If you are into digital game development, one of the things you consider before developing your game is the best digital game distribution to help you monetize your games. However, this might be challenging sometimes and here is why.

There are a lot of digital storefronts available, each with their own unique benefits. Some work well with certain types of games and engines, while others might not.

The global digital gaming market is projected to expand at a CAGR of 15.7% and is expected to be worth $264.9 billion by 2023. The increased proliferation of smartphones and tablets is providing a considerable push to the gaming market globally.

Also, the improvement in technology and the ease of access to internet connectivity have given an impetus to live games of MMO and eSports genres.

The gaming companies are increasingly preferring digital distribution channels over physical distribution channels, as digital distribution allows easy purchase and downloading of digital content for different gaming platforms.

Knowing which one you are ultimately publishing to will make development easier, as special features of that platform can already be considered and integrated into the design from the very start.

This article will equip you with the information you need on monetizing your digital game with the right distribution marketplace.

• What is Digital Games Distribution?
• How to Become a Game Distributor
• What Percentage Does Steam Take From Game Sales
• How do You Monetize a Game?
• How do Game Publishers Make Money
• Can You Make Money With Unity Games
• Where Can You Buy Video Games in Bulk
• Who is The Richest Gaming Company?
• Is There Money in Game Development?
• How Much Does it Cost to Publish a Game With Unity?
• How Do You Start a Video Game Store?
• How do Free Games Earn Money?
• What Apps Pay You Real Money to Play Games?
• How to Earn From Gaming?
• How do Game Companies Earn Money?
• How to Make Money With a Video Game Blog
• How to Earn Money Making Roblox Games

What is Digital Games Distribution?

Digital distribution is the process of delivering video game content as digital information, without the exchange or purchase of new physical media.

This process has existed since the early 1980s, but it was only with network advancements in bandwidth capabilities in the early 2000s that digital distribution became more prominent as a method of selling games.

Currently, the process is dominated by online distribution over broadband Internet.

To facilitate the sale of games, various video game publishers and console manufacturers have created their own platforms for digital distribution.

Read Also: How to Earn a Living by Inventing New Board Games

These platforms, such as Steam, Origin, and Xbox Live Marketplace, provide centralized services to purchase and download digital content for either specific video game consoles or PCs.

Some platforms may also serve as digital rights management systems, limiting the use of purchased items to one account.

Digital distribution of video games is becoming increasingly common, with major publishers and retailers paying more attention to digital sales, including Steam, PlayStation Store, Amazon.com, GAME, GameStop, and others.

According to study conducted by SuperData Research, the volume of digital distribution of video games worldwide was $6.2 billion per month in February 2016, and reached $7.7 billion per month in April 2017

How to Become a Game Distributor

Video game distributors often attract loyal and devoted consumers. Thanks to the Internet, distributors have a much easier path to networking and purchasing wholesale games internationally. You will need to have a firm grasp of your location, clientele, and product.

Apply for a reseller’s permit or license, sales tax ID and business permit. Each state has a Department of Commerce that issues reseller’s license and business permits. The tax ID is issued by the state’s Tax Commission.

Consider establishing an LLC (Limited Liability Corporation) which will shelter your personal assets from business losses.

Establish a storefront. Video game distributors often find good locations in strip malls or shopping complexes. Locations near residential areas expand your clientele because high school and junior high age students, a large segment of video game purchasers, have easy access to your store.

Contact multiple video game wholesalers, such as Japan Video Games or Sonic Games, Inc. Typically, you will fax your contact information, including phone number, name and email address. You will also need to supply your tax ID and reseller’s permit.

Survey the wholesalers for the best price list. Each wholesaler will have different discounts and products. Also, take a look at their return policy.

Fill out the price list, checking off each purchased item and paying in advance.

Set up your shop with your products. Some video game distributors boost their sales by putting out consoles and game demos.

What Percentage Does Steam Take From Game Sales

Valve takes around 30 percent of all game sales on Steam, with some exceptions for games from smaller developers in its Steam Direct program.

That will remain the case for the first $10 million in sales a game maker or publisher earns. For all sales between $10 million and $50 million, the split goes to 25 percent. And for every sale after the initial $50 million, Steam will take just a 20 percent cut.

How do You Monetize a Game?

Since there are so many ways to monetize a game, you might think there is a success formula. Well, there is no such thing as a success formula. However, we have created a list with 10 possible ways you can monetize a game.

1. Online shops

Maybe most familiar for most of you reading this blog are the online stores. You can think of Steam, the iTunes store or the PlayStation Store. The ease of browsing games and buying them with just a click of a button makes this very popular among gamers.

If you think of selling your game in one of these online stores there are a couple of challenges ahead of you. First of all not every store will accept your game and you need to look at the terms of approval before going for this monetization option.

Also, questions need to be answered such as what will you do with pricing and how will people discover your game?

2. Offline shops

One of the first options is the most traditional way of monetizing your game. Selling your game in traditional gaming stores or department stores was the most used way to sell a game for many years.

Even though shopping streets are changing people still go to physical stores to purchase their games. Selling your games in these stores can be more challenging for smaller studios, as you need to think of the distribution of physical items, product placement in the store and deals with several businesses.

