Is there a demand for ways to make money gaming?
The option of playing games online for money may seem like a dream job to some. The thought of having to wake up at 6/7am to do a 9-5 everyday is enough to give anyone a nightmare, when you could earn money from the comfort of your own home by playing the games in which you love. However is there really a demand for this?
Gaming for money also called ‘wager matches’ is where two players compete against each other to win. Both players who are competing put up the same stake and the game begins. The winner of each match takes away all the money and if the match is drawn the then money returns to the competitors.
There is another way in which people play games online for money through the website service of Twitch. Twitch has over 45million users and 1 million people uploading videos of themselves onto the site (Dredge, 2014). Twitch users can stream themselves gaming online whilst being paid through subscriptions and or donations. The games you are able to play for money vary from consoles such as PlayStation and Xbox to PC games such as League of Legends.
In 2014 EA Sport removed Virgin Gaming from within the actual FIFA game where it was called ‘Arena.’ Arena is a facility which allowed gamers to participate in wager matches. They discontinued this due to less than 0.2% of players using this service. Although 0.2% may seem like a small amount but FIFA 2012 sold over 3.2 million copies (Sinclair, 2011) within the first week. 0.2% of those who bought the game in the first week is 6,400. This number would grow throughout the year, especially over the Christmas period, with many users receiving the game as gifts. This suggests that Virgin gaming still had the potential to generate large amounts of revenue.
Many users on social media search for ways in which to play ‘FIFA for money’ which is just one of the possible games you can play online, above are some examples
Although not all the above users search have expressed a direct need for a platform where they can play their games for money it does however show there is a market for it. Personally I have seen my friends play of money and believe I know many people who would especially if there was a safe reliable platform to do so.
Google trends (above) show that in June 2014 topics around FIFA were searched over 150 times relative to the total search-volume across various regions of the world.
Twitch facilitates users that would like to stream and watch game streaming. Those who stream also give their own audio commentary. Twitch differs from YouTube as the stream can run without pause for as long as the streamer allows. Streamers are also able to upload short clips accessible 24 hours a day.
With the number of Twitch audience doubling from 20 million in 2012 to 45 million in 2013 it is evident that there is demand for the service is provides, which is allowing users to stream themselves for money and cash returns. The rise in users is also reflected by the rise in interest shown by Google Trends (graph above) reaching it’s highest point in 2015.
This research shows that there is a demand for ways to make money gaming online and I would expect that demand to grow as it becomes more accessible and more well known.
References:
Dredge, S. (2014). What is Twitch, and why does Google want it?. [online] the Guardian. Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/may/19/twitch-youtube-live-games-google-acquisition-pokemon [Accessed 21 Jan. 2016].
Easports.com, (2014). The Future of EA SPORTS Arena. [online] Available at: https://www.easports.com/fifa/news/2014/changes-to-ea-sports-arena [Accessed 21 Jan. 2016].
Sinclair, Brendan (2011). “Publisher estimates football simulation’s sell-through as “the most successful launch in EA Sports history,” calls it the biggest launch of 2011 so far.”. GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Retrieved October 5, 2011.