The gaming industry has always been popular, but its market grew significantly during the lockdown. The year 2021 was a golden year for gaming developers. In terms of operating profit, Nintendo leads with $5.4 billion, while Sony is a close second with $2.63 billion. This is quite impressive, and such numbers result from several marketing channels, like YouTube videos, promotional articles, and gaming blogs.

Of course, starting a video game blog won’t net you such ridiculous numbers, but it’s a great way to start a new career if you have a writing flow. Is there anything better than doing something out of passion and making money? The statistics shown above prove how big of an audience you can reach. It sounds great on paper, but what about reality?

There are several factors to consider when starting your gaming blog. You must create a website, build an audience, write valuable content, and hope to be recognized to make a profit from your work. These are pretty daunting tasks, especially for a beginner, so we’ve created a step-by-step guide on handling them. If the benefits of starting a new gaming blog sound appealing to you, read on to find out everything you need to know about it.

Why Start a Video Gaming Blog?

The gaming community grows yearly, especially in the esports market, valued at $1.22 billion in 2021. Whether you want to write about mainstream or niche topics, finding like-minded people within the gaming sector is much easier.

1. Share Your Passion and Knowledge

• If you’re enthusiastic about gaming, a blog is a fantastic outlet to share your insights, reviews, strategies, and experiences with others who have similar interests. You can cover anything from game mechanics and storylines to Easter eggs, helping fellow gamers learn more or make informed choices.

2. Build a Community

• A blog can become a hub for like-minded gamers to gather, discuss games, share opinions, and connect over common interests. You’ll build relationships with other gaming enthusiasts, which can lead to networking opportunities, friendships, or even collaborations.

3. Establish Yourself as an Expert

• If you’re knowledgeable in a specific genre or gaming platform, a blog allows you to establish authority in that niche. You’ll become a trusted voice for others who seek advice or information about new games, gaming strategies, or industry trends.

4. Stay Updated with the Gaming Industry

• Running a blog encourages you to stay current with the latest game releases, hardware updates, and industry trends. This can be a fantastic way to immerse yourself further into the gaming world and keep up with innovations that shape the future of gaming.

5. Monetize Your Hobby

• Gaming blogs can be monetized through affiliate links, ad placements, sponsorships, and even selling merchandise. By reviewing games, creating guides, or producing quality content, you can turn your passion into a side hustle—or even a full-time career over time.

6. Develop New Skills

• Blogging isn’t just about writing; it involves SEO, social media marketing, web design, and multimedia production. Developing these skills can open up additional career paths in fields like content creation, digital marketing, or even game journalism.

7. Influence and Inspire

• Your reviews, guides, and insights might influence other gamers' decisions and inspire them to try new games, genres, or platforms. You may encourage indie game developers, promote underappreciated games, or create unique content that resonates with a particular audience.

8. Creative Outlet

• Writing about your gaming experiences, creating character analyses, or producing fan theories provides a unique, creative outlet. This can be especially fun if you enjoy storytelling or analyzing game design, allowing you to express yourself and your perspectives in your own style.

Starting a video gaming blog is a great way to combine creativity, community, and career potential all in one place!

1. Set the Focus of Your Gaming Blog

Ask yourself three questions before you start writing:

• What’s your direction?
• What’s your target audience?
• What’s the main purpose of your blog?

You can’t just write about everything and nothing. The key to success is to decide on a specific video game blog niche. A jack of all trades is a master of none, and your readers will immediately notice that. This means you won’t grow as a blogger since you’re not providing anything useful to your readers.

Let’s say you’re a Minecraft expert with a throughout knowledge of the game, ready to help those who are just starting out or are less experienced than you are. If that’s the case, you’ll always have something to write about. Also, hosting a Minecraft server would be a great way to gather a community around yourself. Do you get the idea?

Find a topic that you know in-depth. Since we’re talking about gaming, pick one game you’ll feel confident writing about, like guides, tips, the latest news, etc. It sounds obvious, but that’s the secret behind success. For example, Blog of Legends provides esport-oriented content regarding League of Legends. Keoni Miller, the site’s contributor, has extensive knowledge about League and provides its readers with the latest news regarding the professional scene. He found his niche, and that’s exactly what you’ll have to do, too.

It’s all about establishing a brand people will recognize. You could be an esports enthusiast or one of the best junglers on your League server. Writing about something you’re truly good at is the best way to make a name for yourself.

Of course, a successful gaming blog doesn’t have to be all about games. Maybe you’re a hardware enthusiast who loves building gaming PCs, from budget to high-end rigs. That’s also an excellent topic to write about!

After establishing your focus, it’s time to choose the right gaming .

2. Choose a  for Your New Blog

Don’t cover too many topics at once. Many games have their own genres and even subgenres, creating their own niches. Take, for example, Witcher 3. You can write about its lore, monsters, storyline, character builds, or Gwent mini-game. Let’s say you finished the game, but you’ve spent most of the time collecting all Gwent cards and know the location of every opponent. If that’s the case, you’ve found your niche.

