When you are playing a game, more often than not, you end up pumping more and more money into it. At least, that is the general trend amongst gamers. Be it for additional content that adds to the game or for cosmetics, which, more often than not, end up serving no purpose other than making your games look cool. According to the data published by J. Clement on Statista, gamers across the world spent 54 billion U.S. dollars on additional in-game content in the year 2020 itself. This number is projected to rise to around 75 billion U.S. dollars by 2025. Now, that is insane.
But, if you play smart, you can end up making money from the games that you play. I am not talking about selling your data in exchange for in-game items or discount vouchers. I am talking about making money, which you can use in real life or recycle to buy more games. We have done it at the SKOAR! Council headquarters. And, since we are talking about getting the most value for your money, why not explore the avenue of making money with the games that you play?
So, without wasting any more time, let’s look at the best way in which you can make money from games.
Before proceeding further, I would like to inform you that this article is purely meant to be informative. It is not professional financial advice and contains information based purely on the personal experience of the author. Do your own research, and as the leader says, trust the numbers, not your guts.
Across genres, one of the most common trends that we see is in-game item drops. They either scale with your level or time of play or are purely based on your luck. While there are games that do not allow the sale of these in-game items, we have titles like DOTA 2, CS2, and the like, which have a full-fledged marketplace where players trade their items, or simply sell them, to get money, which they can recycle towards buying more game content or other games as well.
In-game Item Trading Flow Explained (Source: Online Games Virtual Products-Transaction and Value, via Atlantis Press)
The best part is that there is no real risk involved in trading items if you follow the right steps. Many game publishers and developers have added this mechanic to their games themselves, with Valve being at the forefront, with their Steam marketplace. It is a well-proctored marketplace where you can avoid bad actors with ease and, with a fair amount of research, make some good money. For example, CS2 has a weekly item drop system for players with Prime status enabled on their account. Let’s look at how you can use that to make money!
These drops can vary in value. You can get a skin/case/graffiti that costs 0.01 cents, or you can make a bank with a drop that is valued at over 50 U.S. dollars. When you get a drop, you are presented with four items that you can pick from. When you get the items, there is an option to inspect the item’s quality as well. When you get the drop, the first thing to do is check the Steam Market for the value of each item.
Steam Community Market page for the Kilowatt Case
Simply head to the market and have a look at the different listings for the item that you are considering redeeming. Once you have done that, take a quick glance at the pricing chart for the item on the page. If you see a high-value item with a stagnant price and a low-value item with a rising price, I would go for the item with a rising price. Once you are done with the price check, come back to the game and redeem the item that fancies you. After you get the item in your inventory, you can then sell it on the Steam market.
There, you can list the item for immediate sale or place a sell order, which will ensure that your item is sold only when a buyer matches the price that you have listed it for. Just a reminder, if you have chosen an item with an increasing price, then you might want to hold on to it before listing or place a sell order for a price which you think would be appropriate for that item.
Steam pricing chart for the Kilowatt Case – Notice the downward trend? You know what to do
Once you have sold the item, the money will be deposited into your Steam Wallet. You can use that to buy your next favourite skin or your favourite game!
As I have said multiple times, please proceed with caution. I know it looks like a gold mine; however, if you dig too deep, you might end up in a hole which you can’t get out of. That’s about it. Again, trust the numbers, not your guts.
If you are planning to look more into in-game and related economies, I would recommend checking out this article – Gamer’s Retirement Plan: Draft the Final Level of Your Life – where I covered how gamers can draft their own retirement plan.
And, if you were wondering where you have heard the line “Trust the number not your guts”, it is because I borrowed it from TDMHeyzeus, a Counter-Strike YouTuber. Thank you, Heyzeus, for giving us gamers a virtue for life.
Three virtues to keep in mind…
There are three precautionary measures that I want you to follow before going ahead with the sale of your in-game items –
This article was originally published in SKOAR! July 2024 issue.