However, if you are placed in these stores and have all factors in place well managed you are able to reach your audience and sell your game

3. In-game purchases

Social games or mobile app-based games are often monetized by offering in-game purchases. When a user is stuck in a certain level he could buy some clues or skip the level by using credits.

Also, virtual goods can be used as an in-game purchase, such as decoration for your virtual house or a sausage machine for your farm. If you want to apply this kind of monetization strategy you really need to think carefully on how to include this into your game.

The choices you make when designing your game are of huge influence on the success or failure of this business model. That is maybe the biggest challenge when going for in-game purchases.

4. Display advertising

Display advertising is often a business model applied to free-to-play games. Display advertising comes in many shapes and sizes. There are well-known banners, such as the skyscraper and rectangle sizes.

But new display ads such as page takeovers and interstitials are more applied nowadays. In order to have display advertising as a successful business model you do need a big audience.

Revenue is often per click or per 1.000 impressions and you, therefore, need a mass audience to earn sufficient revenue. Publishing your game on portals such as Agame.com or GamesGames.com can tackle that problem.

5. Branded content

The latest James Bond movie is full of product placements. This could also be the option for your game. Are there any brands that are willing to pay for product placement or sponsored content within your game? Then this might be an additional or principal revenue source.

You can get really creative with this model, think of advertising on the side of the road in a racing game or the main character wearing sneakers of a certain brand. Big brands are anxious to be linked to low-quality content and therefore it is of the upmost importance that your game is simply awesome

6. Video pre-roll

Besides the traditional display banners, another advertising form is one to mention: the video pre-roll. Also this tactic is often used for free-to-play games and shows a video ad when the game is loading.

Companies such as Google are investing a lot in this type of advertising as it gives advertisers another tool to reach their audience. For this monetization strategy the same rules apply as for generic display advertising: you need a critical mass to reach to get a profit.

7. Subscriptions

We all know Netflix or Spotify, they have at least one thing in common: a subscription model. If you want to continue using their (extra) services then you need to pay a monthly fee. This can also be applied to games if you are confident enough to try this.

In order to make this method a success you really need to convince the user that it’s worth subscribing to your game. When that is achieved the next challenge for a developer appears: keeping the user engaged. Once the user is bored he or she will most surely cancel the subscription. An example of such a monetization strategy is World Of Warcraft.

8. Recommendation engine

You could also charge competitors for a recommendation. If you build a recommendation engine, or use one on the market, and suggest interesting games to your user base then this could provide you with a revenue stream. Especially in mobile apps this could be an interesting strategy.

9. Add-ons

Another way of thinking of monetizing a game is by selling add-ons. A great example of such a strategy is the massively popular The Sims series.

After purchasing the standard game, players are offered many expansion packs to get even more fun out of the game. This model is also used a lot in mobile games.

In order to make this strategy a success you need to have people really hooked on your game. Also be aware that the add-on has a good value-for-money, or else chances are that the user will never purchase an add-on again.

10. Merchandising

Thinking out of the box? What about selling merchandising? T-shirts, coffee cups, bathrobes or masks, the options are endless. You could start a webshop or sell your items in a store. The most common sense is that your game should have a fan base that is willing to spend their well-earned money on merchandising.

Most probably this won’t become your primary revenue stream but could give your overall monetization strategy an additional boost. Angry Birds maker Rovio Entertainment is one of the successful examples of this method.

How do Game Publishers Make Money

When a game sells for $59.99 in the store, they only get about $30 of it, because the other money goes to the actual retailer and shipping costs, and then its split between the publisher and developer.

On top of that, games spend 2-3 years in development. In that timeframe of 2-3 years, the publisher isn’t making any actual money on the project because its not being sold. Therefore they’re taking a 2-3 year loss (because they still have to pay the salaries of the workers and production costs), until they try to make back their losses at retail.

Then when they’re done, FIRST they got to make back all the money they lost in the development phase, before they even pull a profit. And then with all the used game scenarios, people don’t even give money to the people who buy them.

Can You Make Money With Unity Games

Unity has made creating apps for the Apple App Store and Google Play extremely easy with its Unity editor and tools. You only need to create one codebase to distribute to all the stores. And they have even developed services to allow for extending your apps and adding additional streams of revenue into the project even easier.

Unity Ads

It’s hard to find out when ads were first introduced into apps, but from what I’ve seen, they’ve been there nearly from the start. However, this monetization method has become diverse in itself, and now there are different types of ads to choose to integrate into your app.

With Unity Ads, you are able to select ad categories that are more relevant to your app so that your audience is more likely to engage with them.

Interstitial

Interstitial ads are static or dynamic image-based ads. They fill up the entire screen of your device when they are active and are set to trigger at specific times during the flow of the app.

Incentivized

Incentivized ads give the user a reason to interact with the ad. For example, they may be rewarded with in-app currency or items in return for interacting with the ad.

Banners

Banner ads are the oldest type of ad. These usually take up the lower sixth of your device screen and are shown at any time, even for the entire duration of your app session. These ads are the least intrusive to the user’s app session and aren’t usually the most interesting to look at. This could be because they’re designed not to draw too much attention away from the app’s main function.

