Should You Be Investing in the Gaming Industry?

indie game development

Video games – they’re for kids, right? Well, not exactly. The indie game development market is lucrative, and one of the fastest growing industries in the world.

What was once valued at $44.9 billion in 2007 is now worth over $116 billion in 2017. Concerning the development, marketing and sales of video games, in-game micro-transactions as well as streaming and digital distribution, it’s safe to say that the gaming industry is huge and shows no signs of slowing down. While the perfect time to get in on the video game industry would have been 10 or 20 years ago, the next best option is now. Below we’ll look at some of the best ways to make money in the video game world.

Streaming

Are you funny, witty and can talk confidently in front of a camera? Then streaming yourself playing video games is an easy and really fun way to make money. This isn’t as goofy as it sounds – streamers make huge money. Take, for example, PewDiePie, who currently holds the highest number of subscribers on YouTube (over 61 million at the time of writing) and who was catapulted to fame for his ‘Let’s Play’ videos and now earns over $12 million per year. While PewDiePie used YouTube as his platform of choice, there are a number of other platforms dedicated specifically to streaming games. The most well-known in this regard is twitch.tv. Twitch functions as a community for gamers and is where streamers come to broadcast and make a name for themselves. And if you don’t have the personality or skills to become a professional streamer, you can always front the money and pay for someone who does and invest in the industry that way.

Indie game development

Just like how a production house will front the money for a film to be made, so too can you invest in the development of gaming titles. It’s also not as uncommon as you might think. Recently, e-commerce and payment platform Xsolla launched Xsolla Capital, a $30 million fund which, in exchange for royalty rights, will invest in indie game development, allowing for the fruition of ideas and games which would otherwise not have seen the light of day. It’s a win-win situation for both developers and investors. It’s a golden business opportunity for a shrewd entrepreneur.

Managing a competitive team

If you’d like to get into the actual sporting side of gaming, then getting together an eSports team and funding their training and subsequent admission into tournaments is the way to go. And really, this is where the big money is. In 2017, the Dota 2 International – one of the biggest eSports tournaments in the world – had a total prize pool of over $24 million. These tournaments happen all the time, although with a lesser but still considerable amount of prize money to be won, so investing in a professional team that could win has a good chance of paying back hefty dividends in the future. However, managing a team should be viewed the same way as starting a business – it has all the potential pitfalls, fears and uncertainties that starting a café or restaurant would have – and should, therefore, be treated with caution and consideration.