Gaming Affiliate Programs: 20 Profitable ones for 2021

Gaming Affiliate Programs: Introduction

Gaming has grown from a niche activity to an enormous global industry over the past 40 years or so.

According to Statista gaming revenue was $159 billion for 2020. This compares with the movie industry earnings of $100 billion for 2019. Due to Covid-19 movie revenues were dramatically down during 2020.

A market this big is clearly going to be worthy of your attention as an affiliate marketer. There are plenty of programs to investigate. I’ve listed some here to whet your appetite.

Affiliate programs

Hardware

Razer Affiliate Program

Razer makes a variety of gaming hardware and now even produces an energy drink for gamers.

Their products tend to be at the more expensive end of the market but most people would recognize them as a higher-quality brand.

The commission rate on the products varies from 1% to 20%. This reflects the level of margin that Razer makes on some of their products. As you’ll find with most affiliate programs physical products tend to have much lower commission rates than digital products. This is due to the costs involved of actually manufacturing and distributing the product. A digital product once produced can be copied any number of times and distributed essentially for free via the Internet.

Alienware Affiliate Program

Alienware was bought out by Dell in 2006 so in order to earn commission on their products, you’ll need to sign up to Dell’s affiliate program.

Alienware produces the sort of gaming PCs and laptops that many gamers desire. Like Razer, they are certainly not cheap but as with most hobbies, people are prepared to spend big to get the best.

Another manufacturer that produces premium-priced products. Their entry-level machines coming in at almost $1000 and rising to more than $8000.

The commission rate is again variable from 1% to 6% and there is only a three-day cookie.

Microsoft Affiliate Program

Probably not the first company many people would think of when talking about gaming affiliate programs. Obviously they do offer the Xbox console along with a number of other accessories.

Difficult to get excited about the 2% commission but again you are dealing with products that can run into the hundreds of dollars. While Microsoft might not be everyone’s cup of tea when it comes to software but they have managed to shift an awful lot of consoles.

Chairs4Gaming Affiliate Program

With prices running from $200-$800 and commissions of 10% this program could be a useful addition to your gaming website or YouTube channel. No self-respecting gamer will be without their favorite gaming chair.

Modded Zone Affiliate Program

This company upgrades original controllers for the three biggest consoles: PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo.

The controllers can be modified with different color schemes. The most interesting mod is likely to be the addition of the MZ Titan chip. It allows you to connect the controller to your phone to modify its settings yourself.

With a 5% commission and even stock controllers costing around $100, you could accumulate a nice little side income using this program.

Final Mouse Affiliate Program

The clue is in the name, this company specializes in gaming mice. Not just any gaming mice limited edition gaming mice. They offer a generous 25% commission on sales. At the time of writing in April 2021, their website shows their latest offering priced at $189!

Logitech Affiliate Program

Undoubtedly most famous for their keyboards and mice. I currently have three of each! They were always highly prized at my workplace as well.

Logitech products tend to be longer lasting than generic products and is probably one of the reasons why they are so popular.

In addition to the aforementioned keyboards and mice, they make a wide variety of other input devices such as mousepads, joysticks, steering wheels, controllers and flight yokes.

You can also pick up Logitech branded headsets, webcams and speakers.

Logitech offers you a commission rate of 4% through Commission Junction although their products might tend to be among the lower-priced items sold by companies on this list.

GeekBuying Affiliate Program

A bit more generalist, GeekBuying offers a wide range of consumer electrical goods including games consoles and PCs. Their FAQ suggests you will receive a 5% commission on sales which is pretty reasonable for electrical hardware.

Bose Affiliate Program

When it comes to headphones and speakers everyone probably has their particular preference. Bose is certainly among the best manufacturers and they also have a great affiliate program.

Gamers often choose headphones as it helps cocoon them in their chosen virtual world. Even better if they are of the noise-canceling variety.

Once again you are looking at quite a small commission rate of between 2% and 3% this but we are dealing with physical products that are sold with slim margins.

With Bose headphones selling for as much as several hundred dollars even though small percentages can quite quickly add up.

Nvidia Affiliate Program

Nvidia is one of two major players in the PC graphics card market for gamers. They’ve been in business since the early 90s and unlike some of their competitors such as 3Dfx, Trident or Matrox they managed to stay in the game.

Although the commission rate of 2% doesn’t seem very good remember that even modest graphics cards for gaming are around the $250 mark and serious gamers could be spending between $500 and $1000.

Software

CdKeys Affiliate Program

CDKeys provides digital codes to purchase games for many different platforms. You can sign up via CJ affiliate and earn a commission at a rate of 5%

Fanatical Affiliate Program

Another retailer offering the option of signing up as an affiliate with commissions of up to 5%.

G2A Affiliate Program

G2A.com is an online retailer that allows players to sell unused keys for credit on their site. You can create referral links that you can share on your blog or social media. If people make purchases after clicking on that link you would earn 5% for digital sales and 4% for physical products. You can also earn a small cut of monthly subscriptions.

GameFly Affiliate Program

Gadfly are one of the leading game rental services in the USA. Titles are available for all the major consoles, PCs and Macs. Another program is available to CJ affiliate and they pay you a 10% commission.

GreenMan Gaming Affiliate Program

Offers a range of different games across multiple platforms and will pay affiliates a 5% commission via CJ affiliate.

Ubisoft and Uplay+

While the commission rate isn’t overly thrilling at 3% Ubisoft do have a number of top games on their resume so could be worth adding to your site.

Wargaming Affiliate Program

You have probably seen adverts for games such as World of Tanks and World of Warships. While these games are technically free to play they also have paid options that allow you to make faster progress in the game.

As an affiliate, you could earn a commission by referring new people to the game. The commissions do vary by country but you could add between $1 and $7.50 for every new user that you can attract.

Zygor Guides Affiliate Program

They provide in-game guides for World of Warcraft. This is an interesting program because in addition to the initial commission you could earn recurring commissions from the monthly subscription that the user might take out.

You would receive 50% of the initial sale.

Other

Leprestore Affiliate Program

In certain types of games, you need to build up your character’s abilities. Most people would spend the time in the game to do this but companies such as Leprestore offer a boosting service. This means rather than you having to spend hours and hours yourself in the game you can pay for someone else to increase your character’s experience.

They pay you a commission of 10% of every sale.

Sega Shop Affiliate Program

The Sega shop sells a wide variety of accessories, collectibles and apparel based upon Sega consoles and games. The commission rate you could receive up to 7%.

Conclusion

Like many niches of affiliate marketing Gaming has a wide range of affiliate programs. Some are worth your time and others probably not so much.

Obviously, if you already have a gaming site it is a lot easier to add even the lower-paying programs to your site. If you’re thinking of starting a new site from scratch though you would probably be better off targeting some of the higher paying programs initially.