How to Make Money Playing Games: Four Ways Compared

You have probably seen an app that promises to pay you for playing games, and the first thing you want to know is whether the money is real. Games can pay real money in four different ways, and the best of them is the game offer. A game studio pays you a fixed reward for reaching steps in its game, such as a certain level, and nothing is at stake but your time. The other three are loyalty apps that pay a little for the hours you play, play-to-earn games that pay in a token whose value changes every day, and cash tournaments where your own money is at stake.

Streaming, coaching and esports can pay as well, but each of them is a job that needs a large audience or rare skill.

Four ways games pay you, side by side

Way to earn	How it pays	What you risk	Where the money comes from
Loyalty apps	Points for time played, turned into gift cards or cash	Your time	The app's advertisers
Game offers	A fixed reward for each step you reach	Your time	The game studio, which wants new players
Play-to-earn games	The game's own token	Your time, and the token's value	Whatever buyers pay for the token
Cash tournaments	A share of a prize pool when you win	Your entry fee, in every match	Other players' entry fees

The table runs from the safest way to the riskiest. Loyalty apps and game offers cost you nothing but time. A game offer also shows what each step pays before you start, which is why most of this guide is about game offers.

Loyalty apps pay a little for your time

A loyalty app pays you points for the time you spend in the games it promotes, and you turn the points into gift cards or a small cash payment. You risk nothing but your time, and the pay for that time is small, because the app pays for minutes played and not for reaching anything in the game.

Game offers pay a fixed reward for each step

A game studio wants new players who keep playing, so it pays for every new player who reaches the steps it chooses, such as a certain level or a finished chapter. On Earnit, that is a game offer: you start the offer, install the game from the store page it opens, and each step pays its reward when you reach it. The steps you finish count even if you stop, so you earn part of an offer's reward before you finish all of it.

The largest rewards usually belong to the later steps, which take the longest to reach, so decide before you start which step you are playing for. Some game offers also have a step that asks you to make a purchase in the game. Choose that step only if you want what you are buying anyway, because the money you spend goes to the game and is not part of your reward.

A game offer pays for the steps it lists, so read every step and what it pays before you install the game.

The same game can be listed by more than one of the partners that run offers on Earnit, with different steps and rewards each time, so compare the offers before you start. Finish the game from one offer only, because a game pays each player once.

Play-to-earn games pay in a token

A play-to-earn game pays you in its own token, and what the token is worth changes with the market every day. The time you put in stays the same, but the value of what you earned can fall before you sell it. If you want to be paid in crypto, earn crypto without buying any: a game offer pays a fixed amount, and you choose crypto only when you withdraw.

Cash tournaments put your own money at stake

A cash tournament app matches you against other players for an entry fee, and the winners share a prize pool after the app takes its own share. Cash tournaments are the only way of the four where you pay to play, and you lose the entry fee on every match you do not win. Treat a cash tournament as entertainment you pay for, never as a way to earn.

Choosing a game offer you can finish

A game offer pays only for the steps you reach, so the best offer is the one you will finish. Before you press Start offer, read the offer screen for these four things:

• The steps and what each one pays, on the Rewards tab. Find the step you will reach in the time you have.
• The time limit, if the offer has one. A step you reach after the time limit runs out might not pay.
• The devices the offer runs on, so you start it on the phone you will play on.
• How other members rated it. A low rating is a good reason to choose another game.

Pick a game you would enjoy anyway, because a game you dislike is the one you stop playing halfway.

Habits that make a game offer pay

A few habits decide whether the steps you reach are credited:

• Start the offer from Earnit and install the game straight away, on the phone you will play on.
• Choose games you have never installed. A game offer pays new players, so a game you played before does not pay.
• Keep the game installed until every step you reached is credited.
• Turn off any VPN while you play, because advertisers pay only for real people.
• Take a screenshot of each step as you reach it, so you have proof if a reward goes missing.

The habits that make any offer pay cover every kind of offer in more detail. If a step you reached has not tracked within 48 hours of reaching it, you can report the missing reward.

Your next step is the earn page: choose a game offer with a step you can reach, read its steps, and take a screenshot as you reach each one.