More and more people show a great interest in the eSports industry and find themselves wondering how to make cash on it. And it is no surprise that, with the increase in social media involvement, most of us try to change our perceptions to survive in the era of the Internet.
Every day we find news about the new eSports tournaments and big prizes contributed to such events. Thus, little by little, the eSports industry is dominating the whole world and we have already seen great promotions in many major cities. You only have to check out CS:GO results at cover.gg to see how one of the most common eSports titles develops and meets the high expectations that have been placed on this video game.
Since money is closely related to the eSports industry, we want to introduce you to the four most common areas to build a budget in this cybersports cycle.
1. Betting on Esports
Esports betting has grown in popularity in recent years and allows members to bet on a wide variety of different esports games. Many broadcast various games live, and often allow participants to place bets during the game. Live in-play betting is very popular in traditional sports and live betting on esports is on the rise. This allows players to watch the development of the game before placing a bet.
Betting around here, betting over there. In fact, bookmakers continue to grow year after year, demonstrating that they are one of the largest platforms to earn “easy money”. However, eSports betting has lots of pitfalls for those who want to enter this field and create a powerful positioning there. First of all, choose a video game of your interest. Decide what type of wagers you want to focus on. Your choice determines the pool of future bets. Also, be sure to pay attention to experts in this niche, especially in the beginning.
2. Betting Analyst and Consultant
If you are serious about earning money from betting, you can also start forming your community and making your eSports insights. On top of that, many open jobs and top companies are hiring for sports betting analysts. Thus, if you are into data or just interested in conducting ad-hoc analysis to find the best possible predictions, we recommend you pay close attention to this side of eSports betting.
3. Game Streaming
As it can be otherwise, to become a content creator and a successful game streamer, you should work on your style of presentation and personal branding. Thus, in addition to the cost of good equipment tools needed for streaming, it is also important to invest in advertising. As a result, you will gather your gaming community that is ready to subscribe to your content, and pay cash for character updates, among other products.
To give you some numbers, we have found out how much money the most popular streamers make on Twitch. Based on the first half of 2024, the Canadian Félix “xQc” Lengyel is the most popular figure on the streaming platform. In the first half of this year, he got more than 350,000 subscriptions, adding total profits of $880,000 approximately.
4. Reselling Different Items on Steam
Another way to make money in the eSports industry is to buy different items on the gaming marketplaces and with time try to resell them at a higher price. This includes, in particular, gun skins, weapons, stickers, and other cosmetic elements of a certain video game.
Skins are usually time-limited items that are applied in some popular eSports tournaments by different players and teams. With the end of this or that event, they become available for selling on different digital distribution services, such as Steam, for example.
5. Stickers
These are really interesting cosmetic elements for CS:GO players. Valve’s shooter has a more than established market, with products that are not only around the aspects of weapons as such.
Contrary to weapon skins, stickers always have the best quality and have no wear value. Even so, once applied, you can scratch the images to create a small wear effect. Therefore, these items are ideal for both collectors and small investments. Furthermore, most stickers can be found in capsules, so their randomness is crucial.
As it could not be otherwise, the older a sticker, the higher its cost, but there are several more reasons why it can raise the price, including hype and scandals, among others.
6. Playing Games Professionally
Being a good player of certain video games is not difficult, but becoming a professional gamer requires serious dedication and hard work. To compete at a high level, you need to devote a lot of time to games and training every day. Many teams will train for 10 hours a day!
As the saying goes, it is easy to play but hard to master. To achieve some results on the competitive stage, it’s not just enough to play from time to time. You need to put many hours of your day into training and learning. Cybersports as a profession require not only interest and talent but also constant persistence. With that being said, professional eSports gamers get paid respectively. Of course, their earnings vary and depend on the tournaments, winnings, sponsorships, and advertising contracts.
Professional gamers can indeed make a living playing healthy games, but it’s not as easy as just playing a game once in a while. It’s not easy for gamers to find developers to invest in them, and a bad race could cost them a deal. Sponsors will only invest in teams they believe will succeed. However, even if a team is constantly losing, but it has a well-known player that attracts a large audience, sponsors may turn a blind eye to poor results.
Less than 5 percent of people who play traditional sports profit from their playing career. Unfortunately, playing esports is also not so easy. Before risking your hard earned money, take a close look at the game and the players involved.
