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Destiny (Twitch streamer) discusses how money is made through Twitch streaming
- Thread starter crimsonheadGCN
- Start date
Lucent
Member
Hell yeah. Better than working retail doing the same stuff every day. I'd keep it up as long as I could and then play whatever I couldnt when I retired. Lol
Yeah that's shit money. Be lucky to clear $70k
That's more than 3 times the median for the US my man
Or you learn a skill/trade, use your education, get a job with benefits and a career path, do something that adds to society, and make more money and play games in his free time?
Lucent
Member
Yeah. And imo it depends on where you live and how you live. I'm single so that'd be a ton for me. Lol
DigitalRicket
Member
My wife and I make est. $35k a year combined. Yeah, getting double that is not chump change to some.
Do you make 6 figures? $70k is pretty comfortable for most people. It's more than my parents make combined, and they do much more demanding things than playing video games.
TheAbsolution
Member
$70k is good money, what the hell?
Lucent
Member
Entertainment doesn't contribute to society? Man what are actors doing? Lol
You don't think the YouTube bubble is going to burst? Lmao. It's been 7 years and copyright holders are starting to come down hard. Our corporate overlords can't stand fair use even in the news let alone on you tubers making money off of their goods.
A lot of people with choose a job they will enjoy for less money over a job they hate for more money. I'm one of them.
weevles
Member
Right, it's just like the success of any celebrity--how charismatic/entertaining you are will play into how well you do of course. I was just referring to those comments which made it seem like it was a bad deal to do at all.
Edit: and like the guy above, some people want to do it just because they enjoy it.
diablos991
Can’t stump the diablos
I would have to make concessions to get by on $70k. $100k isn't the "you are wealthy" number it used to be in the 90s.
RedAssedApe
Banned
lot of the people you see streaming are doing it after work and it isn't their full time job. most of them probably don't make much money. its more supplemental income. like if i was going to school and had a part-time job that was paying me minimum wage but I got tips.
from the outside looking in i dunno if i have a good idea of how much work this actually takes. i guess i could try playing games for an entire day for a whole week
from the outside looking in i dunno if i have a good idea of how much work this actually takes. i guess i could try playing games for an entire day for a whole week
Wife and I make $190k.
The lowest paid person in my department makes $70k, gets benefits, and works 40 hours a week. And this is a department of 100 people working in talent acquisition.
My point is that the 24 year old girl we jus hired with 2 years exp makes more than a clown playing video games and asking for donations. She gets healthcare and a retirement plan.
TheAbsolution
Member
Where do you live?
This isn't entertainment. This is a guy playing video games and commenting about it.
StanleyStutters
Member
I agree $70K is a very good salary, but the big risk for the streamers is added expenses and lack of security. Things like healthcare and dental are out of pocket. If a channel falls in popularity the streamer has to try and reenter the work force after being out of it for what could be years. Plus, they'd most likely be looking at a sizable pay cut. I love Twitch and wish the streamers all the luck in the world, but it is a very risky career.
RedAssedApe
Banned
your situation isn't really the norm though.
Lucent
Member
So why do people watch? Not for entertainment? Kinda weird since that's the only reason I watch anything usually.
Looking at Twitch stream numbers right now, seems like it's entertainment to a lot of people.
StanleyStutters
Member
It's still entertainment. I would consider talk show hosts entertainers and they're just talking to celebrities and doing sketches. Comedians talk on stage about their lives, experiences, observations, but they're still entertainers.
TheAbsolution
Member
Isn't that the case with doing any kind of entertainment online? Or being self employed on general? It's not unique to Twitch.
SonicXtreme
Member
it still blows my mind that people send out donations to anyone but the more the merrier. i mean its only weird bc generally i think of people who cant afford the game watching streams for the most part so the fact that they have money to give out seems backward to me lol, but i'm sure there's plenty of sharks that drop crazy bones. personally i get bored watching any stream more than 20 mins or so unless its some crazy speedrun. but lol at the people saying contribute to society. you could work two full time jobs in many fields and not clear 70k for quite a while. more power to these guys. just hope that they go to the gym and don't skip leg day bc the jellification is my worst complaing about sitting around streaming all day ha.
Pretty sure someone like Forsen earns 700k per year by streaming.
