouTube gamer.

Define Your Expertise and Niche: 

Similar to any other business, starting your gaming channel too requires proper planning. As per a survey, 300 hours of gaming-related content is uploaded on YouTube every minute. Amidst such a cut-throat competition, there is a dire need to strategize your every move. The first and foremost thing is to find the USP that differentiates you from others.

In gaming videos, several things appeal to viewers. Many-a-time, gamers visit YouTube if they are stuck on a certain level in the game or need guides and walkthroughs, or struggling to beat a boss or improve their gameplay. Always try to add value to the viewers in your videos, as it will help you in getting higher engagement.

The sense of community is also quite prominent among gamers as they can share and learn new strategies, tactics, and make new friends. Being a part of a community can also lure viewers into subscribing to your channel. Keep in mind that your personality, too, plays a significant role in the likability of your videos. Here are a few YouTube gaming categories that you might like to familiarize yourself with before starting your channel.

• Walkthroughs: It is one of the most sought after categories of gaming videos and used heavily in 1-player story mode games. The main aim of such videos is to educate gamers about how’s and what’s of the game. 
• Humour: It requires heavy editing as several gaming clips are trimmed and clipped together to entertain viewers and make them laugh. 
• Reviews: As the name suggests, the category is all about reviewing new releases and updates. These videos are helpful, especially for premium and dedicated gamers. 
• Live Stream: The category doesn’t require that much post-production editing as the action happens in real-time. Gamers share their live gameplay on YouTube or Twitch while interacting with viewers simultaneously.

Tools Required for Making Videos: 

For recording the gameplay, you just need screen recording software. You will also require a decent camera for recording the footage that you need to add to the gameplay. However, there is no need to invest in a $5000 camera. Any decent camera or even your smartphone, capable of shooting in 1080p, is more than enough to serve your needs.

For screen capture, you can use OBS software as it is free and quite popular among gamers. Many smartphones also have in-built screen recording software that can serve your needs. Another set of hardware that you will require is microphones and lighting equipment. Audio plays a significant role in keeping the audience hooked with the gameplay. So invest in good microphones to get professional audio clarity.  

The last step in the video production funnel is video editing software. For that, you can either use offline software like First Cut Pro or Adobe Premiere Pro to get professional-looking videos. You can also use online video makers and editors to edit your videos on the go. You can pick any one of these as per your preference.  

Posting Videos on Your YouTube Gaming Channel

After editing the videos, the next and final step is uploading it on video sharing platforms like YouTube or Twitch. Here is how you can do it.

• Uploading the video: For uploading the gaming videos, create a YouTube channel using your Google ID. On the YouTube page, there is an arrow button in the top right corner. You can upload your video by clicking on it. 
• Title and tags for videos: The next step is to give a title to your video. There is a character limit of 100 for the title. Tags are similar to keywords that are used in blogs. These are the terms that viewers use to search for a particular video. You can add up to 500 words in YouTube tags. 
• Custom thumbnails: The image that a viewer sees when your videos show up in search results is called thumbnails. You can use any image that you like as the thumbnail. The maximum size of it that YouTube supports is 2 MB. It would be best to use the wow moments of the videos in the thumbnails. 
• Video intros and outros: The first 10 seconds are very crucial for videos as it will decide whether the viewer will watch it till the end or not. Intros are the introductory clip of your video. You can use online intro makers to make videos that start with a bang. The outro clip is where your video ends. You should include a call to action here.

Conclusion: 

Once you add all these customizations, make your video public so that it is available in the public domain. You can also promote your channel using social media to gain more and more subscribers. Monetization on your channel will be enabled as your channel grows bigger and you hit 1000 subscribers, and your videos are watched for 4000 hours. Afterward, you will be eligible to join the YouTube Partner Program and can post ads on your channel to make money out of it. From there, the more engaging videos you make, the higher the subscriber rate, and the more revenue you can get.