Video Game Testing: Can You Actually Make Money From It?

After learning that you can't make money from captioning & transcribing videos last week, I started getting targeted by 'side hustle' ads everywhere.

When I scroll through Instagram, there will be ads asking me to sign up as an online tutor. And when I scroll Facebook, there are ads asking me to be a part-time customer support help desk.

And that was when this ad really caught my attention

It was an ad trying to get people to sign up as a game tester and it got me thinking...

Since I loved playing video games so much, I might as well be making money from it!

So I hurriedly went to the page and signed myself up for some video game testing

You have to admit this site looked pretty cool and that's what really prompted me to sign up with them.

Fill in your username, email & password...

And a few clicks later, you're ready to become a professional video game tester

As you see on the right hand side, you actually have to complete your "Game Profile"

This profile is similar to those typical beer money sites like SwagBucks or Rakuten where they require basic demographic information to match you with the ideal survey and in this case, the ideal game.

However, sadly there was no game available for testing at the moment in time so I had to stop my investigation

But luckily a few days later, they sent me and email telling me that they had a test available for me!

Okay, so the reason why the game is blurred out is because I had to agree to some T&C and after screening through it I figured out that I could feature the site but not the I was testing.

But since I don't have a Degree in Law and if I'm wrong please don't sue my poor ass

Moving on, clicking on the button actually sends you to the test page which looked like this

There's pretty detailed instructions which basically states that I would need to play until I reach level 30 before I got rewarded for my efforts.

But there's just one problem..

I don't own an android device!

Fortunately, there's a simple solution...

A solution I used to grind my way to top 100 in Maplestory M when it was just released...

Meet BlueStacks!

BlueStacks is basically an android gaming emulator for the PC.

So after downloading it I booted up the APK file that they sent me and I was ready to start testing the game!

Han Ren's Foray into Video Game Testing

Candy Crush + Anime = Game I was Testing

Yes, the concept was that simple.

It was just one of the many candy crush saga duplicates out there but with a twist.

They decided to add in some anime characters that apparently is based on a real anime (I didn't even heard of it before)

As I cruised through the first few levels, it did get slightly more tricky.

But even though they mentioned that it would take on average around 90 minutes to reach level 30.

I crushed that timing and reached level 30 in less than 45 minutes.

How was this possible you ask?

Because I'm a god gamer.

(Plus I play way too much games for my own good)

After reaching level 30, the developer will be automatically notified and you will unlock your rewards as seen from the top right hand corner.

And before you get to claim your coins (it's literally called that),

You will be required to a short survey about your experience with the game

And after finishing the survey you finally get access to you g...

Wait a minute, what the heck is this

So apparently they want you to send them a photo of you holding your IC or some sort to prove that you're a human being and not a bot.

That was quite a big red flag for me as who knows what these companies will do with your info.

I decided to skip out on the rewards but it was an overall fun experience

The Verdict: Yay or Nay? 

Privacy issues aside, this was how much time it actually took me to make that 4.4 coins which translated to 4.84 USD which is around $7 SGD.

Game testing time: 45 minutes

Survey time: 10 minutes

Total time taken: 55 minutes

Making $7 an hour from a super remote desktop job is actually pretty reasonable given the current stay home situation.

And I'm sure there are many video game testing companies out there that will not require your personal info and reimburse you via paypal directly.

So do your proper research, and you can add professional video game tester to your resume soon enough.

Till next time.

Stay home & Stay safe!