Esports is becoming a new entertainment and competition trend for young people. By 2023, this business can bring in profits of up to $1.5 billion.
It creates a new and extremely potential job at present – a professional gamer. What could be better than playing games all day and making money from them?
So, how to become a professional gamer? This article will help you discover the basic steps to entering this profession.
If you find them interesting, please continue reading with us!
What Is A Professional Gamer?
A professional gamer, also known as a pro gamer or gaming player, plays games full-time and plays in tournaments to win prizes.
Sponsors and brands will also pay for them when they are also part of a successful group of players. Pro gamers focus full-time on gaming and practice.
This job is different from game testers or designers in the gaming industry.
It’s the job of pro gamers to spend hours practicing and developing important skills like reflexes and body coordination. They will need to work hard to compete in professional tournaments.
How To Become A Professional Gamer?
If you feel that being a professional gamer is a great job for you, let’s explore the steps to pursue this field.
1. Find Your Motivation
When you choose esports or any profession in life, you also need strong enough motivation. There are many valid reasons to play, like the satisfaction of growing and the joy of competing.
You also need to have a passion for contributing and developing to the community. These positive motivations will be a prerequisite for players to stick around for a long time.
On the other hand, you will easily become bored and exhausted if you only focus on flashy benefits like fame or money.
After all, love and passion are what keep you practicing every day to become more professional.
2. Pick Your Game
Once you have enough passion and motivation, the next step that you need to take is to find a game to practice. There are two ways to choose here: choose a game that is already famous or has just come out.
Ideally, choose games that are certified as Esport. They will have the resources and infrastructure available to support professional gaming.
Older games often have a strong community. In addition, they have a lot of tournaments that attract many sponsors and attractive prizes.
The barrier that new players have to overcome will be higher. Games that you can refer to are:
- Dota 2
- StarCraft II
- Counter-Strike
- Warcraft III
- Madden NFL
- FIFA
- Call of Duty
- StarCraft: Brood War
- SMITE
- Street Fighter IV
- Team Fortress 2
- World of Tanks
- CrossFire
- The Halo Series
- Heroes of Newerth
With games that have just been released, players will need to contribute to the meta mining and enhancing the gameplay experience. This action will be challenging and prone to intense volatility.
If there aren’t enough players and the community isn’t thriving, you’ll have to choose a new game. Good advice is to try a few options and stick with the one you love the most.
3. Join The Community
You’ll need to learn about them before putting too much hope and effort into a game to become an esports star. Take some time to research forums where large numbers of players congregate.
Reading and following our discussions will provide better indications of the future development path. Plus, you can evaluate if this professional training and development path is up to your expectations.
You will also need an extensive network to find a suitable team. Try contacting other organizations and players.
Another advantage is that the game’s new meta and gameplay styles will also be announced on forums or Youtube. The community needs to interact with each other to update and train themselves.
Building a close relationship with the community will be a strong incentive for long-term investment in the game.
4. Gear Up
To master skills, you need to equip yourself with the best gear possible. Let’s start with a mechanical keyboard and a good gaming mouse.
You have a lot of options when it comes to peripherals. They fluctuate with different models, sizes, sensitivities, and form factors.
However, you must choose the best equipment. Get advice from esports experts and their gear for some of the best gear.
Whatever your pick, make sure you maintain consistency across devices during matches. It will create a familiarity for the nervous system to relax and relieve pressure on the body.
When it comes to hardware, consistency is key. It is why the organizers are always careful in choosing equipment so as not to interfere with the playing process.
Therefore, you also need to test the performance of your gaming PC or laptop to make sure it’s powerful enough.
5. Practice
Practicing when playing the game will be extremely easy when most games today have an automatic matchmaking system. However, you will need to spend a lot of time to win.
The first element in mastering the mechanics of the game. Basic skills like accuracy in FPS, ultimate in MOBA, or maximum actions per minute in RTS are the most important knowledge.
You’ll need to learn and figure out how to memorize these moves until they’re embedded in your muscles.
Professional players spend more than 12 hours a day practicing mechanics every day. As a result, they develop and improve their skills every minute.
During practice, you will need to study the game’s overall strategy.
High-end and well-established games will often have multiple layers of strategy, from high-level metas to situational play. However, it makes it very difficult for newbies to start learning.