Videos

Video ads are usually incentivized. But there are some that simply want the user to watch the ad without offering anything for their attention.

To integrate ads into your Unity app, within the Unity Editor, open the Services Window and select the In-App Purchasing option.

Ads are all about getting clicks and views. The more you have, the more money you can make. But in order to make a lot of money from ads, you need a bigger user base, as payouts are usually from views and clicks in the thousands.

Freemium

Freemium means that you offer an app as a free download and provide the user with an IAP option within the app. This business model combines a free app with an IAP option.

Freemium is commonly used now by app developers, as users like to try before they buy. This gives them the free option to test out some of the app features before committing to a bigger purchase.

The amount of development effort here is the same as for an app with IAP.

This business model can be unpredictable. Although you can predict based on previous sales of IAPs, you can’t be certain how many of the free downloads will convert to paid in-app purchase sales. It’s important to maximize your chance of this by designing your free product to show your best features without giving away everything for free right away.

Sell Your App at Full Price

When the App Store first launched in July 2008, the only way to monetize your app was to sell it at the full price.

In 2008 there were only approximately 23k apps and games within the Apple App Store, compared to the approximately 2.2 million combined apps and games in 2018.

The revenue potential in those early days was significantly higher. Small, short, and simple apps selling for $1.99 were netting the developer enough to let them give up their day job. This was because the competition and market was small, and the user base was a lot less sophisticated regarding the quality content of their apps.

Full-price business models are still the easiest to set up and predict sales from your apps. The revenue you generate is 70 percent of the full price of your app due to Apple’s and Google Play’s cut (this doesn’t include any currency conversion charges).

With this in mind, you can roughly calculate that the total price of the number of apps that are downloaded correlates 10:7 with the amount of revenue you will generate.

If you want to set this up for your Unity app, you don’t need to do anything specific. Simply create your build, and then upload to the appropriate app store, and set the price to whatever you wish.

Game distributes in 2 ways – digital copies and physical copies. Digital copies only exist digitally and can be bought through online platforms such as Steam or PSN, while Physical copies come with the game disc and can be bought from the retailer stores.

Physical Copies

Physical copies are usually distributed in the following sequences:

Most of the retailers will get their stock from the wholesalers but in some condition, they would get their stock directly from the agents (which is shown in the picture below).

Ways to import games can be categorized into two – Regular Import and Parallel Import. The physical copies obtained by the steps above is Regular Import, which there will be a certification mark (eg: SIRIM for Malaysia) attached to it (as certified by the government and the publisher).

Game copies with a certification mark will be eligible for replacement if damaged, it also ensures that the player who purchased it will get the pre-order privilege.

While for Parallel Import, the physical copies are obtained illegally by the retailer. Since the game copies are not certified by the government, there will be no certification mark on it (which means no warranty), however the price is cheaper compared to the legal ones because no government tax is charged.

Besides, you wouldn’t be able to get the special contents of the other regions’ version. For example, you can’t get the pre-order DLC contents of R3 (Asia) version if you bought R1 (USA and Canada) version.

Digital Copies

Different from physical copies, the distribution process of digital copies only involve the publisher, distribution platform (eg: Steam, PSN, Google Play Store, App Store) and players.

The publisher will be able to get involved more in deciding the price or sales method for their digital copies too. However, digital copies usually come with lesser privilege compared to physical copies.

Where Can You Buy Video Games in Bulk

1. Liquidation.com 

Liquidation is a great website if you want to buy a lot of things for a cheap rate. While you are looking for video games you will also get a lot of options for gaming consoles, controllers and other things. The mode of buying on the website is by placing bids. 

There is a huge range of products listings at a time so that the buyer may have great choices. One will just need to register themselves on the site and sign up to place the bid and wait for the results.  The website operates within the United States of America.

2. Wholesgame.com 

If you want to buy with the help of a site that is totally dedicated to video games then this has to be the best one. They have verified suppliers that provide the games at the best price possible. Along with the latest and trending games, you can also view the games that will release in the upcoming months. 

The buyer has the choice to search via distributor, publisher etc. or just browse through the product catalogue to get the things that they need. They have different versions for consoles and they will let you go through their directory of suppliers to help you find the best one.

3. Alliancedistributors.com 

An Alliance distributor is a renowned name in the world of wholesale video games. You can ask them for the latest and best video games for different platforms and they will definitely have it. They have direct relationships with most of the renowned video game manufacturers. 

This helps them to have video games that are authentic and have the best quality. It also lets them do their business at a great price point with their buyers. Currently, they have their office and warehouse at Miami, Florida. When you visit their website they will recommend you the games that you should currently own.

4. Meccaelect

If you are in video game seller in America then you must have heard about Mecca Electronics because of their wide variety of products. They directly tie up with the video game manufacturers to provide their customers with the best quality products at a cheap rate. At their website, you will find everything from Nintendo games to EA games and much more. 

Just browse through their website and you will definitely find something that you were looking for. The website also gives you information about the gaming world which is quite interesting for video game lovers. Just open a new account of their website and begin your discovery.

