Did you know that the professional gaming industry is projected to generate over a billion dollars in 2023? Yes, it has become huge and it is no wonder that more and more gamers are looking to go professional and make a career out of it.
What most people interested in gaming forget is that going professional requires a whole new level of sincerity, hard work and persistence. While spending hours in front of the gaming console is one of the prerequisites, it is not the only one. Having said that, professional gaming is certainly a lucrative opportunity to explore.
Who is a Pro Gamer?
A Pro Gamer is someone who plays games full-time. This does not mean that they get paid to only sit and play games (sometimes they do but that’s not the point). A pro gamer participates in tournaments and tries to win prizes. Other sources of income for a pro gamer include sponsorship money from advertisers (unlike casino players who win in the Bonus 138 slot).
A pro gamer does not develop games or test them. His or her job is to select a game of his interest and work hard to master playing it. Once he does that, he plays in official tournaments as a professional player. This requires consistent practice, much like professional sports.
4 Steps to becoming a Pro Gamer
Are you someone who spends a considerable time of their day gaming and are pretty good at it? You might want to consider becoming a pro gamer. Let us help you start with the process.
- Narrow down your options – Assuming you are not a newbie when it comes to the world of gaming, you know that there are three levels of choice that you will need to make – genre, platform and game.
In terms of gaming genre, you can pick from racing, strategy or adventure games. This would obviously depend on your area of interest and skill level. Once a genre is finalized, it is important to decide on a platform of your choice – PC games or console games. Again, this would depend on what device is available with you.
Lastly, after the above two choices are made, you can go ahead and fixate on a game or variety of games within a genre and master them. - Purchase the right gear – Having narrowed down your choice of game, the next important step is to invest in the appropriate equipment necessary to become a pro gamer. Since you would be short of money when starting out, you do not need to buy everything at one go. Starting with the basics makes sense.
Some of the things that you might consider buying at the start include a gaming PC/laptop/console (depending on your choice of platform), sturdy keyboard, good quality headsets, microphone and webcam and the all-important comfortable gaming chair. In fact, choosing a gaming chair is a major task.
- Play consistently – Like any field, success in gaming comes only if you work hard and play consistently. Any pro gamer will tell you that a big time gap in between practice sessions can wreck your focus and concentration. If you have your game decided and the right gear has arrived, there should be nothing that stops you from starting to play regularly.
Practice is one of the important pillars of a successful gaming career. Enough hours of gaming combined with spending time finding new strategies to approach the same problem and looking at tips and tricks online are all steps that are part of the dedicated approach that you need to take to be a pro gamer. - Start competing – After putting in the required number of hours, now is the time to get in the boxing ring and compete with others. Obviously, professional tournaments are still a little far. But you can start competing in local gaming events. Joining a gaming community can help you stay updated with such events.
Some local competitions will give you an idea of where you stand. Then comes the opportunity for you to go pro. However, it is always a good idea to spend some time going to pro events and observing the players and also how the games are conducted. If you feel you are ready, go ahead and participate in your first professional game, and hopefully you will never have to look back.
The prize money from tournaments is never enough to sustain yourself and the final step to becoming a pro gamer is to get sponsorships.
