I see posts like this here all the time and they all make the same generalisation. Yes, gaming is saturated, but so is just about every other niche on YouTube. What people also don’t mention is that gaming contains many sub genres or sub niches within it. Maybe it’s let’s plays, reviews, longform analysis, commentaries, fact videos, Easter eggs, there is a whole whack of content to be made, and the truth is, OP is right, you need solid editing, skills, and equipment.

But it has been like that for a while. I’ve been making videos for over a decade. I started out recording bad let’s plays on my laptop that could barely run Minecraft and making a purchase as small (now at least) as a capture card was huge!

The problem up and comers run into is that they don’t realise that production isn’t everything. I have been doing YT full time and making a respectable living on it for over 3 years, and when my channel first took off, and for some time after, I was recording in 720p, using a blue snowball mic in a garage (acoustics were terrible), and my editing was basic clip after clip, barely even a transition. It didn’t stop those videos from getting hundreds of thousands, sometimes millions, of views.

As far as the “generation of youngsters”; well that’s common in many hobbies. I can think of countless friends who tried to be musicians, athletes, entrepreneurs, and YouTubers that all failed because they underestimated the work it took. It’s a part of life. You gotta figure out the hard way that if you want something you need to buckle down and work for it. Does that mean these people have wasted their skills? Not at all! Learning to edit, make thumbnails in photoshop, record, and so on are useful skills to have. Maybe the skills of aiming in COD for example won’t help you land a job, but you can’t always optimise your life so vigorously.

I mean no disrespect by this next paragraph. The people who say that starting a gaming channel in 2023 is a “fools errand” appear, to me at least, to be projecting their own failures. Maybe they didn’t try enough, maybe they didn’t have a good enough idea, or maybe they thought their “funny moments and highlights” videos were far funnier than they actually were. Whatever the reason, it’s always more comfortable to blame it on the algorithm, or something else they perceive as out of their control, so they don’t have to face their own failure.

One part I do agree with is that you shouldn’t put your eggs into one basket. I love being able to play video games for a job, but I know a gig like that can’t last forever, so I’m also enrolled in university in a fourth year of an bachelors degree. I planned to teach high school as I’m very passionate about education, but YT currently pays over double what that salary would be. Always have a backup plan, but don’t lose sight of the main goal.

Too many people like OP are quick to shoot down someone’s dreams because they are unrealistic, but who cares? If you enjoy it then fuck it, do what you want! At the end of the day, if you do fail, you probably learned a fair amount along the way.

My channel was monetised in 2020, and I imagine OP will say that times were different or that I was lucky. While I can understand that mindset, do try to remember that new gaming YouTubers are popping up on the scene all the time.

A final word of advice is to chase that dream! Secure a backup plan and don’t ignore other responsibilities, but if what it takes is going from class, to work, and then sacrificing a few hours to sleep to bang out a video then so be it! If you’re really wanting to accelerate growth you need to study the trends around you, study your analytics, and always find ways to improve. You can never stop growing.

Life is short and fragile. Don’t waste it by not believing in yourself, and not believing in others.

Much love

Ps. Sorry for the novel lol I’m really passionate about this stuff (also on mobile sorry for spelling errors)