5. WholesaleCentral.com 

WholesaleCentral has always been the favourite directory of people to find suppliers and buyers who are interested in their products or to initiate business. It is nothing different in the case of video games. They provide a huge range of websites where people may buy video games at a wholesale rate. 

People have to go through the websites and select the one that goes best with their need. The locations are also given so that the person finds it easy. When someone clicks on the link, they are directly taken to the website. It is a secured website so they only list those sites that are verified and people can be assured about it.

6. Videogamesplus.ca 

Video Games Plus is a Canadian website that has dealt with wholesale businesses for over 10 years. So, one can be rest assured that the video games or accessories that they source from this website will be authentic and trustworthy. The website divides the games by the help of the platform that they are meant for. 

This is helpful for buyers who are looking for specific things. They mail worldwide for extra shipping charges. Even pre-played products are available on the website for a cheap rate. So, buyers should definitely look into the website if they are looking for wholesale video games. 

7. Chinabrands

Chinabrands is a leading global drop shipping wholesaler from China.They have global reach servicing customers in more than 200 countries. 

It offers full catalogs, including cheap clothes, bags, shoes, jewelry and accessories, beauty, 3C products, household necessaries and so on that totally more than 500,000+ SKU. Also, new and trendy arrivals added every day.

It’s a very considerate supplier for covering low-end to high-end products lines at wholesale price. Such as purchase clothing from this wholesale distributor, you can buy tops in $0.29, and the quality is quite good. If you look for high-end fashion brand, it may just cost about $40. 

What’s more, Chinabrands provides extra valuable services. 

This wholesaler offers SEO-optimized product descriptions that you can download and upload to your online stores like Amazon, eBay, shopify or any other online shopping platform. That will save much time for you to write products descriptions and help your stores rank better.

It has professional teams to choose trendy products that will sell well. Most store owners get crazy and have no idea which products should sell. Chinabrands’ team do the market search and add those data-proved hot sell in site everyday. 

Also, Unlike Alibaba is just a third-party platform for hundreds of thousands of manufacturers and suppliers, that may have poor quality problems. Chinabrands has highly trained QC teams ensure the quality of every single product manufactured by major brand suppliers.

Who is The Richest Gaming Company?

1. Sony Computer Entertainment

Value: $13.4 billion

Also known as Sony Interactive or, simple, Sony Entertainment, the company managed to become the most valuable game development studio so far. 

Concentrated on the technologies and innovation, Sony created a revolutionary Playstation console system. Today, such popular projects like God of War, Gran or Turismo Sport are produced by SIE Worldwide Studios (a group of video game developers owned by Sony Interactive Entertainment), which include, for instance, Guerilla Games and Insomniac Games.

2. Microsoft  Studios

Value: $12.82 billion

An exclusive publisher to Xbox and Windows, Microsoft also produces its own videogames. As a subsidiary of Microsoft, the company acts as a designer for Windows, Steam, and all Xbox versions. For example, it assisted in creating Gears of War, Halo, Minecraft, and other prominent names. 

3. Nintendo

Value: $6.28 billion

One more Japanes studio among the richest gaming companies. A pioneer in the industry thanks to handheld devices and some extraordinary projects, Nintendo is one of the three greatest game development companies of all time. Mario, Pokemon, and Legend of Zelda are the first names that may come to your mind when you encounter Nintendo logo.

Although the popularity of Nintendo Wii hasn’t been dramatically increasing in the U.S. and Europe for the last years it is still very popular in Asia where hundreds of millions of people play it every day. 

4. SEGA

Value: $4.9 billion

This is the company to which you may say “Thank you” for the creation of Sonic the Hedgehog and Pac-Man. Did you know that Sega is shortened from “Service Games”? The studio is focused primarily on the arcade genre. Besides Sonic the Hedgehog, you should consider Total War, Football Manager and Virtual Tennis as Sega’s most known projects.

5. Activision Blizzard

Value: $4.85 billion

The company was established after the merge of Activision and Vivendi Games in 2008. Activision Blizzard is one of the three largest game development studios in the U.S. operating several smaller subsidiaries like Infinity Wards and Treyarch. Call of Duty, Warcraft, Starcraft, Diablo, Guitar Hero are just a few of the great games Activision Blizzard has created. 

6. Namco Bandai

Value: $4.74 billion

This is probably the oldest game development company in the list. It was founded by another Japanese entrepreneur, Masaya Nakamura, in 1955. The company’s name is not so recognizable as the ones above, but when you think about Dragonball Z or Naruto, you should know that all of this was created by Namco Bandai.

7. Electronic Arts

Value: $4.14 billion

Since 1982 Electronic Arts produces masterpieces in the gaming. Their last release of the FIFA series just blew the minds of millions of fans around the world. A lot of gamers associate EA with the sports simulators due to the popularity of FIFA, NHL, NFL, and MMA.

However, there are many other extremely popular videogames the company has published in the last decade. Just recall The Sims, Crysis, Medal of Honor, and Mass Effect. 

8. Konami

Value: $3.24 billion

Konami was founded 50 years ago, in far 1969 in Osaka, Japan. It is mostly known for its soccer simulator hit, Pro Evolution soccer. Other notable releases include horror-action Silent Hill, Castlevania, and Dance Dance Revolution. 