Instead of writing about everything that crosses your mind regarding your favorite game, stick to that one topic you’re passionate about and focus on that. Later on, you can expand your niche, but it’s best to stick to only one when you’re just starting out. It’s much easier to gather a dedicated audience around your topic this way.

Another advantage of such an approach is the quality of your blog content. If you’re an expert in your chosen niche, it’s easier to write in-depth posts your readers will find valuable. Below, you’ll find some of the most popular niches for your gaming blog if you’ve still not decided what to write about. 

Gameplay Walkthroughs

One of the most popular topics to write about since many players are looking for walkthroughs when they get stuck. It’s one of the easiest topics to write about since you don’t need to be extremely creative when writing such a guide. However, being straightforward and cohesive will definitely help in creating quality, unique content.

Steam and Reddit are among the most popular places for written gameplay walkthroughs. So if you’re already a streamer, such content is the best way to promote your existing channels. Bring your own unique style, and there’s a high chance you’ll stand out in the sea of gameplay walkthroughs.

Game Reviews

Writing an engaging game review is difficult on its own, but you’ll also compete with other gaming blogs, and I mean big ones like IGN, Gamespot, or Metacritic. It doesn’t sound motivating at all, but many readers appreciate independent writers as they find them more trustworthy. 

Use this to your advantage and show your audience that you can create content directly competing with the biggest names in the industry. A well-presented viewpoint has more impact on your readers than you may think. 

Latest Gaming News

When looking for a niche within a certain topic, gaming news is an endless sea of things to write about. The number of sub-topics you can find is endless here, and you’ll have to figure it out yourself. Choose a certain game, category, or esports team and focus only on that. 

As a news provider, you’ll have to keep up with the rest of the world and avoid getting overwhelmed by too much information. Focusing on one niche will definitely help with that, so you can cover breaking news faster. 

Gaming Hardware Reviews

Consoles, games, monitors, collector editions, you name it. Whether it’s an unboxing or an entire review, reading your opinion on a certain product will help potential customers evaluate if it’s worth the price. Written hardware reviews perfectly complement YouTube channels, covering all the details of the product you’re reviewing. 

However, being a good reviewer means honesty and good insight. Your audience will notice sponsored reviews from a mile away, so gain their trust by pointing out all flaws of a reviewed product.

Game Developer Diary

Becoming a game developer is the biggest dream of many, so first-hand information on what it looks like can be very valuable. However, it’s a complex subject where you can’t just do research and write about it. You’ll have to be a game developer yourself to earn credibility and be able to give advice on this topic. Therefore, it’s a niche that’s always in demand since only game developers can fill it. 

Streaming Channel Blog

We’ve already mentioned it a few times throughout the article, but many successful blogs arose from already popular YouTube or Twitch channels. So, if you already have your own group of dedicated viewers, a streaming channel blog is a great way to increase traffic. Promote it through social media channels so every subscriber can visit it.

The best thing about this solution is that you don’t have to be the writer. Working on YouTube videos and writing posts can be challenging, especially if you upload regularly. If that’s the case, you can hire a competent friend who will run the blog while you will focus on the streaming channel. 

Esports Related Blog

Esports has seen increased popularity in recent years, so picking such a niche is a great opportunity but also a challenge. You’ll have to compete with sites like ESPN, THeScoreESports, Gamurs, EsportsObserver, and many more. However, these sites are big and not specific-team oriented. And that’s where small video game blogs can shine.

Most sports teams wouldn’t exist without fans, and the gaming world isn’t an exception here. Creating high-quality, unique content regarding your favorite esports team can attract a lot of like-minded people and build a place where people can read about matches and events related only to their favorite team.

Picking a niche can be difficult, but once you do, it will help you keep your articles value-packed and relevant. Any of the niches described above are a great choice but pick according to your own interests. Write from passion, not from obligation. Once you do, it’s time to choose a web host and get your blog online.   

3. Choose The Right Blogging Platform

There are so many blogging platforms to choose from that you can even start your gaming blog today. It’s a great idea to start ASAP, especially if you have a broad concept of what to write about. Things can get complicated, though, especially if you notice how many options are available to you, both free and paid.

Many beginner bloggers tend to choose a free domain, and we can’t blame them for that. Sites like Blogger, Tumblr, Squarespace, and Wix are great when starting out, but they fall short after a while. Start with a paid web hosting service if you want to take your blogging seriously. Why is that?

Free platforms are plagued with many limitations that will successfully deny your blog from being successful, even if you’re known for writing relevant posts.

Here are the main drawbacks of free blogging platforms:

• Very limited customization.
• Unprofessional look and feel.
• Minimal monetization potential.
• Strict terms of use that can even lead to losing all blog content upon violation.
• They technically own your content.

We know it’s tempting to start with free options first, but no one will take you seriously if you do that. People are accustomed to professional-looking websites, and you must follow the trend. Therefore, your current best option is to start a WordPress blog. WordPress is a self-hosting blogging platform miles ahead of the free alternatives.