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YouTube can be a pretty daunting journey for even the best creators. We've discussed the various hats that a creator must wear and the often painstaking amount of time it can take in order for a creator to get to the level where they are collecting revenue so we aren't going to rehash all that. That having been said there is nobody on this platform that can hold a lit match to the difficulty faced by creators who want to break into the gaming segment of YouTube. It is easily the most competitive segment, with Minecraft-related content topping an astonishing one-trillion views. That's a single game!!! 1,000,000,000,000 views. With so much content being put out on so few games it can be a real struggle to get in front of audiences and create a space for yourself.
But it can be done. There are still ways that even Minecraft creators can succeed on the platform. You are just going to need to get a little creative, and you are going to need some patience. And a lot of work ethic. Having worked with hundreds of channels and seen so many creators succeed and fail over the past five years I offer you the top things that I would do if I were to start a gaming channel today.
Put Together A Gameplan
First and foremost I advice having a plan of attack. We are going to cover multiple tips and tricks here and I do not advise wasting an entire year prepping and planning to ensure that everything is absolutely perfect before I started... but I am also not going to simply jump in and see what works. I am going to loo into everything listed below and have a plan for implementing all of it and I am going to have this plan ready by the end of the month with a date for my first publish cemented. My game plan will consist of the following (in addition to everything listed below):
1. A review of my work week and free time. I will need to know what time I have available and what time I can make available for the purposes of filming, editing, marketing and promoting my content. This is a job and if I am serious about it then I am going to hold myself accountable for the time I am required to put into it.
2. Get a team involved. I am going to be doing 99% of the work here... but it behooves me to get my friends, siblings, spouse etc excited and involved in this project. They don't need to be on camera with me. They don't need to edit and often they might not be the best people to brainstorm with (but maybe they are?). But without their encouragement, support and acknowledgment this endeavor becomes exponentially more difficult.
3. Script multiple series. One of the biggest problems new creators face is their lack of a content library. Their homepage looks barren and dull. I would put together a plan for a dozen playlists to fill out the homepage as quickly as possible.
4. Come up with a gimmick. There are two ways to succeed in gaming; you need to be the best at the game(s) you are playing or you need to stand out from everyone else. As a creator I am inherently more pre-dispositioned for the latter, and would spend some time trying to devise a way to be different. Maybe I edit my footage into black and white and target color-blind viewers or I use this as an effect to give my content a grimey, edgy atmosphere. Maybe I voice the characters myself and create different, comical story-archs for popular games. Whatever my gimmick the idea is that it must be something that I can create 1,500 videos about. If you can't do that then you are DOA. 1,500 videos is the goal, plain and simple.
Commit To A Game/Genre
This is one place where so many creators fail right out of the gate. They play tons of different games depending on what they feel like playing on any given afternoon. There is no consistency, the videos have no tie to each other. They are just random, generic posts for the same game everyone else is playing. This takes a bit of the fun out of things... but I am not sympathetic about it. Either you enjoy gaming or you want to be a gaming YouTuber; you can't have both. In the best scenario I would look for games that are coming out in the near future. As an example, I am a huge fan of The Forrest and they have a highly-anticipated sequel coming out in October called Sons of the Forrest. If I were to start a gaming channel today I would make a new channel and name it something like 'The Son of the Forrest' or 'SOTF.' I'd want to be the guy creating the channel dedicated to that game. Then I would post the trailers on the channel. Then I would post trailer-commentary videos. I want to position myself as the authority on this game and I would begin feeding YouTube data that suggests my channel is dedicated specifically to this game and that I am the resource for anyone searching for it.
Create A Campaign
As a new channel/creator one of the biggest issues is getting your foot in the door, so I would create an entire campaign dedicated to launch day. I would make my own trailers for the content that will be available when we go live. I may do a short series on the prequel in order to get content out and start a story-arch that leads into my SOTF content. I would create all my social media accounts and tie them together and create my own alternate-reality game (ARG) to tie into my gameplay. I would hang up cryptic fliers around town, put a bumper-sticker with a QR code on my car and pin home-made business cards to every bulletin board in every establishment in town. Everyone will have seen or heard about this channel before I ever post a single video.
