Play Video Games, Make Money

Credit: YouTube.com.

Credit: YouTube.com.

YouTube gamers are cashing in hundreds of dollars an hour just for playing video games.

Watchers can donate any amount of money to the streamer and even ask a question that the streamer will sometimes read or acknowledge. YouTube has a gamer sponsorship that you can set up with PayPal, and YouTube takes a small percentage of the sponsorship money.

Fortnite has some of the most streamers that actually pocket real money from viewers.

YouTuber Avxry has been streaming almost every day for the past month for up to six hours a day.

The average he makes per day is anywhere from five-hundred to two-hundred dollars.

If he streams for six hours almost every day for a full year, Avxry will make around $109,000. I decided to watch Avxry play for just half an hour. In that time, Avxry made $24.33

“It is crazy how much they are making for such a fun and easy way to make money,” said veteran Fortnite player and Williston senior Brandon McGill.  “I wish every time I played a video game I was getting paid.” McGill added.

Streamers have become increasingly popular among YouTube over the past few years. Internet celebrity PewDiePie is currently at 60,773,472 subscribers and is probably the richest YouTube gamer.

In 2016, Pewdiepie, Felix Kjellberg, reportedly made 15 million dollars just on YouTube. Many other YouTube gamers are following in the wake that PewDiePie had started, but there is a hang-up.

Streamers everywhere have been increasing their live streams in order to compensate for the new rule YouTube has implemented for monetizing videos. Before 2018, all you needed to monetize videos was 10,000 total views. Now you also have to have at least 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 hours of view time a year.

This makes new YouTubers who want to make money have to use livestream to cash in; that is if they have anyone watching their streams.

With the addition of YouTube Live, a way for YouTubers to stream and make money, more popular gamers have opened up to in-game “donations,” where viewers PayPal into the gamers account for a chance to be shouted out or for the gamer to read their comment to them live.

“It is kind of ridiculous,” Said senior Danielle Marquez. “Why give the streamer money when watching is free?”

Some may think it is silly, but the YouTube gaming community has embraced this new age of streaming, and is hotter than ever.

Even if people are not spending, they are either subscribing or watching, which helps the streamers gain views and subscribers so they can reach the monetization status and make even more money.

Whatever the case, YouTube has made hard-core gamers rich and in return, hard-core gamers have made YouTube rich.