Love gaming? Wouldn’t it be incredible if you could do what you love and make a living from it too? A career in gaming isn’t such a crazy idea. It’s a huge industry – in the US, gaming was worth an impressive $18.4 billion in 2017. And there are plenty of opportunities to be found.
Newer and smaller video game developers are increasingly coming to the fore. Mobile gaming, virtual reality, AI – all of these industry developments mean better prospects. So if you’re an avid gamer and you’re looking for a gaming job, take a look at these amazing gaming careers:
1. Animator
If you’ve always carried a sketchbook of doodles around with you, game animation could be just the career for you. This job requires both artistic flair and technical knowhow – you’ll need to understand computer packages and the strengths and weaknesses of any given platform as well as the creative vision you want to realise. If you excel in both of these areas, you could end up working with artists, designers and programmers to bring the world and the characters of a game to life.
2. Game Tester
This career is surely every gamer’s dream come true – getting to play video games for a living. But it’s more intensive than it might sound. It means playing the game on various different settings and on different configurations to check for glitches and faults before the game is released to the market. This isn’t usually a job that pays particularly well and it requires a great deal of patience as you play and re-play the same sections of a game. But it can be a heap of fun if you really, really love playing video games.
3. Professional Gamer
This one is out of reach for most of us. It’s a pretty risky career strategy – spend your days dedicated to playing a particular game until you achieve complete mastery. Then enter competitions where you play other gamers and win big prizes. The biggest professional gamers supplement their considerable winnings with sponsorship deals and product endorsements. But there might be a long way to go before you hit the big time.
4. Audio Programmer
Being an audio programmer in the gaming industry is now not dissimilar to working in the film industry. As games and their storylines have become more complex, so too have the soundtracks developed to accompany them. As an audio programmer, you’ll be responsible for recording the music, sound effects and voices overs for a game. And if you work on a gaming masterpiece, this could mean creating a fully orchestrated soundtrack or working with celebrities who are voicing characters.
5. Game Programmer
Game programmers take the characters and worlds developed by the creatives and make them playable. This means you need to have serious technical ability and a head for coding. Games are increasingly immersive, with interactions between non-playable characters and the world itself becoming super realistic. This is a huge and exciting challenge for game programmers today.
6. Game Producer
For those of you with incredible organisational skills and a head for finances, game production could be just the ticket. Game producers project manage the development and release of a new game, assembling a team and keeping everyone to deadlines. They’ll also be responsible for promoting and selling the game, meaning that the ultimate profit made lies largely in their hands.
There are countless career opportunities within the gaming industry. Whether you’re a creative, a technical or an organisational mastermind, as long as you have a real passion for gaming, there’s a gaming job out there for you.