How to make gaming videos for YouTube
The short answer
There are two ways to make gaming videos: record your own gameplay and edit it, or make commentary videos (news, breakdowns, analysis) that use short excerpts of a game's trailers and gameplay under your own narration. Either way, pick one format, write or plan what you will say, keep any footage you did not record short and tied to your commentary, credit where it came from, and stay inside YouTube's violent content and reused content rules.
Sources read 22 October 2026 and linked under each section. YouTube changes its policies; check the linked pages before relying on a detail.
The gaming videos that get views
- "Details you missed" breakdowns: gameranx's "GTA 6: Gameplay DETAILS WE FOUND" (4.7 million views) and TGG's "Every New Gameplay Feature & Mechanic YOU MISSED" (3.9 million), 15 to 42 minutes long.
- Feature explainers: TGG's deep dive on robberies and the in-game economy (3.6 million views), 10 to 14 minutes.
- Opinion and contrarian takes: "Why GTA 6 will suck." (2.3 million views), 6 to 14 minutes.
- News roundups: new screenshots, leaks, file size and release news, usually 8 to 15 minutes and posted within a day of each drop.
- Comparisons: "GTA 6 vs Every GTA Game Comparison" (750,000 views).
- Full gameplay re-uploads still get views, but they copy a whole work with no commentary, which is what rights holders take down.
We looked at the 40 most-viewed and newest "GTA 6" videos on YouTube. Apart from Rockstar's own trailers, the biggest videos all add something on top of the footage: hidden details, how a system works, or an opinion.
Source: YouTube search for "GTA 6": the 40 most-viewed and newest videos, with views, read 29 October 2026
Write or paste your script; Cliptude voices it and edits the trailers and gameplay with on-screen credits.
Create my game videoWay one: record and edit your own gameplay
-
1. Capture
Use your console's built-in capture (the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S both record clips), or OBS Studio, which is free, on a PC.
-
2. Record your voice
A separate microphone track lets you fix commentary without re-recording the game.
-
3. Edit for the story
Cut to the moments your video is about. Long unedited sessions rarely hold viewers.
-
4. Add a thumbnail and chapters
Long videos benefit from chapters; the thumbnail decides most clicks.
Way two: commentary videos over trailers and gameplay
- Keep each excerpt short and tied to the line it illustrates.
- Take a small share of any one source video, never long runs of one trailer.
- Never show the source as it was: reframe it, move it, inset it beside your graphics, and remove its sound.
- Credit the source on screen and in the description.
- Do not post whole cutscenes, endings or leaked footage.
Most news, breakdown and analysis channels never record the game themselves. They talk over short excerpts of official trailers and gameplay. YouTube's fair use guidance weighs the purpose of the use (commentary and criticism count in your favour), how much of the original you take, and whether your video replaces the original. There is no number of seconds that is automatically safe.
Check the publisher's own policy too. Rockstar's, for example, tolerates fan use that is non-commercial and does not spoil the story, and says isolated videos of the game's cinematics will be removed. A monetized channel is outside what that policy promises, so a rights holder can still claim a video; editing well makes your use defensible, not claim-proof.
Sources: YouTube Help: Fair use on YouTube (read 29 October 2026) · Rockstar Games: Policy on posting copyrighted Rockstar Games material (updated 10 January 2025, read 29 October 2026)
What YouTube removes or will not monetize
YouTube generally does not remove violence in video games, because it is plainly fictional, and it treats games more leniently than violence with real actors. It may still age-restrict graphic scenes, such as torture, dismemberment or corpses with severe injuries that show blood, and it looks at whether a video focuses solely on the most graphically violent part of a game. Age-restricted videos cannot be watched by anyone under 18 or signed out.
For monetization, YouTube does not pay for reused content: material from elsewhere without substantive changes, such as compilations with little or no narration. Your commentary is what makes a gaming video original.
Sources: YouTube Help: Violent or graphic content policies (read 29 October 2026) · YouTube Help: YouTube channel monetization policies
Write or paste your script; Cliptude voices it and edits the trailers and gameplay with on-screen credits.
