“Video games are a huge, incredibly popular, world-transforming medium.” – Austin Grossman. If you have a passion for gaming and want to turn your hobby into a successful business, the opportunities are plentiful. With the gaming industry booming like never before – In 2022, worldwide revenue from the gaming market was estimated at almost $347 billion, with mobile gaming taking a majority of it – creating meaningful experiences and monetizing them can be very rewarding if done right.
How Dennis Fong and KSI Leveraged Their Gaming Passion for Success
Dennis Fong’s success is a culmination of his passion for gaming, business acumen, and determined ambition. Business Hub highlights that he was the world’s first professional gamer as crowned by the Guinness Book of World Records. Realizing that gamers needed better technological support, Fong found Raptr, an all-rounder social networking site catering exclusively to gamers. Dennis’s entrepreneurial spirit also materialized through Lithium Technologies, where he was credited for confounding yet another revolutionary product in the Social media licensing Technology field. Eventually, Vista Partners acquired it for millions. But no feat compares with one last remarkable step taken within this journey: Collecting over $100 million post-acquisition price from MTV as the result of selling his own venture Xfire, a platform that allowed chatting with friends while playing online video games.
Olajide Olayinka Williams Olatunji, more popularly known by his online moniker KSI, is a modern success story all online gamers look up to. Greyjournal states that KSI initially garnered attention for soccer gaming videos he produced from his bedroom in London when he was only 17. It wasn’t long before he had millions of followers and made big money from his work. He has since continued successful ventures into music production, boxing broadcasting, and acting parts as well. He also launched his own brand of clothing lines and apparel collections. This brought him much greater financial prosperity than most thought possible. All together, now totaling $27 million net worth, leaves nothing to be said about how life-changing potential entrepreneurship from great passion can embody.
Transforming Your Gaming Passion into a Business
Investing in games is one of the most accessible ways to make profits in the video game industry. Techbullion explains that as long as you understand the current trends and what makes games popular, you’ll be able to identify profitable investments and potentially reap significant returns. Also, consider licensing opportunities within games – certain text or graphics that can be licensed and used by third parties for use in their own products can generate passive income streams when done correctly. Don’t forget about freemium models, either. Many mobile apps leverage free-to-play formats combined with microtransactions (in-app purchases) as major sources of revenue. Understanding advertising strategies and monetizing mobile apps is paramount.
Creating a business from your hobby isn’t easy, but it can certainly be done if you make use of the right tools and resources available today. There are plenty of examples where gamers like Dennis Fong or KSI have leveraged their skills playing video games into profitable businesses. With enough dedication, research and planning, all keen gamers looking to become entrepreneurs can break through the challenges they face when starting their own gaming business. Good luck.