You may be surprised, but the company operates not only in the gaming industry. It also owns several casinos and entertainment centers. Besides, Konami recently invested in Healthcare and Fitness. 

9. Ubisoft

Value: $1.85 billion

One of the legendary top game developers in the world that was founded in France in 1986 by Guillemot brothers. It published a dozen of superhero-based games but its main projects are Prince of Persia, Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry, and Tom Clancy’s series. 

10. Square Enix

Value: $1.26 billion

Headquartered in Tokyo, this company is known not only for videogame production but also for anime comics (manga), books, and motion pictures. 

The company’s founder, Yasuhiro Fukushima, is the largest shareholder.

Square Enix is focused on arcade and RPG genres, their most popular projects are, probably, Space Invaders, Danus, and Final Fantasy. The last one was released for all popular gaming platforms. 

Is There Money in Game Development?

Game developers are making more money, according to a recent study from Developer Economics. That’s good news for developers who are afraid their games (which often take years to build) won’t earn more than a few bucks from the app store of their choice.

The pathways for generating income are diversifying, too. The report says advertising is paying less, as are in-app loot boxes for both game currency and things like extra levels. The subscription model is showing promise for game developers, as is selling branded merchandise.

But developers are also making money from other developers. One of the more lucrative methods for generating income is selling services to other developers. Similarly, selling or leasing assets and plugins is an income generator, with Developer Economics writing: “Our data shows a small but steady increase in the number of developers making money through selling services, assets and plugins to other developers.”

Streaming and cryptocurrency are also generating income. With more players streaming their achievements for an audience, developers are paying them to play their games as a form of promotion.

How Much Does it Cost to Publish a Game With Unity?

Unity charges nothing for publishing of individual titles. Unity charges per-month for a subscription to their Pro-license, and a one-time charge if you just want to buy a Pro-license outright. But they don’t charge anything additional for actually publishing to digital stores. They also don’t charge any royalties for sales on digital stores.

For the Personal edition of Unity 5, there are no charges at all, so long as your game has earned less than $100,000 USD in a single year. If your game makes more revenue than that annually, you are required to purchase a Pro-license, and that’s the end of your financial obligation.

For all of the various licenses that Unity makes available, there are no extra fees for publishing. Any extra price would be levied by the storefronts in question, Unity is unconcerned.

How Do You Start a Video Game Store?

Owning your own game store allows you to spend each day around fellow game lovers and enables you to put your knowledge of the market to use. Opening your own retail game store is moderately challenging and can accomplished by opening either a franchise of an existing game store company or an independent store of your own.

1. Decide whether you want to open a franchise of an existing game store company or an independently owned store. Opening a franchise will reduce your startup costs but will limit the freedom you have in many business aspects, such as store layout, inventory and pricing. If you decide to open a franchise, choose the company you want to franchise through and follow their protocol for obtaining a franchise. If you decide to open an independent retail game store, proceed to the next step.

2. Find a location for your retail game store. This should be somewhere easily accessible to potential customers. Rent or purchase this space for your business. If you have chosen to go through a franchise, you may need to have the location approved by the corporation before renting or purchasing the space.

3. Create a name and logo for your video game store. Choose a name related to video games so that potential customers know what you sell. The logo should be simple and easily identifiable. If decide to use a franchise, you will not need to complete this step as your store name and logo will be the same as the company you are franchising through.

4. Obtain a business license. Register your business name and logo through your city or county clerk’s office and local chamber of commerce.

5. Purchase inventory for your retail game store. You should carry a wide selection of games of all genres for multiple platforms in order to be successful. Consider carrying both new and used games in your store to maximize sales.

Also purchase video game systems to sell as well as gaming accessories, such as controllers, cases for portable gaming systems, playing guides and memory cards. The more variety you have in your inventory, the more customers you will attract. If you choose a franchise, check with the company you are franchising with regarding inventory.

6. Purchase shelving and display cabinets to run your business, including a cash register and a credit card machine. You may also want to purchase several televisions for game demos for customers.

7. Set pricing for your items and decide what your return or trade-in policies will be. If you are going to accept used games from customers, determine whether or not you will be paying cash for games or trading for in-store credit. If franchising, your prices will be set by the company you are franchising with.

8. Determine your store hours and the days of the week you will be open.

9. Hire employees to run your retail game store. Employees should be knowledgeable when it comes to video games in order to best assist customers. Ideally, your employees should be familiar with gaming on multiple platforms so that they can assist customers searching for games on any system.

How do Free Games Earn Money?

Many, if not most, free online games earn money through micro-transactions on different levels.

For example, Dota 2 is completely free to play (f2p). You just download the game client, create an account, and voila you’re all set. The way they make money is by selling you different customizations for your heros (costumes), special effects (like a banner or custom courier), or other merely cosmetic, superficial aspects. There’s nothing you can buy that will give you an edge over other games…you’ll just have “swag” and honestly speaking, people do want that.

Move on over to League of Legends, and the micro transactions change. Beyond the items that only modify the graphical element of the game, LOL also allows you to buy new heros. When you start the game, you only have access to 8(?) heros, which change once a week.

