How to Make Money in the Video Games Niche - Pt. 1

The above image was taken in 1991 at a video game design company I was the Quality Assurance Manager for. That's me on the right, still half asleep and a little hungover. My BFFL is on the left. I got him a job there as a computer tech. Do you recognize that famous celebrity in the center?

MY START IN DEVELOPING VIDEO GAMES

This post and others to follow, are going to give you a truthful, yet fun and interesting look at the video game development industry that I was a part of for 25 years. These posts will also offer anyone looking to make money in the video games niche, ideas for possible focused narrowed down niches.

Many of you have expressed an interest in my story of what it was like for me spending so many years developing video games for Nintendo, Sega & more. I've always had a love for video games. One day back in 1987, I was working in a software store that sold PC and Commodore 64 video games. It all began here.

My friend Dan from high school walked into the store with his older brother. I hadn't seen him since we graduated in 1980. We struck up a conversation and he told me they were video game designers of Atari 2600 games for the company Activison. That blew me away! The game Pitfall was my favorite!

Though Activision was located in California, they were in charge of the East Coast Design Center and they were soon to start their own video game development company. My friend's older brother Garry was the designer of Donkey Kong for the Atari 2600 and he was going to be the CEO and my friend the VP.

Then came the moment. They asked me if I would want to work for them as a video game tester in their new company. I was like, you want to pay me to play video games? They said no, we want you to "test" video games. I didn't quite know what the testing part was going to be like but I emphatically said YES!!!

I STARTED AT THE BOTTOM & WORKED MY WAY UP

Just like all of us here at Wealthy Affiliate, I started in the video game industry not knowing much of what was required. It was new and exciting and the learning curve was not as hard as I thought it would be. I began learning as I was taking action in following the guidance of my friend, just like we do here with Kyle.

It was now 1988, the company was small, only 8 people in a basement office in Midland Park, NJ. We were an ambitious group, pumping out two Atari 2600, one 7800, one Commodore 64 and one NES game in two years. By 1990 we gained a lot of attention in the video game development industry.

That's me in the back left with the dark blue t-shirt

The development company name was Imagineering, Inc. and our publishing name was Absolute Entertainment, Inc. We grew from 8 employees in early 1988 to 28 by the end of 1990, see above. We moved to a larger office building in Glen Rock, NJ and we had so many games in the pipeline that I had to hire two testers.

Within two years I went from the lone tester to a Quality Assurance Manager with two testers under me. This also gave me the opportunity to express my vivid imagination and thus begin helping with game design. They were impressed and I got to design my only Commodore 64 game and the first of many Nintendo games.

HERE ARE SOME NARROW VIDEO GAME NICHE IDEAS

In the video game industry more than half of all designers and producers, started out as testers. It's the one industry that prefers to promote from within. Then in 1991 I also became the lead organizer of convention activities every January in Las Vegas and June in Chicago. Traveling all expenses paid was another joy for me.

To transport many of the game systems required, specially made gaming consoles that allowed us to have more than one game inserted were needed. You don't want to travel across the country to Las Vegas and take one console per game, especially if you were exhibiting 10 or more games. That raises shipping costs.

Retro-Bit New 2-in-1 Video Game Console with Controllers

This got me thinking then and now for this post, that specialized video game consoles are a narrow video game niche. Other narrow niche ideas would be special game controllers, cables, carrying cases and other accessories. There are a few companies that now sell these gaming systems and they have affiliate programs.

The following are some narrow video game niche ideas.

• Retro Video Game Consoles (like the Retro-Bit above)
• Handheld Video Games that play both Sega Game Gear & Nintendo GameBoy games
• Gamestation Retro by My Arcade, a mini tabletop game console that contains 50+ classic games
• Hard shell carrying cases with molded foam interior
• Tabletop Game Controller with a combo wireless headset and microphone
• Special Connection USB Cables Hubs enabling you to plug in new & old consoles to your computer

RETRO GAMES ARE A POPULAR & GROWING NICHE MARKET

Pretty much all of the above niche ideas can be fulfilled through the Amazon Associates Program and other popular gaming retailers like GameStop, which also has an affiliate program. There are so many newer gamers that are now attracted to the video games I developed of the 1980's and 1990's.

This is a growing niche market and is still relatively not saturated. You could even combine some of the ideas I mention above. The video gaming niche is extremely HUGE but it's also extremely broad. Focusing on Retro Gaming, though becoming broad, just focusing on two of the ideas above would be ideal.

The First NES (Nintendo Entertainment System) Game I Designed

If you haven't figured it out by now, that famous celebrity I was standing next to in the top image of this blog post is Malcolm Jamal Warner, who just recently passed away on July 20, 2025 in an accidental drowning. He was at our video game office to film a segment about video game development for his show All-Xcess.

My 25 years in the video game development industry was a BLAST! Malcolm Jamal Warner was the first of many celebrities and also sports athletes that I met. Of course the all expenses paid travel every year to both Chicago and Las Vegas were fun too, plus all of the exclusive Nintendo and Sega parties.

Making money in the video games niche is a profitable niche to consider, just be focused in your approach. I will reveal more narrow niche ideas in my Part 2 post in a couple of weeks. If you have any comments or questions about making money in the video games niche, please leave them below and keep on gaming!