Where to get traffic for gaming website

Yello,
Have a simple arcade gaming website (nothing illegal or adult, no casino games).
Was wandering what would be the best source to get traffic to this website ? Right now i dont have any ads on it but later on i do plan on monetizing it with them.
I dont think SEO is an option because there just wont be any good keywords for it and it will probably take a lot of time.
Looked around on flippa and noticed other people selling their gaming websites. Traffic sources for the most part were direct which made me think...
Why would you fight for seo when you can someone push your bran name out and people would just remember it and come back.
Tried youtube shorts (recorded short gameplays added a water mark with my websites domain (barely visible, small text at the bottom)) 0 views on all videos.. No idea why am i blocked. Tried proxies, no proxies, aged, fresh accounts, all got 0 views.

Found one thread here were someone was asking where they could get cheap traffic for they gaming website. They got a lot of terrible suggestions like PropellerAds and similar. Which deliver nothing but bot traffic. Still i decided to give them a go and found out that all horrible reviews were true. After leaving just few active zones that seemed to deliver some people who were actually playing games, the traffic came in single digit numbers.

As much as i dont like TikTok, maybe that would work ? Post shorts of my own recorded videos with watermarks ? Or would i get shadow banned just like on youtube ?

Any suggestions ? Thanks

Gaming communities and Discord groups might be worth testing the traffic may be smaller but its more likely to be actual players

For a gaming site, I’d focus on traffic sources where the audience is already interested in specific games rather than chasing cheap bulk traffic. Gaming-focused SEO, YouTube content, and relevant communities can bring much more targeted visitors if the content actually adds value.

Don't add watermarks on your videos because their system is checking for video links and detects it as advertising.

On TikTok, add link in profile description, without https://

On YouTube only add it in description.

Don't upload more than 2+ videos at once or per day, you can get "blocked" and gain 0 views on all videos. I always upload one video per day.

Avoid those ad networks like PropellerAds, RichAds, Adsterra, etc... I've tested them and only got bot traffic for many niches.

What is working for me? I will tell you something that you can also try. Since we all know that YouTube Shorts, TikTok Shorts are full of spammy reused content and the algorithm is always pushing the same and same videos to people. Download a video, use some editing software, cut that video in the middle and add your video about a gaming website, it can be a 5 second video that looks like an advertisement... Don't add at the beginning because people will skip the video, this way they will keep watching to see the end of the video.

I also add a cool looking text on the right side "Skip Ad", but they can't skip shit XD

Just upload 1 video per day, that way you will always have fresh video uploaded, not gonna be detected as spam, use your real IP.

Reddit, Discord servers, gaming forums and YouTube/TikTok clips can work if the content is actually useful or entertaining. I wouldnt give up on SEO either. Even if the main game keywords are competitive, you can target individual games, walkthroughs, updates and long-tail searches and build traffic over time.

Have you checked on gaming forums/communities, FB and YouTube ads, discord groups. FB and YouTube ads will bring in more traffic as far as your games are unique and interesting.