It might sound good, but if you play the game enough 8 heros gets boring pretty quickly. You can earn battle points to slowly unlock more permanent heros, but the quicker way is just by paying cash.

There are tons of different variations on how free games make money. I hear Clash of Clans really perfected this, as this game generates sooo much cash.

Here is a quick list of free games that make money:

1. Clash of Clans
2. Dota 2
3. League of Legends
4. Farmville
5. Maplestory
6. Battlefield Free2Play

What Apps Pay You Real Money to Play Games?

1. MyPoints

• Registration Bonus: $10 when you earn your first $20

MyPoints is one of the longest-standing small task sites out there. Get paid to play games, shop online, watch videos, complete surveys and more.

The best part? You get a $10 bonus when you earn your first $20 in prizes. Payment methods include a gift card or a direct PayPal deposit. You need a minimum of $25 to cash out.

MyPoints also has one of the best referral programs out there. Each time you refer a friend that signs-up using your link, you earn 10% of their earnings for life without taking away from their earnings.

This app is available for both iOS and Android devices. You can claim gift cards from over 75 different retailers.

2. InboxDollars

• Registration Bonus: $5

If you’re more interested in earning cash than rewards points, Inbox Dollars is an excellent option.

This app pays cash for doing the things you already do on your phone and has paid out over $30 million since 2006.

You’ll find a vast selection of games to play in order to earn cash, including both free and paid games.

You only need to spend a few minutes every day for the savings to add up – average earnings per activity range from $0.25 – $5.00, so it’s easy to accumulate a significant amount of savings very quickly.

This app is unique because you can redeem your earnings for actual cash instead of gift cards and physical prizes.

That means you can pull out your earnings from the app and put it right into your savings or investment accounts.  Accessing the app every day can lead to some significant earnings.

Other simple ways to earn on Inbox Dollars include taking surveys, shopping online, and performing web searches – all activities that you might already do on a daily basis.

3. Swagbucks

• Registration Bonus: $5 – $10

With over 15 million users, Swagbucks is one of the top apps for getting cash and gift cards. In fact, the app has already paid out over $500 million in gift cards and prizes, meaning there’s a real opportunity to make money through this app.

The app tracks your activity and awards you “Swagbucks” (hence the name) for all of your activities.

You can use those Swagbucks to cash in on gift cards to top retailers such as Amazon, PayPal, Target, Walmart, Starbucks, and so much more.

There are some very simple ways to earn your Swagbucks right from your phone, including:

• Watching videos
• Playing games
• Taking surveys
• Shopping online
• Researching online shopping deals
• Searching the web

This app rewards you for things you’re already doing on your phone, so it’s a great app to take advantage of.

Why not get rewarded for the things you’re already doing on your phone? After you’ve earned enough points, you can cash out and redeem gift cards valued anywhere from $5 – $25.

We did notice that the app can quickly become complicated and overwhelming – there are tons of categories and ways to earn money through your phone.

With so many options, it can be tough to find which activities and categories work for you. Once you do find what works, we recommend sticking with one or two activities to make the earning process easier.

4. Rewardia

• Registration Bonus: 100 points

Rewardia is an online platform that plays you to play a wide variety of games. This includes solving puzzles, watching videos, playing games, voting on polls, answering trivia, taking surveys and more.

You even get a 100 point bonus for registering as a new user.

We’ve found that we frequently are screened out of any survey offers, but the games tend to be quite fun and somewhat addictive to earn some extra cash.

They even have a nice referral program. For every friend you refer, you get 10% of their earnings for life without taking away anything at all from their earnings.

You need a minimum of $5 before you are able to cash out for a gift card of your choice or withdrawal to your bank account.

5. PointClub

• Registration Bonus: $5

PointClub is particularly known for one of the best survey sites around, but they also give you cash for playing free games. Most of these games are short.

The best part about PointClub is that you get a $5 bonus just for registering as a new user. As soon as you hit $25 in your account, you can cash it out for a gift card or PayPal payment.

PointClub also increases your earnings by 10% progressively each time you log-in daily. Log-in for 10 days straight and you will receive 100% on your earnings (the maximum). However, forget a day and it resets to zero.

How to Earn From Gaming?

Become a professional gamer

This is a risky method for making money off playing games, but it may be worth it if you enjoy the thrill of competition! Professional gamers need to be the best of the best, and – if you want to get into eSports – you may need try out for and make an eSports team full of the best of the best. So where does making money come in?

That comes from winning championships and landing investors or endorsements; as eSports become bigger, they’re attracting more attention and more money, with prize pools adding up to millions of dollars. If you’re in North America and hoping to land on a team, check out Evil Geniuses, Cloud9, and Team EnVyUs.

Become a gaming coach

When sports develop, a whole industry follows – and where there are many potential professional gamers, there are just as many teachers and coaches! You can get in on this developing industry by putting your gaming experience to work as a coach.

If you already have a solid reputation as a professional gamer (or at least as a skilled public gamer), you could recruit private students directly. Or you can apply to a site like Gamer Sensei and make up to $25 hourly as one of their teachers.

And if you’re a really skilled professional gamer? You could become the coach of an eSports team; reportedly, coaches of big teams can make tens of thousands of dollars each year and receive full benefits.

