Going Pro is one of the highest aspirations one can have as a gamer. Spending hours in front of the screen playing your favourite games on its own is rewarding, but there is so much more with the competitive side of gaming.
Esports merges the love for gaming and the spirit of competition into one stunningly successful brand and niche. And today, the esports industry is worth over $1bn, making the switch to professional not only a wise one but a profitable one as well.
A career in esports as a professional gamer is fulfilling and lucrative — the best way to combine work and play without one outshining the other. It also brings a third factor into the mix — tech. Esports exposes players and enthusiasts to a lot of tech and software, raising equal parts awareness and giving a platform to the players who also need one to highlight their tech as well.
The esports space features a lot of popular gaming titles such as DOTA, Call of Duty and Call of Duty Mobile, Apex Legends, Valorant, FreeFire and Fortnite. These games are played in every continent, every country and every city as of today. The number of active gamers number somewhere around 3 billion people.
While the desire to become a professional esports player can be the stepping stone, it is not solely enough, you need more — that extra effort. But with the growing number of esports tournaments and their astounding prize pools, more and more gamers will be eager to get a piece of that.
The average esports player makes somewhere between $50,000 to $75,000 annually. That’s a lot of money and you can get in on it as well. You can also make that much and more, but do you have what it takes? Are you willing to put in the work? If youre saying yes, then there are a few steps you can follow.
Let’s take you through the steps on going from Amatuer to Professional esports player.
Good, Better, Best: the first and most important part of the professional esports career path is finding the games you are good at and the ones that are your favourite. It is expected that you will be much better at games that you actually enjoy playing, the trick to getting from just being good or better to being the best is to always choose the games you love the most. Gamr newsletter gives weekly updates on the games that are making the rounds and which ones to look out for, if you have trouble finding the right one for you, we can help with that.
Practice, Practice, Practice: the first thing you will learn when you talk to any pro gamers is their insane worth ethic. They are known to clock in over ten hours of practice per day, tirelessly putting in work to hone and master their craft. So if you wish to be as good as them — winning prize money and getting fame, you must be willing to put in harrowing hours of practice, the competition will not be slacking either.
Record and Self-Review: there’s one thing to play and play for hours trying to perfect the skills but it won’t be sufficient without actually being able to pinpoint what exactly it is that needs fixing. For gamers, just like other athletes, you must cultivate the habit of recording your games, so you can go over them later and see ways you could have acted better or decisions you could have made differently.
Be Consistent: as you make the move to practise and do self-reviews, you must also be willing to be consistent. Consistency must not be confused with volume of hours, the goal is not to play for 24 hours a day but 24 hours a week. Consistency is how you get your mind and body in tune with the game, Volume can only appear to give this too but you will have a tired mind and body which will not retain anything.
Get Your Name Out There: When you incorporate the practices and reviews to sharpen your skill set, the next thing you need to do to make the transition from amateur to pro is to stream your games. Thanks to the streaming sites and apps flooding the industry, anyone can livestream their gaming content for free. Streaming helps you gain much needed notoriety in the gaming and esports community. People will cheer you on more, brands will want to sign you on, if you have a healthy internet presence as a pro gamer.
Enlist for Tournaments: once you get to the point where you’re confident enough to make video content with your gaming, and have built a healthy following, the next step is to enter into as many tournaments as you can. Gamr offers players easy access to tourneys, and also helps them keep in touch with upcoming ones so they can register early and have time to practise. Consider it an experience gathering venture, even if you don’t win, you would have placed your name in the ecosystem of competitive gaming and esports. And with constant practice, you can always try again and claim victory.
The path to becoming a professional esports player is one that is riddled with a lot of steps and levels, as a gamer, you must already be familiar with beating levels and going over hurdles. Think of your career journey as one of your favourite games, and dedicate to it, the same measure of commitment and passion.
We all have favourite games we use as pastimes, but what if you could become much better at it and win money for it? The esports industry is still very much open to newcomers, but I would advise that you start making preparations to be a part of this as soon as possible.
