Iowa Millionaire Makes His Money Sitting On His Butt

Love them or hate them, video games have made a lot of people a lot of money. Nick Overton, who you may know as Marksman online, is a Youtuber and streamer, from Iowa, who's cashed in playing video games. He makes more than 97% of Iowans according to the Des Moines Register and he does it all from the comfort of his own home.

Personally, I wouldn't call myself a "gamer" by today's standards. I only own one video game and haven't really ever taken interest in any other game. I don't play very much but I like playing Call of Duty as a fun way to hang out with my buddies, who I don't see very often. We'll get our headsets on, join up in a game, have a few beers, talk smart, catch up with each other, and essentially just hang out for an hour or two. It's kind of like a really long phone call, with video games in the background for entertainment.

Being interested in Call of Duty has introduced me to some of the biggest video game players on the planet. Nickmercs, TimTheTatMan, Scump, and Marksman to name just a few. All of these guys create videos or make content to put on youtube. Whether that's tips and tricks to help casual players get better at a certain game, challenges they want to accomplish with the people they're playing the game with, or just your regular everyday gameplay, their videos have been seen by millions of eyeballs.

Who Is Nick Overton?

Nick Overton (Marksman) has 1.37 million subscribers on YouTube as of today. He has videos on youtube that have hundreds of thousands (sometimes millions) of views. He's made up to $500,000 just by playing Fortnite. He also makes money through streaming and collecting checks from his youtube videos. He's also made money from playing in video game tournaments according to Daily Mail.

Before any of his online video game success, Nick spent time working for Justin.tv. which is now the ever-popular streaming platform, Twitch. Nick attended the University of Iowa to study journalism and during that time he continued to try and find a way to make a living off of video games. What did Nick do for fun in college? Nothing, he told the Des Moines Register.

“It could suck at times, but that’s how it works, you need to dedicate a lot of time to make something happen, because if you don’t, someone else will, especially with YouTube and streaming.”

Today, Nick has over 700,000 subscribers on Twitch, which means thousands of people watch him play video games, in real-time, every day. Most days are pretty casual as he'll chat with viewers and play whatever video game he wants to for that day.

Why Stay in Iowa?

When Twitch streamers or YouTubers reach a certain level of success a lot of times they'll move to Los Angeles or somewhere with great internet and warm weather. Nick has stayed in his home state. He told the Des Moines Register that other Iowans could become professional gamers as long as they have a decent internet speed.

“It’s a way nicer place to live. I like the seasons. I like that people are pretty overall nice, I like a much quieter place to live.”

Whether you like it or not Esports are a very real, very popular thing in today's society. There are all kinds of professional leagues and teams, playing various video games, that pay players huge amounts of money for winning. I'm not saying your kid should never go outside and you should sit him or her down in front of an Xbox all day... but maybe those weekend, late-night video game sessions, end up making them millions of dollars one day.