Become a playtester

If you enjoy really getting into the guts of a game and pushing it to the limits – basically, trying to break it – then becoming a playtester may be a good fit for you! As a playtester, you’re often provided with a video game in a pre-release state (along with some testing guidelines) and then asked to play the game extensively.

You’ll need to provide equally extensive reporting on how the game responds. Some of these positions actually require a geographical location – like being close to the game company’s headquarters – but many companies are also considering remote playtesters these days.

To find these positions, keep an eye on your favorite companies’ websites – they’ll occasionally put out a call for playtesters, though they sometimes compensate with product rather than pay – or keep tabs on the positions open at QA companies like VMC. You can also sign up to be a playtester at PlaytestCloud and Playtestix.

Provide customer service for other gamers

Although this might not be getting paid to play games. Still, it is getting paid for the expertise you’ve developed while playing games! Companies like Sutherland Global Services sometimes put out the call for Gaming Consultants – a customer support position for people who are experienced gamers or experienced with gaming technical support.

With Sutherland Global Services, they even supply some of the equipment you need; all you need to bring is that gaming experiences and a few other skills like being great at social media and multitasking. Often these positions are part-time but well worth your time when you love gaming. It looks like these positions reportedly net about $9 per hour.

Become a YouTube Celebrity

So, you love gaming – but are you also funny and engaging? Do people love listening to you talk about video games, and laugh at (almost) all your jokes? Then you have the potential to turn that into money, my friend!

There’s a lot of competition, but truly entertaining gamers can become YouTube celebrities and earn ad revenue off videos of them talking about and playing games. You can do Let’s Plays, where people watch you play a video game while you narrate what you’re doing, or even simply review games.

If you become popular enough, you may even receive complimentary merchandise from game companies who hope you’ll talk about them! Just understand that you’ll need to hit 10,000-lifetime views on your YouTube channel before you can start showing ads, and you’ll likely want to keep it family-friendly to ensure a large audience.

How do Game Companies Earn Money?

The normal way that game companies make money is to simply sell the game for a price.

If you were to publish a game for $10 on Steam, for every sale you make, you would make $7, not $10. $3 goes to Steam, as they take 30% for hosting the storefront so that I can display my game. They need to make their money too.

Stores also do this. Depending on the store, and what game you’re buying, some of the money goes to the store, whilst the rest of it goes to the developers of the video game.

Mobile

Mobile games earn money through ads. Every time you watch an ad, the developers of that game earn a small amount of money, for example, 5p. This sounds small, but if 1 million people watch an ad, then they would gain £50,000. When you consider the number of people playing mobile games and the number of ads they display, there’s no question how they make so much money.

Well, that and the various purchases you can make, as they all have some sort of virtual currency and make you grind for a long time if you refuse to buy some of that virtual currency.

Free to Play

F2P games like League of Legends and Fortnite allow you to buy the game’s in-game currency with your real money, which lets you buy skins that makes your character look different. League of Legends goes about it by making the skins look great, so you ‘want it’ so you buy it and never use it. Fortnite does it through making the entire Fortnite player base love people who have dances and skins, and hate people with the default skin and dance.

Subscription

Some games, which I rarely see nowadays, offer a subscription service. Runescape lets you pay a monthly fee for membership, though there’s a free to play version. The membership allows you to use more weapons, access more quests, reach higher levels, use more moves and overall, have access to more features.

How to Make Money With a Video Game Blog

1. Start A Gaming Channel on Youtube

Video gaming is a very visual niche, which means it does very well when you combine it with YouTube. After all, that’s exactly the reason why gaming is one of the most popular niches on YouTube, and why so many people around the world are trying to become a part of it.

People absolutely love a visual source to go along with gaming news, and the possibilities of the video open up a whole new branch of content. ‘Let’s plays’, or videos of you commentating a playthrough of a game, are extremely popular and will act as an additional revenue source while driving more traffic to your website at the same time.

There are networks you can join which will allow you to use copyrighted game content in your videos, so there’s no reason not to start a gaming channel to promote your website.

2. Build Your E-Mail List

The great thing about the gaming niche is that video games are a hobby. This means that people will continuously spend more money to fund this hobby, whether it be through new games, new equipment, or both.

You can capitalize on this by building an e-mail list, which will keep these buyers buying from you again, growing your revenue consistently. When one game gets old, simply send them out an email and start promoting the next one to them.

When the next great headset comes out, send out an email. New CPA platform? Promote it! With an email list, you can get these buyers coming back to spend their money over and over again.

3. Target Affiliate Sales, Not Adsense

One of the worst, and most common mistakes with a video game blog is the idea of targeting ad revenue instead of affiliate sales. This issue is so common that people give up after only a few months of blogging, when all they have to do is change their strategy.

The CPC (cost per click) of ads in the video game niche are extremely low. We’re talking pennies. For that reason, it’s barely even worth throwing Adsense on the site unless you have a lot of visitors because it will likely earn you a relatively small amount.

The real money in the video gaming niche comes from the affiliate sales. Not only selling games, but selling the other products that go along with them. This can range from anything to game guides, to digital currency for use within the games, to headsets, to the consoles themselves.

