The gaming industry is estimated to be worth over 90 billion dollars by the end of 2020. A lot of it is games but a little portion of it comes from eSports, streaming, and YouTube. Although that portion may be small it still is a lot of money.
In 2020 Fortnite awarded 40 million dollars in prize money. Dota2’s The International prize pool has passed 30 million dollars. Pewdiepie the biggest gaming Youtuber on the platform has made well over 125 million dollars through making a career out of YouTube. All of these things make a person wonder can I have a slice of this pie?
February 14, 2005, the day Youtube was founded. Since then the platform has been on a meteoric rise. Bringing with it thousands of people to fame and success. It is a multi-billion dollar company that has made a lot of independent millionaires.
How Do You Become A Successful Gaming Youtuber
Youtube originally being a platform for regular people to share videos now broadcast channels of many A list celebrities, talk show hosts, and many other mainstream media outlets. But it still has a place for independent creators. Rather it still is dominated by independent creators, they are the soul of this platform.
So any regular human being has had to have thought about how they could become youtube famous? Such a question may also arise in the mind of a kid watching Ninja winning a Fortnite game. How do I become like him? I want to be a gamer. I want to be a youtube gamer.
While it may seem easy through an initial impression. It is not.
Whether it’s a financial constraint, a displaying of talent, an inspiration, or a way out. Getting success at making youtube videos demand consistent hard work.
You need to have something you are at and then work it to the bone.
Having a chance at being a successful gaming Youtuber demands from an individual a certain few things. These requirements are explained below.
Having a clear idea
Having a clear idea of what you want your channel to be is essential.
What type of content do you want to make? Is it a twitch highlights channel? A gaming review channel? Do you want to be a funny commentator? or is it a let’s play channel. Finding your niche is a very important first step towards your goal of becoming a successful gaming Youtuber.
Your genre of content is decided by what you know and what you are good at. People want to see something that is personal, touching, and most importantly original. Only something you know and love can bring out those qualities. If you are truly passionate about something show it to people.
Identifying your target audience
Who do you want to entertain? Who can you entertain? If you can entertain a dog you become a dog carer. Similarly, you have to know the extent of your entertaining ability.
If a joke you tell amongst a group of your friends doesn’t make a single one of them laugh it should give you an indication of not pursuing a career in stand up.
After identifying who you want to entertain you can press on to the next step.
If your target audience is kids. Your content should be more light-hearted. You would speak clearly in simple yet loud words. Your set should be filled with bright colors allowing you to create vibrant videos. The thumbnails on your videos should similarly be loud and colorful.
You should make a lot of physical gestures because kids love movement. A prime example of such a channel should be Ali A’s gaming channel.
Now, if your target audience is adults or people over the age of 15. Your content should have to be more subdued. More creative. A lot of clever dialogs. Also, keep in mind that your content has to be entertaining. Similarly, your gameplay must be intuitive and most importantly you have to know how to play the game.
Resources
People would often say that you don’t need good equipment, just follow your passion and start making videos on your mobile phone. While it may be true in some cases. This requires a humongous amount of luck to succeed and those people who want a career in gaming can’t afford to bet on luck. It’s even more important for them to have good gear.
Although not as strict if you want to be a commentator or want to do a gaming podcast. You still need a good PC to play games and a good internet connection if you want to do it online.
Resources also include human resources. Every gaming channel needs a good editor. If you know how to edit your videos, that’s great. But how much time do you have?
Finding a good editor is an essential requirement for the success of any youtube channel. It makes your videos clean and full of life. Cause at the end of the day your main focus is to entertain people through any means necessary.
Exposure
Being a gaming Youtuber requires you to have notoriety. A lot of people are good gamers but a whole lot of them are not famous.
You can achieve it through luck. But if luck is not on your side you will have to grind for it.
An easy yet stupid way is using money to promote your content. It can help you reach a new audience but what compels a person looking at your ad to subscribe. On the contrary like many other ads, it may even annoy them.
Sometimes the grind makes you learn new things that end up evolving your content. Also the audience you gain through grinding is much more long term. So although it may be a slow process, it allows you to learn from your mistakes.
To pay someone for shout out is a much better alternative. Cause people are hearing about your channel from someone with who they are more comfortable. This lessens the annoying factor of your channel. Cause you are not intruding into their bubble. Instead, they have the impression that your channel was found by them.
The next best thing is eSports. If you are good at a game go professional. YouTubers like Shroud, ACEU, Mendokusai, DrDisrespect, Ninja, etc. All of them are a product of eSports and streaming. Now all of them are successful gaming YouTubers.