In 2025, gaming is no longer a niche subculture. According to PwC’s Global Entertainment & Media Outlook, it’s the world’s largest form of entertainment, with revenues of $223.8 billion in 2024, expected to grow to nearly $300 billion by 2029. That’s more than film and music combined.
This isn’t a sudden shift. Back in 2021, a Statista chart showed gaming towering over other entertainment industries, with revenues topping more than $192 billion compared to about $25 billion for music and $100 billion for filmed entertainment.
But here’s the key: it’s not resourceful studios or publishers pushing this shift. Gaming creators and influencers are at the centre, fueling this chapter. As PwC notes, advertising now makes up nearly a third of global gaming revenues, and is forecast to reach almost 40% by 2029.
That shift explains why creators and streamers are becoming so valuable for advertisers. Every livestream, YouTube upload, or sponsored shout-out is a premium channel for brands to reach highly engaged, niche audiences that traditional ads can’t touch. Unlike static in-game banners or generic pre-rolls, creators build trust-based influence. When they integrate a product, it doesn’t appear like any other soulless promotion but carries credibility.
Scroll through YouTube or Twitch, and you’ll find creators like Typical Gamer, with nearly 16 million YouTube subscribers, turning daily streams into seven-figure incomes. Others, like Ninja or Pokimane, are also household names, negotiating brand partnerships that rival traditional celebrities.
And that leads to the real transformation where the revenue story connects to culture: the rise of the superfan dynamic. Over the last five to seven years, gaming fandom has shifted from casual viewership into tight-knit, highly engaged communities.
For example, Discord’s monthly active users grew from ~370 million in 2021 to over 689 million in 2025, a rise of about 85%. Meanwhile, Twitch’s average concurrent viewers climbed from ~1.26 million in 2019 to about 2.37 million by the end of 2024.
Platforms like these scaled and deepened side by side. As Anthony King, Director of Business Development at Discord, told PYMNTS in 2024: “Much of the culture of playing games has found its home on Discord … we see every day across thousands of different titles that if a trend in gaming or a new game is surging in popularity, that activity is happening on our platform.”
These communities are now more than just content, encompassing shared experiences, norms, inside jokes, and continuous interaction. That depth is what turns viewers into superfans willing to spend money, time, and attention on creators they trust. When creators tap into this loyalty via subscriptions, Discord servers, exclusive content, or founder-led product lines, they unlock sustainable revenue streams that brands alone can’t replicate.
For marketers, the throughline is clear: gaming’s ad-driven growth and its superfan communities are two sides of the same coin. The dollars are shifting to where the trust lives—inside creator-led ecosystems that deliver scale, loyalty, and cultural relevance in one package.
A Snapshot of the Gaming Creator Economy
One thing is clear: gaming creators are now at the centre of the industry’s growth. But the question is, how exactly are audiences engaging with them? The short answer—video.
A decade ago, game discovery and marketing were controlled almost entirely by publishers through glossy trailers, magazine reviews, and in-store promotion. But as broadband and livestream platforms scaled (Twitch launched in 2011, YouTube Gaming in 2015, TikTok gaming content exploding post-2020), the behaviour shifted. Fans now spend as much time watching streamers and creators showcase gameplay, tutorials, and live competitions as they do actually playing.
For example, on Twitch, nine of the ten most-watched categories are tied to video games. YouTube Gaming also commands huge audiences, with leading gaming channels averaging 57 million subscribers. On TikTok, gaming discovery has scaled rapidly, with Roblox content alone generating more than 13.2 billion views in 2024.
For brands, the implication is simple: if you want to influence how players hear about, talk about, and ultimately buy games or related products, you can’t treat these platforms as side channels. They are where players first see new releases, form opinions through trusted creators, and make their purchase decisions. In fact, a recent report found that among gaming enthusiasts, 40% of players have made a purchase in the past year based on a creator’s recommendation, not based on an ad.
This means creators are influencing actual purchase behavior, not just extending reach. Brands that invest in trusted creators are tapping into a conversion channel, not just awareness.
Crucially, that same dynamic explains how creators sustain their businesses. The trust and attention they command with audiences is the very asset they monetize, whether through brand deals, direct fan payments, or even launching their own products. Understanding these revenue streams shows where brands can plug in while giving the creators’ side of the story.
How Gaming Creators Are Monetizing
The creator economy inside gaming isn’t built on one revenue stream. Instead, it’s a patchwork of deals, fan contributions, and intellectual property plays that together fuel multi-million-dollar careers.
