The Complete Guide to Affiliate Marketing for Gaming Influencers

Affiliate Marketing is a profitable and effective way to generate revenue from your gaming content. Whether it’s an affiliate program associated with your social media channels, your YouTube videos or your livestream, they can be a great way to diversify your income while developing lasting relationships with brands.

In this blog post, we will explore the different types of affiliate programs available for gaming content creators, the best programs available for different channels and how you can create a reliable source of income from affiliate programs.

Affiliate marketing refers to an agreement between a brand and a content creator or influencer which involves a commission that is paid in return for traffic or sales that are directly generated by the individual or website.

The gaming industry has one of the highest earning potentials for affiliate marketing, and affiliate programs are not just limited to gaming and technology brands, though these tend to be the most common and highest paying affiliate programs for the niche.

Learn how to network in the gaming industry >

The easiest way to find out about available affiliate programs for gaming is by researching online and exploring the different options – but it’s safe to assume that this is exactly how you found this article.

If you want to browse a directory for affiliate programmes, then your best bet is to use the AWIN Advertiser Directory which can be particularly effective if you are small streamer. AWIN is the largest affiliate network out there and own other platforms like ShareASale so, if you can’t successfully sign up to affiliate programs directly, then browsing their advertisers is a good place to start.

CJ Affiliate is another popular affiliate network but you have sign up to find out more about the advertisers they work with.

There are a wide variety of gaming specific affiliate programs, we’ve outlined some of the best affiliate gaming programs below to help you get started.

This information is not exhaustive and was accurate when this article was published. Please visit the relevant affiliate programs linked below for their full terms and conditions

1. Zygor Guides

Zygor Guides is known for being one of the best affiliate programs for gaming content as it offers a staggering 50% commission per sale and recurring payments for the rest of the subscription that users sign up for. They sell a mod for World of Warcraft (WoW) that provides in-game guides, so if you make WoW content, then this could be a great opportunity for you.

2. Razer

Razer is well known within the gaming industry, and it is no surprise that they have a worthwhile affiliate program which has a commission of up to 10%. Your followers and subscribers likely have a set of Razer headphones or a Razer mouse on their wish list so it’s great way to help them out while generating some steady earnings for yourself.

3. Logitech

Logitech, like Razer, sells hardware products for gamers and is another great affiliate program for your community to snap up some gaming goodies that they’ve had their eyes on. Their commission is similar to Razer as well and ranges from 5-10%.

4. Nvidia

Nvidia is another brand that your community will be familiar with and likely to be interested in. Their commission rates are capped at 5% but they still offer attractive earning potential and are a great brand to be associated with, especially as they are helping to pioneer AI innovations.

5. Green Man Gaming

Green Man Gaming is a great option for anyone with a community that has a strong interest in gaming as they sell video games and game keys. In the long-term, their affiliate program can help you generate a steady income. Their commission rate ranges from 2 to 5% and you can also sign-up with them through CJ Affiliate.

Gaming affiliate marketing still has a lot of potential to generate revenue, especially if done right. In general, it can be difficult to start out, and you’re not guaranteed to make any money from it even though gaming is known to be a profitable niche.

Affiliate marketing is sometimes portrayed as a quick and easy way to generate a large income, but this is unfortunately not the case. If you don’t have a large viewership or following then it will take you a while to successfully generate revenue.

It is also commonly portrayed as a form of passive income, which is technically true, but it is only really beneficial if you are actively promoting your affiliate link. This does not mean it can’t be profitable, but it is more successful if you are actively driving traffic to your affiliate link and generating purchases for the products or services.

Check out more monetisation ideas for gaming content creators >

If you live stream on twitch, then their affiliate program can be an easy way to incorporate affiliate marketing into your monthly income. Becoming a Twitch affiliate also offers you more control over revenue generation as it includes monetization tools that are not available on a normal Twitch account.

These tools include:

• Monetization tools (Bits, Subs, Hype Train, etc.)
• Video tools (More VOD storage, Subscriber streams and VODS, etc.)
• Community tools (Stories, Bespoke Channel Points, Polls, Instant emote uploads)

Requirements for the Twitch affiliate program:

• An average of 3 viewers
• Stream on 7 different days
• Stream for 8 hours
• 50 followers

Learn how to become an affiliate on Twitch >

Hopefully this guide to affiliate marketing for gaming content helped you identify opportunities to earn more from your gaming content through the various programs out there.

Read more of our insightful articles to find out more about the world of gaming content creation:

Check out our guide to social media marketing for gaming creators >

Learn how to win brand collaborations for your gaming channel >

Discover our top tips for live streaming gaming content >