Is this the most competitive market out there?

The gaming world — Oversaturated and overworked?

The gaming industry is worth roughly $138 billion in 2021 and experts predicting the industry to only grow in popularity and profit, what once was a part-time hobby can now provide a luxury lifestyle, with the top gamers earning roughly $500k a month, not including sponsorship.

How do they do it?

Gaming is more than just an individual sport. Ever since the humble beginnings of Mario Kart on the DS, gaming has continually evolved into a group activity with live gameplay, multiplayer mode and more. It’s one of the most progressive and groundbreaking industries, and yet little is known or discussed about gaming in the outside world. To be more specific, not much is discussed about the influencer gaming world.

Top players aren’t earning thousands a month by simply gaming against their friends or community. A structured content-driven approach that includes streaming, videos, group chat and more have been created to get dedicated audiences closer to their favourite gamers and streamers.

This industry has become one of the most culturally influential to younger audiences and gaming lovers have begun to notice the profit potential, as a wide variety of high ROI content is produced.

Behind the screen

From a marketing perspective, gaming influencers are the ideal marketing prop. They are personal, connect with their community on a frequent basis, have a focus and give their audiences what they want, when they want it and where they want it.

But with so much happening and so much potential in the industry, the influencer gaming world has become over congested. Hopeful influencers get lost in the numbers as quick initial subscriber/follower uptake make newbies feel positive about their content and its quality.

These people are ideal candidates for fake sponsorships, low benefit programmes and toxic online cultures. It’s a harsh world and not everyone is cut out to withstand it, and the intense amount of work involved to make it big.

The math

Like most of us, start-up influencers need a basic income to live off. This will cover food, tech, electricity bills, rent and even span out to their backdrop. All these aspects need funding, and I haven’t even mentioned the amount of work involved to create over 5 different types of content and know-how to market on each content platform.

To put it plainly, it’s a lot.

In an over-congested market, the ones who make it big are the ones who were either lucky, had a 5-year plan or elicited the help of others.

The ones who don’t make it big either drop out due to funding, lack specific knowledge or the time it takes to learn the required knowledge, are subjected to toxic cultures, aren’t pretty or funny enough, burn out or experience a loss of interest in gaming all together as play turns into work.

It’s a cut-throat industry and is simply hidden from the rest of the world. If you’re in it then you know, if you don’t then your oblivious.

Conclusion

The gaming world and all its influencers are one of the most progressive and innovative industries out there. It’s full of marketing and tech pros who know their environment and community inside out.

With such huge financial and career potential, it’s easy to get lost in the “what if’s”. But to make it big you have to give big and the end question is, is it worth the risk?