For every headline-grabbing sponsorship between a world-famous steamer and a brand that’s a household name, there are thousands of both small and big-name creators stitching together income from Twitch subs, Patreon backers, or even their own product lines.
This diversification isn’t accidental. It reflects both the volatility of ad-based income and the loyalty of gaming audiences who are willing to pay directly for the creators they follow. From brand partnerships to direct fan monetization to licensing and co-creation, the strategies show just how quickly gaming has matured from a hobby into a professionalized, billion-dollar industry.
Brand Partnerships & Sponsorships
Brand deals remain the primary method for gaming creators to monetize, with a powerful return on investment compared to other influencer categories.
According to Forbes Agency Council (2025), gaming influencers on YouTube achieve engagement rates around 5.5%, which is among the highest for influencer categories.
That engagement translates into buying power: eMarketer reports that 44% of Twitch users have purchased a product recommended by a streamer, and 43% of gamers say their perception of a brand improves when they see it integrated into gaming content.
This doesn’t go unnoticed by brands, and they’re also rewarding them with scaled partnerships for the pull they have on their audience.
For example, Ninja, one of the world’s most famous gamers, has built a $50 million fortune via sponsorships with Red Bull, Adidas, etc., exclusive platform deals like one with Mixer, and merchandise.
Typical Gamer signed with Studio71, which provides him with ad-tech tools, piracy monitoring, and premium brand-safe placements to increase his sponsorship revenue beyond YouTube’s standard splits.
One reason gaming creators land more lucrative brand deals is audience trust and engagement. As community members on Reddit noted, gaming streamers often spend hours with their audiences and are seen as authentic voices, so when they recommend gear or games, viewers perceive it as genuine, not just a paid, scripted promotion.
Reddit users on why gaming streamers earn higher trust, conversions, and ROI for brands.
Why this matters for brands
Gaming creators widen their reach while shortening the path from awareness to purchase.
A Twitch shout-out can convert within the same session, as 44% of users report buying products recommended by streamers (eMarketer). Unlike TV or social ads that interrupt, creator integrations feel like trusted recommendations in communities that spend hours engaged daily.
For CMOs and senior brand leaders, gaming creators represent a rare mix of scale, loyalty, and credibility. That means two things:
- Lower wasted spend: you’re speaking directly to consumers in a context where they’re already primed to listen.
- Cultural relevance at scale: creators act as tastemakers inside communities that shape youth culture globally.
All in all, brand deals in gaming are now a lever to drive both immediate sales impact and long-term cultural equity.
Direct Fan Monetization
Not every creator relies on sponsorships. For many, direct fan support now rivals or surpasses ad revenue. Platforms like Twitch and YouTube let viewers subscribe or pay for memberships, often unlocking perks like emotes, subscriber badges, or exclusive chat access. For mid-tier creators, these recurring payments can equal or even outpace what they earn from ads.
Mid-tier Twitch streamers are frequently earning $5,000-30,000/month from subscriptions, bits, and donations, often matching or exceeding what ad revenue alone delivers. With Twitch’s standard subscription split (~50/50 for Tier-1 subs), each $4.99 sub yields about $2.50 to the creator. If you multiply that by just a few hundred subscribers, the cash adds up faster than ad impressions at low CPMs.
Platforms like Patreon also show that creators derive ~41% of total income directly from paid patrons, outsizing ad and sponsorship income in many cases. These models offer more predictability, better margins, and invoke loyalty, all of which make fan monetization not just viable, but often the preferred core revenue stream for many creators.
Why this matters for brands
If fans are already willing to pay creators directly, it signals two things brands can’t ignore:
First is the depth of trust. While watching their favourite gamers, fans become immersed and buy into the creators’ worlds. That same trust transfers when a creator integrates a brand.
Pricing power is another factor, as creators aren’t wholly dependent on sponsorships. This allows them to be selective and partner with brands that won’t risk alienating their engaged community, aka paying superfans.
For CMOs, partnering with creators is akin to joining a membership club rather than running an ad campaign. Beyond just buying exposure, they’re getting an entry into communities where money already changes hands daily, and where relevance translates directly into revenue.
Licensing, Intellectual Property, and Co-Creation
Some creators are going beyond sponsorships by becoming part of the product itself. In gaming, this usually happens through licensing (a brand or publisher pays to use a creator’s image, voice, or brand inside a game) or through building their own intellectual property (IP) (original characters, products, or companies they control). It’s a step up from ads because instead of promoting someone else’s product, the creator becomes the product.
