Make Money Reviewing Games

Are you looking for a way to turn your favorite hobby, playing video games, into a way of making money? If so, you may want a job as a video game reviewer. But is it really possible to make money reviewing games, or is that just a myth? After all, it seems like no one really knows a video game reviewer. They are out there, though, and you can break into the industry if you know how to go about it. Here are some tips for making money in the video game review world.

Read a Lot of Reviews

If you want to get a job reviewing games, you need to have a good idea of what reviewers are looking for. Writing a review for a video game magazine, website, or other publication can be difficult if you don't know how most video game reviews are set up. If you want to work for a specific publication or site, read as many reviews of theirs as you can and learn their format. Some have sections for you to comment on the plot, characters, playability, music, graphics, and other areas of the game. Some give scores out of five stars, while others use a ten star system.

Write, Write, Write

After you've finished reading many different reviews, it's time to start writing them. No, you probably won't be making money off these first reviews, but they will help you get a job as a game reviewer. Many publications are going to want to see writing samples, so it will be very helpful if you can immediately show them three or four reviews that you've written. You can even publish these reviews on a blog or your own website to make it very easy to share them with publications. One thing you may want to do when asked for writing samples is take some of the reviews you've written and put them into the specific format the publication uses. This will show them that you are familiar with their publication and know how to structure your reviews in the way they want.

Learn to Review Multiple Genres

Most gamers enjoy a few different genres, but if you want to beat out others for a reviewing job, you're going to need to show that you can review most video game genres (unless, of course, you're applying for a reviewer job with a publication that only writes about specific types of games). Publications want to hire people who can handle many different types of games, so showing that you're flexible and understand genres ranging from racing and fighting to RPGs and puzzle games is going to give you a bit of an edge.

Join Forums

Joining online forums and posting your thoughts on video games (perhaps even using this as a place to post your reviews) is a good way of establishing yourself. In fact, if you join a forum on an official publication site, you may even attract the attention of the editors. Even if you don't, these types of forums are good places to work on your writing skills, plus you can often find others writing reviews. Study what works in their reviews and what doesn't and try to incorporate the good things into your own writing.

Keep at it

Getting a job writing video game reviews isn't impossible, but it may take some time. Just keep reading, writing, and contacting publications. Eventually, you'll get there!