Create my game videoMaking GTA 6 videos
- Launch and price explainers: the $79.99 standard and $99.99 ultimate editions, and what is in each.
- Business stories: who makes money from the launch, from Take-Two to Sony to creators.
- Breakdowns of each new trailer or screenshot drop, posted within a day.
- Comparisons with GTA V: the map, the cities, the 13-year gap between games.
- If you play GTA V on PC, its built-in Rockstar Editor records and edits your own clips.
GTA 6 comes out on November 19, 2026, on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. Until you can record it yourself, every GTA 6 video is commentary over Rockstar's trailers and screenshots, so the second way above is the one that works now.
The money angle does well because it explains something the trailers do not: "GTA 6's $2 Billion Budget Might Be Hiding Something Big" (Sav) has about 524,000 views at 8 minutes, and IGN's "The Billion-Dollar Behemoth That Could Crash the Industry" runs 9.5 minutes. Most GTA 6 money and economy videos run 8 to 10 minutes.
Source: YouTube search for "GTA 6": the 40 most-viewed and newest videos, with views, read 29 October 2026
Making gaming commentary videos with Cliptude
Cliptude makes the second kind of video from a script: it voices your narration, finds the game's official trailers and gameplay, and edits them the way commentary channels do. Every clip from someone else's video is shown zoomed in and moving, never as the original frame, one in four plays as an inset card, its sound is removed, it takes at most a quarter of any one source video, and the sources are credited on screen and in the YouTube description. Footage showing gore, dead bodies or nudity is rejected, whether it is real or from a game. Boards for numbers, dates and names are added on top. Plans start at $19/mo.
Make your first one today
Write or paste your script; Cliptude voices it and edits the trailers and gameplay with on-screen credits.
Create my game videoRelated
Faceless YouTube video generator · YouTube's reused content policy · How to start a faceless YouTube channel · How to make a video essay · Script to video
More on faceless channels and production: How to start a faceless YouTube channel · How to write a YouTube script · All Learn pages
All sources (read 22 October 2026): YouTube search for "GTA 6": the 40 most-viewed and newest videos, with views, read 29 October 2026 · YouTube Help: Fair use on YouTube (read 29 October 2026) · Rockstar Games: Policy on posting copyrighted Rockstar Games material (updated 10 January 2025, read 29 October 2026) · YouTube Help: Violent or graphic content policies (read 29 October 2026) · YouTube Help: YouTube channel monetization policies
Frequently asked questions
Can I use game trailers in my YouTube videos?
Short excerpts used for commentary, criticism or news can be fair use, but it is judged case by case and a rights holder can still claim. Keep excerpts short, transform them, talk over them, credit the source, and read the publisher's own policy.
Do I need to record gameplay to make gaming videos?
No. Many of the most-viewed gaming videos are news, breakdowns and analysis made over short trailer and gameplay excerpts, with the creator's narration carrying the video.
Will YouTube monetize gaming videos with game footage?
Yes, when the video adds substantive commentary. YouTube does not monetize reused content such as compilations or re-uploads with little or no narration.
Can gaming videos show violence?
Yes, in general. YouTube does not usually remove video game violence, since it is clearly fictional, but it may age-restrict graphic scenes such as torture, dismemberment or bloody corpses, or a video that focuses only on the most violent part of a game.
Can I make GTA 6 videos before the game comes out?
Yes. Until launch on November 19, 2026, GTA 6 videos are news, breakdowns and analysis over short excerpts of Rockstar's trailers and screenshots, with your own narration and on-screen credit.
How long should a gaming video be?
In our sample of GTA 6 videos, news roundups and opinion videos ran 6 to 15 minutes, money and economy explainers 8 to 10 minutes, and "details you missed" breakdowns 15 to 42 minutes.
Compare Cliptude plans
Plans from $19/mo, priced per finished minute. Cliptude has no free plan; watch the sample videos first to judge the output.
Keep researching
Best AI video generator for YouTube · AI video price per minute (research) · AI video for marketing · Cheapest AI video generator · All alternatives