Ninja (Tyler Blevins) was one of the first proof points. In 2020, Epic Games introduced him into Fortnite’s Icon Series, turning him into a playable character alongside cultural icons like Batman and Major Lazer.
While Epic never disclosed sales of the Ninja skin, the game itself earned $1.8 billion from microtransactions in 2019—the small in-game purchases (like skins, emotes, or upgrades) that now make up the majority of the industry’s business model.
For Ninja and the creator industry, this immortalization in-game was a moment of significant cultural recognition. It also opened another avenue of raking in millions: by becoming IP inside the worlds they helped make popular.
Some are even capitalizing on their loyal audience and expanding into physical products. In late 2023, Pokimane (Imane Anys) co-founded Myna Snacks with CPG veteran Darcey Macken, launching the Midnight Mini Cookie. The brand is positioned as a “better-for-you” snack for gamers and screen-time audiences, free from gluten, soy, artificial flavors, and preservatives.
It’s a textbook example of co-creation, where the creator builds their own consumer line that can scale far beyond a single campaign rather than simply lending their face to a pre-existing brand.
And it isn’t just individuals. Esports organizations—professional gaming teams that double as media and lifestyle collectives—are leaning into the same playbook at scale. For instance, 100 Thieves, the gaming lifestyle brand, partnered with Gucci on a limited-edition apparel line in 2021. The line featured items like backpacks and apparel priced at luxury levels, which sold out quickly despite the high price point.
100 Thieves esports team wearing Gucci apparel from their 2021 collab (Source)
These collaborations blur the line between gaming and fashion, showing that IP and co-creation are no longer confined to digital skins but are extending into global lifestyle categories with real retail impact.
Together, these moves highlight a shift where content creators are emerging as brand creators and are no longer relegated to just distribution channels for brands. They are becoming co-owners of culture and commerce, building digital goods, in-game content, and consumer products that deepen fan engagement while creating lasting business value.
Why this matters for brands
These collaborations show that IP and co-creation are no longer confined to digital skins but are extending into global lifestyle categories with real retail impact.
For brands, the implications are bigger than just visibility. When creators co-own products, whether digital or physical, they’re transferring their community equity into the brand, not just endorsing the product. Fans view the product as an integral part of their shared culture, rather than an external advertisement, which is why collaborations like 100 Thieves × Gucci or Ninja’s Fortnite skin generate both sales and status.
This shift also rewrites the economics. Instead of relying on pre-roll ads or short-lived sponsorships to capture attention, brands that co-create tap into recurring revenue models (digital skins, collectibles, merch) and long-tail cultural relevance (products that live on in communities long after a campaign ends).
The “how” is equally important. Winning in this space requires:
- Picking the right partner: creators with authentic authority in their niche, not just large follower counts.
- Leaning into co-creation, not control: the most successful products (from skins to snacks) carry the creator’s DNA, not just the brand’s logo. Take the 100 Thieves × Gucci limited-edition backpack: only 200 units made, strong visual and narrative cues tying into 100 Thieves’ gaming identity, campaign imagery featuring their content creators, making it not just about Gucci’s logo but actually about the creator.
- Designing for community, not mass market: superfans will pay premium prices for limited, authentic collabs that feel like artifacts of their fandom. The same Gucci-100 Thieves backpack, sold at about $2,500, spurred resale demand, and that kind of collector energy is precisely what gives such collaborations power.
For brands, the shift means seeing the value beyond one-off sponsorships by embedding themselves directly into the products and communities creators are building. Whether it’s a limited-edition Gucci × 100 Thieves backpack that sold out at $2,500 apiece or a Fortnite skin modeled on Ninja, the model is the same: when fans buy and display these items, they aren’t just purchasing a product but signaling identity.
The Future of Creator Monetization
As gaming continues to eclipse every other form of entertainment, creators are no longer just participants—they’re the engines driving its growth and reshaping the rules of commerce. Their audiences aren’t passive viewers but invested communities that buy, subscribe, and collect as acts of identity.
For brands, the opportunity is clear: the most meaningful touchpoints now live inside creator-led ecosystems where trust, culture, and spending power converge. Whether through high-ROI sponsorships, direct fan monetization, or co-created products that outlast any ad campaign, gaming creators are building businesses as dynamic as the worlds they play in. The companies willing to partner on those terms won’t just advertise to gamers—they’ll become part of the culture that defines the future of entertainment itself.