As someone who's paid in the low 6 figures before OT, working 60 hr weeks fucking SUCKS and I work in a field I really, really enjoy. More so than video games.
Well I imagine someone who makes 100k has a pretty different idea of "concessions" than someone who makes 50k or less.
You have a point with the benefits, but if my job was my hobby and paid that much it'd personally be worth it to me to pay for those benefits out of pocket. Are there better job opportunities? Of course. Are those job opportunities available to most people? Not really.
Hundreds of thousands of people would disagree with you. And by that logic neither are athletes. It's just a bunch of guys playing a sport.
DigitalRicket
Member
The same applies to professional athletes. I love me some basketball but I wouldn't mold my entire life to try to get better at putting a ball in a hoop but some people adore the sport and are really good at it. The same goes for these Twitch streamers, they love video games and people are willing to watch them play and interact with them.
Forsaken82
Member
What I wouldn't give to make 70k a year...
That salary would pay off my student loan debt before the year ended and I would still be more than comfortable living my life.
Are you a family man? I assume if 70k would be tough to get by on for you, you have to have a few extra mouths to feed, kids to send through school and a mortgage to pay?
sounds about right....aren't donations considered gift tax at 40%? so every $10 he gets actually $6
BreezyLimbo
Banned
Yup and people enjoy that.Nothing wrong with it.
If you do it properly you can write off enough things to where you're not paying very much in taxes, at all. Everything becomes a business expense.
It's still a hell of a lot of work. 60 hours a week - and that's not 60 hours of sitting on the couch. That's 60 hours of being "on" as in actively engaging with your audience, etc. That sounds draining as hell.
It really isn't. Factor in investing in your retirement, mortgage, a family and savings and it's not much in the end.
diablos991
Can’t stump the diablos
Yup. The family takes a lot of resources to manage properly.
The upside is I'm in my 20s still and have plenty of room to advance. So I'm confident I'll get where I want.
reynal1287
Member
If he wins that much, then can't imagine what Lirik earns.
crimsonheadGCN
Banned
If he wins that much, then can't imagine what Lirik earns.
I'm guessing Lirik makes around $500,000. He has the most subscribers on Twitch I believe (> 10,000) plus there is ad revenue, donations, sponsors, and Youtube.
If he developed himself as much as Destiny does (with Apps, a separate subscription model, etc) then he could easily earn more.
StanleyStutters
Member
The amount of work these guys put in is crazy. On top of the 60 hours on camera they still have work off-camera. A lot of them also have YouTube channels to manage, communicating with fans, trying to set-up sponsorships and events for the channel, etc. It takes a lot of dedication to turn this into a career.
Probably way more than that. Check the screenshot I posted on the first page. $410,000 per year just from donations. And Lirik seems even bigger.
StanleyStutters
Member
True, I wasn't trying to say it's a Twitch specific difficulty. The point I was trying to make is that, while $70K is a lot of money, it's not the same when you have no benefits or job security, and work 60+ hours week.
TheAbsolution
Member
And if I'm not mistaken, he goes to school for computer science or something like that so it's not like he's just sitting on his ass all day.
That is true. Taxes + rent + utilities + all kinds of insurance costs, that all adds up very quickly. He mostly rakes in very little disposable income.
bro1 is rich AF though, so his perception might be a bit skewed.
Piercedveil
Member
Yep, that's correct. He's actually graduating in May IIRC and will be streaming "full-time" as he says. Even though he streams 6 days a week right now anyway haha.
That's the point. If it really requires that much work and the chances of having a long term career are that low then it's time to abandon ship and get on with your life. Playing video games for a life long career is not a smart idea.
Yes, I know you will mention some guy on twitch or some guy who just won some big competive game thing, but those are the far and few between.
I really worry about the guy who is early in his life and has a choice of having a career or doing twitch for a living and then 5-10 years pass and they have zero skills to show for it. Even the big youtube stars probably don't earn enough to substain a life if they don't save smart now.
Gaming is a hobby not a career.
Dude, check my other posts. With my student loans it's been tough where I live. I'm in a Chicago suburb where there are guys driving cars that cost $100K. Some parts of the country, money doesn't go very far.
This isn't the norm at all. Someone can do what people do on twitch without a college degree. Still 70k isn't "shit" money. If I made that much I could live very comfortably.