Let’s think about your target market for a minute. Gamers will do whatever they can to get an edge over their competitors, even if that means paying for a ton for it. That’s money going straight into your bank account.

Ideally, most of your articles will in some way or another have an affiliate sale tied to it. This may be directly (such as a product review) or indirectly (such as a in-game tutorial, with an affiliate link to a full game guide, for example).

The problem is, most people forget this vital point – articles that don’t have an affiliate sale tied to them in some way are not moneymakers. Other than bringing traffic to your site (and if you’re lucky, to your sales pages), they are virtually worthless if your aim is to make money with your site.

If you do use Adsense, be sure to enable interest based ads. Because of the low CPC of ads in the gaming niche, interest based ads will almost always make you more and there’s no reason not to turn them on.

4. CPA Ads Convert Well In The Video Gaming Niche – Utilize Them

If you’ve ever visited a gaming blog, chances are you’ve seen a few CPA ads. CPA, or cost per action ads pay a commission every time the required action is completed by a user. In the video gaming niche, these are often registrations or downloads for new games companies are trying to promote.

These convert insanely well in the video gaming niche, as most of these are free for the visitor to complete, giving them no reason not to follow through and complete the registration. This is a huge bonus, as many gamers are teenagers who do not have a lot of money to buy a lot of games to play, and would much rather play something for free.

These CPA ads pay well and will earn way more than traditional Adsense ads. Best of all, the same person may complete a few of them – earning you even more money!

5. Promote Pre-orders

Promoting video game pre-orders is another huge moneymaker, and the majority of games can be pre-ordered through Amazon quite easily. All you have to do to make a sale is build up hype for the game – and this is done quite easily since you have the help of the production team behind you, aiding you with game trailers and advertisements.

Many companies also provide in-game bonuses or accessories to people who pre-order, so you can use this to your advantage when marketing the game.

How to Earn Money Making Roblox Games

Making Money From Roblox Games You Make

The most obvious way to make money on Roblox is to simply make great games that thousands—or maybe even millions!—of people will be clamoring to play. If you can do that and keep people coming back for more, then chances are you’re on the path to success in the world of Roblox.

There are a few different ways you can make money from Roblox game creation. First of all, you can actually charge people Robux before they get access to your game. While most games on Roblox are totally free for anyone to play, that’s not true for all games. Some games ask you to pay a small fee before playing, almost like an entry fee just the one time. This is called asking people to buy access.

Another great example of how you can make money from your games in Roblox is to charge people for Game Passes. Game Passes work a lot like Downloadable Content (DLC) does for PC, PS4, and Xbox One games you may have played before.

You’ll spend some Robux up front and gain access to things that make the game more convenient or fun, but aren’t required necessarily to actually play the game since it’s technically free.

Exchanging Robux for Real Money

The easiest way to make money in Roblox is very simple: just exchange your accumulated Robux for real cash. Robux are what make Roblox’s world go round and are a type of digital currency within that universe, almost like tickets you’d get at a carnival to spend on rides and snacks.

Read Also: You Can Make Money Online By Playing Games

People just like you spend real money from the real world to get Robux inside the digital world, so it only makes sense that you can reverse that and turn Robux back into real money for yourself.

Once you have enough Robux saved up, you can use the Developer Exchange program to transfer them back into real money. The only problem is that not just anybody can do this, it really does take quite a bit of work to reach that point.

According to the Roblox website as of the time of this writing, in order to exchange Robux for real money you must:

1. Must be at least 13 years of age or older,A member of the Outrageous Builders Club tier,And a minimum of 100,000 earned Robux in your account.

If you meet all of those requirements, the cash-out rate is  $.0035 per 1R$. This means if you had the requisite minimum earned Robux of 100,00, that would result in $350, but you could of course earn much more. The Roblox Corporation has a monthly limit of $1,050,000, which seems awfully ridiculous and generous.

Trading Items

The last way to earn real money inside Roblox that we’ll talk about is from trading exclusive Limited Items. In the realm of Roblox, Limited Items are extremely popular and rare.

Basically, they’re items inside the game world that the creators of Roblox itself made and put on sale for just a very short period of time. If you weren’t one of the lucky few that got one then you may initially think you’re out of luck—but that’s not true. You can buy items from other players using Robux.

Conclusion

It makes sense to focus on one platform first, and then eye other potential targets once your game has been established. If your game is Flash-based, you can target Flash portals first and then move to desktops via Steam.

If you sell very unconventional games and get a lot of your traffic through your own website, it makes a lot of sense to set up your own direct payment system.

If you are making a mobile game, it makes sense to focus on the mobile portals first. If you are making an Android game, microconsoles become an option. Depending on your development environment, you can then also look into desktop variants!

Snuggle Truck, for example, debuted on Flash platforms. It was later ported to mobile devices, and then desktop computers.

If you are making a desktop game, you have many more options than just Steam, and expanding to Itch.io and the Mac Store could greatly increase your audience.

And making a game that works in a browser, on desktop and on mobile would be tricky, but would offer you a very wider audience to being with! For example, Rymdkapsel manages to be very entertaining on both tablets and desktop computers, and has an easier time finding people to play it.