A good way to learn and practice is to follow streams and videos from top players. Later, you can even go back to playthroughs from the first games to find mistakes and learn from them.
6. Climb The Ladder
Along the way to mastering your game, you can participate in competitions and tournaments year-round. Get started as an individual player or as a team.
You can check out online tournaments like ESEA, MLG, and ESL. Also, visit the local leagues for the best view.
You need to give all your strength to win and keep trying for the end goal. The successes will make the teams notice you and set you to professional esport.
7. Find Your Team
You will be a top candidate to join a gaming team if you stand out.
Try to build a reputation by topping the leaderboards in the game or winning local matches.
To be invited to join a group, equip yourself with a top skillset and an effective network. Depending on distance and convenience, you can meet in person or chat online with the teams.
The better your performance, the more attention you will get from everyone. So there’s no such thing as too much preparation or practice.
8. Compete and Get Noticed
When you win a live tournament, you get recognition and a fair amount of cash. Join the game league you’re after and register according to the process.
Some major tournaments will require a registration fee if you want to participate. Popular tournaments include Heroes of the Dorm, League of Legends World Championships, and Intel Extreme Masters.
9. Get Sponsored
Sponsoring a company means you will receive a fee or free equipment for you to represent them.
Ads may include dressing up in public or streaming or linking a product in a video description. Sometimes, you’ll need to give a presentation on creating value for your brand.
Start by contacting different brands and discussing sponsorship opportunities. If you become famous, people will come to you.
Some teams have also signed contracts with different brands. The more famous the team, the better the brand quality.
The most influential sponsors focus on computer accessories, energy drinks, hardware, and software companies.
10. Live Like A Pro
Being a pro player means becoming a celebrity in your field. It also means that all public opinion and the audience will turn their attention to you.
Cheating or mindless speech can ruin your career and get you banned from the game forever.
Instead, always try to learn a lot from the game and stay humble. Don’t get angry when you lose, and try to stay focused even when under pressure.
FAQs
If you have any questions about becoming a gaming player, please ask in the comments section below.
How Much Can You Earn As A Professional Gamer?
The fixed salary of a game player is not clear because this profession is not popular yet. The number will fluctuate depending on the type of game you participate in and how you play it.
Professional players can get an average of $4000 per month. That doesn’t include tournament prize money that comes from streaming and sponsorship.
You have the opportunity to receive bonuses if you win in important tournaments. In addition, being a professional player allows you to grow your personal brand and number of followers.
The revenue of the top 100 gamers is around $1 to $7 million per year, excluding taxes. They earn a decent amount of advertising revenue and some side income.
It will be in the range of $300,000 per year if you are in the top 200 to 500.
How Many Hours A Day Will A Pro Gamer Play?
New players will probably need to practice 12 hours a day to become technically proficient. So, they often do not have much time to connect with social life.
However, some games will only require you to be online for three to five hours a day once established.
You will have to invest a lot of time to become a professional gamer. In fact, it is a basic requirement of every profession.
How Do Professional Gamers Make Money?
If you want to function as a streamer, you need to have content to deliver to your audience. You will receive money from affiliate programs revenue, advertising, and receive donations from the audience.
Youtube and Twitch offer the best monetization opportunities for audiences. Most players will get 50% back from the audience donation fee.
If you have a larger number of followers, the split will likely be larger.
Some platforms even pay users revenue if they have a large enough audience. Even on Youtube, viewers can donate to you in the chat.
Should You Be a Pro Gamer or a Streamer?
Before starting the career of the professional gaming player you want, let’s clearly distinguish the difference between being a gamer and a streamer.
The main job of pro streamers is to post online videos and streams to attract subscribers and grow the channel. They are usually active on platforms like Twitch or Youtube.
Their revenue comes from advertising and broadcasting content online. In contrast, gamers earn money from teams, sponsors, or bonuses.
The advantage of being a streamer is that the barrier is lower, and you can be in charge of your own time. However, pro players tend to make more money.
Depending on your goals, skills, and level of practice, you can decide on your career path.
Conclusion
This article fully summarizes the steps of becoming a future star. The theory seems simple, but you will need to put in a lot of work and effort to succeed.
Start your career by following the steps above and building your brand. Hopefully, your path to get a professional gaming player will not be far away.