How Long Does It Take to Recoup the Cost of Your Gaming Setup?

As the prospect of becoming a professional gamer becomes more viable, the idea of investing money into good equipment seems justifiable. While quality gaming equipment may be expensive, playing esports professionally can help you earn money to recoup that cost. Depending on what type of equipment you have and what kind of games you play will determine just how long it will take to recover the total cost of your gaming setup.

Initial Cost of a PC Setup

In order to get started on your journey towards earning an income through gaming, you must first purchase the essentials of your PC setup. The average cost of a PC gaming setup (which includes the tower, monitor, keyboard, and mouse) is approximately S$1,228.30. Depending on the specs and quality of each piece of equipment, your PC cost may vary from this number. For example, a high-end PC can cost upwards of S$5,000 whereas a lower-end PC can cost just S$500. Keep in mind that while buying a higher-end PC is not required, it is advisable to purchase quality equipment if you are looking to compete on the professional level.

Average Earnings of a Professional Gamer

There are various ways that professional gamers can make money, such as tournament prize earnings, brand deals, esports team salaries, and donations from followers. However, tournament earnings, donations and brand deals are highly variable, so for the sake of consistency, we are only considering salaries for our average earnings calculations. Depending on the team and video game, a player’s salary does fluctuate a bit. Across all professional teams and games, the average salary income that professionals make is $4,000/month (approx. S$5,347), which is $48,000 annually (approx S$64,165).

How Long Will It Take to Recover the Cost?

Based off of a monthly salary of S$5,347, you will have to pay about S$1239.19 in taxes, which reduces your take home pay to S$4,108.81. Additionally, considering that the average living expenses for a single Singapore resident are about S$1,678, you are left with around S$2,429.81. This means that you'll be able to recoup your costs in as little as a month if you make the average gaming salary.

Now, as fast as this might sound, there is actually a lot more time and work that goes into getting to the point where you earn a salary. It is important to keep in mind that the journey to becoming a professional esports player is extremely competitive thus requiring many long hours of practice. In fact, approximately 1 in every 10,000 people are able to make it to the level where they can earn an income from playing video games professionally. Moreover, many top level players spend 50+ hours per week practicing. So, depending on how skilled you are at your desired game, you will have to be practicing quite frequently before you are able to start earning any type of income.

Is Investing in a PC Worth It?

So, if you are looking to purchase a PC setup in hopes that you’ll pay it off with an e-sports career, consider the level of competition you are up against and how much time you have available to practice. You can also consider getting a credit card to help you finance your gaming PC setup as well, as it will allow you to make the purchase without having to pay the entire amount upfront. While it is possible, reaching the point where you can earn a salary as an esports player requires frequent long hours of practice over the course of months and years. As long as you are willing to dedicate your time into reaching that point, then purchasing a gaming PC setup is a worthwhile investment.