Take Time Off and Go All In
When that game drops I would take a day off from work, get a bunch of coffee and I would do an immediate one-hour livestream. Then I would edit that livestream down to a 30 minute video, optimize it and re-publish (after pulling the livestream from the channel). Immediately after that I would film six one-hour videos of gameplay. After doing so my eyes would probably be bleeding from starting at the screen for eight hours so I would go to bed. The next day I would wake up and edit all six videos down to 30 minutes apiece, I would upload them and optimize then set publish dates for each every-other day for the next twelve days. Then I would take the rest of that day and go play in the sun, regardless of how much I would want to go back and play the game more. You have to force yourself into your downtime. At my earliest convenience I would go back and repeat this process until I went insane or was able to begin scheduling my videos daily at least two weeks in advance. That's the only way you are going to ever get a break; you gotta earn it. I would do this for at least 100 videos, and more than likely I would aim for 200 before I review my process and the success of the channel in general.
Go Live Sparingly
There are a lot of benefits to going live, but I would not want to commit to a 3+ per week livestream schedule. Plenty of people do this successfully, but I find discovery is a lot easier with regular videos. That would be the main foundation of content for the channel. But I would want to do 1-2 livestreams per week as a means of engagement. Maybe they'd be farming streams... I dunno. The intent for the streams would be a little less gameplay oriented and more so geared towards community engagement. And I would be careful not to over do it. Gotta keep them wanting more.
I'd Quit
Man that sounded pretty morose! Ok, I wouldn't just up and quit... but my initial gameplan would require that I make 100-200 videos and I would have a set goal for where I wanted to be when that milestone was accomplished. The average channel with 100,000 subscribers has made 400 videos, so I would probably put a benchmark of 25,000 subscribers for the 200 video mark (growth is exponential, not linear... so I would expect more growth from 200-400 videos than the 100-200 video range). I would be very realistic about my goals; if I can be happy at 10,000 after 200 videos then that is my goal regardless of platform averages. But I would plan that my channel would have a neat and tidy ending at the 200 video mark unless a specific set of circumstances were to occur (i.e. 10,000 or 25,000 subs, whatever my goal is). If I met my goal I would renew my gameplan for a following series of videos, likely another 100 or so. Interest in a single game has a lifespan and I would not want to commit to more than I felt necessary. The last ~50 videos of these plans would be always geared towards the supposed 'end of the channel,' that way I can always have a plan for the next thing. Whether that 'next thing' was a continuation or sequel to the current series, a pivot to a different game or even a pivot to a different channel I would use these last ~50 videos to begin prepping/planning/marketing and promoting the next thing.
But it can be done. There are still ways that even Minecraft creators can succeed on the platform. You are just going to need to get a little creative, and you are going to need some patience. And a lot of work ethic. Having worked with hundreds of channels and seen so many creators succeed and fail over the past five years I offer you the top things that I would do if I were to start a gaming channel today.
Put Together A Gameplan
First and foremost I advice having a plan of attack. We are going to cover multiple tips and tricks here and I do not advise wasting an entire year prepping and planning to ensure that everything is absolutely perfect before I started... but I am also not going to simply jump in and see what works. I am going to loo into everything listed below and have a plan for implementing all of it and I am going to have this plan ready by the end of the month with a date for my first publish cemented. My game plan will consist of the following (in addition to everything listed below):
1. A review of my work week and free time. I will need to know what time I have available and what time I can make available for the purposes of filming, editing, marketing and promoting my content. This is a job and if I am serious about it then I am going to hold myself accountable for the time I am required to put into it.
2. Get a team involved. I am going to be doing 99% of the work here... but it behooves me to get my friends, siblings, spouse etc excited and involved in this project. They don't need to be on camera with me. They don't need to edit and often they might not be the best people to brainstorm with (but maybe they are?). But without their encouragement, support and acknowledgment this endeavor becomes exponentially more difficult.
3. Script multiple series. One of the biggest problems new creators face is their lack of a content library. Their homepage looks barren and dull. I would put together a plan for a dozen playlists to fill out the homepage as quickly as possible.
4. Come up with a gimmick. There are two ways to succeed in gaming; you need to be the best at the game(s) you are playing or you need to stand out from everyone else. As a creator I am inherently more pre-dispositioned for the latter, and would spend some time trying to devise a way to be different. Maybe I edit my footage into black and white and target color-blind viewers or I use this as an effect to give my content a grimey, edgy atmosphere. Maybe I voice the characters myself and create different, comical story-archs for popular games. Whatever my gimmick the idea is that it must be something that I can create 1,500 videos about. If you can't do that then you are DOA. 1,500 videos is the goal, plain and simple.
Commit To A Game/Genre
This is one place where so many creators fail right out of the gate. They play tons of different games depending on what they feel like playing on any given afternoon. There is no consistency, the videos have no tie to each other. They are just random, generic posts for the same game everyone else is playing. This takes a bit of the fun out of things... but I am not sympathetic about it. Either you enjoy gaming or you want to be a gaming YouTuber; you can't have both. In the best scenario I would look for games that are coming out in the near future. As an example, I am a huge fan of The Forrest and they have a highly-anticipated sequel coming out in October called Sons of the Forrest. If I were to start a gaming channel today I would make a new channel and name it something like 'The Son of the Forrest' or 'SOTF.' I'd want to be the guy creating the channel dedicated to that game. Then I would post the trailers on the channel. Then I would post trailer-commentary videos. I want to position myself as the authority on this game and I would begin feeding YouTube data that suggests my channel is dedicated specifically to this game and that I am the resource for anyone searching for it.
Create A Campaign
As a new channel/creator one of the biggest issues is getting your foot in the door, so I would create an entire campaign dedicated to launch day. I would make my own trailers for the content that will be available when we go live. I may do a short series on the prequel in order to get content out and start a story-arch that leads into my SOTF content. I would create all my social media accounts and tie them together and create my own alternate-reality game (ARG) to tie into my gameplay. I would hang up cryptic fliers around town, put a bumper-sticker with a QR code on my car and pin home-made business cards to every bulletin board in every establishment in town. Everyone will have seen or heard about this channel before I ever post a single video.
Take Time Off and Go All In
When that game drops I would take a day off from work, get a bunch of coffee and I would do an immediate one-hour livestream. Then I would edit that livestream down to a 30 minute video, optimize it and re-publish (after pulling the livestream from the channel). Immediately after that I would film six one-hour videos of gameplay. After doing so my eyes would probably be bleeding from starting at the screen for eight hours so I would go to bed. The next day I would wake up and edit all six videos down to 30 minutes apiece, I would upload them and optimize then set publish dates for each every-other day for the next twelve days. Then I would take the rest of that day and go play in the sun, regardless of how much I would want to go back and play the game more. You have to force yourself into your downtime. At my earliest convenience I would go back and repeat this process until I went insane or was able to begin scheduling my videos daily at least two weeks in advance. That's the only way you are going to ever get a break; you gotta earn it. I would do this for at least 100 videos, and more than likely I would aim for 200 before I review my process and the success of the channel in general.
Go Live Sparingly
There are a lot of benefits to going live, but I would not want to commit to a 3+ per week livestream schedule. Plenty of people do this successfully, but I find discovery is a lot easier with regular videos. That would be the main foundation of content for the channel. But I would want to do 1-2 livestreams per week as a means of engagement. Maybe they'd be farming streams... I dunno. The intent for the streams would be a little less gameplay oriented and more so geared towards community engagement. And I would be careful not to over do it. Gotta keep them wanting more.
I'd Quit
Man that sounded pretty morose! Ok, I wouldn't just up and quit... but my initial gameplan would require that I make 100-200 videos and I would have a set goal for where I wanted to be when that milestone was accomplished. The average channel with 100,000 subscribers has made 400 videos, so I would probably put a benchmark of 25,000 subscribers for the 200 video mark (growth is exponential, not linear... so I would expect more growth from 200-400 videos than the 100-200 video range). I would be very realistic about my goals; if I can be happy at 10,000 after 200 videos then that is my goal regardless of platform averages. But I would plan that my channel would have a neat and tidy ending at the 200 video mark unless a specific set of circumstances were to occur (i.e. 10,000 or 25,000 subs, whatever my goal is). If I met my goal I would renew my gameplan for a following series of videos, likely another 100 or so. Interest in a single game has a lifespan and I would not want to commit to more than I felt necessary. The last ~50 videos of these plans would be always geared towards the supposed 'end of the channel,' that way I can always have a plan for the next thing. Whether that 'next thing' was a continuation or sequel to the current series, a pivot to a different game or even a pivot to a different channel I would use these last ~50 videos to begin prepping/planning/marketing and promoting the next thing.
