Do Any of You Want to Work in the Games Industry?

[RPTGB]

Crunches should be the exception rather than the rule and certainly not held up as some badge of honour, dick waving contest. In my 20+ years in this industry, most of the crunch can be alleviated with proper, common sense, management.
Its still a good industry to work in but a very different one these days.

 

[真棒!]

I know a good number of people who went into the industry and I can name maybe one who is actually happy. Lay offs are a huge issue and even at bigger companies, your job security is almost non existent. The pay, benefits, and all that jazz doesn't seem to be too amazing either.


I should mention the one person I know who is happy in the industry works on the corporate side of the company now which is a completely different beast.

 

[Kyle Rowley]

I know a good number of people who went into the industry and I can name maybe one who is actually happy. Lay offs are a huge issue and even at bigger companies, your job security is almost non existent. The pay, benefits, and all that jazz doesn't seem to be too amazing either.


I should mention the one person I know who is happy in the industry works on the corporate side of the company now which is a completely different beast.

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Picking the right studio once you have experience is a skill in itself. Obviously some situations are unavoidable, but sometimes it's pretty obvious at an interview stage that something is not right (either with the studio itself, or the project).

 

[SolidChamp]

I just want to write. For anyone. In a collaborative, storytelling process.

 

[Puru]

I wouldn't mind trying to slowly make a game or several prototypes by myself but that's about the extent of it. It would probably mostly be trash but i think it would be a good experience. To be honest at this point in time it seems more interesting to me than actually playing videogames.
Working seriously in that industry though, i can't really tell.

 

[Van Bur3n]

I once aspired to be a concept artist within the industry, but I believe that dream has died, as I have found other lines of work that make me happy.

 

[ThanksgivingDinner]

I'm going to leave the industry sooner rather than later. I plan on getting a Scrum Master certificate and moving on. I have years of experience as a manager, coordinator, and lead, but I can't really land anything right now outside of the industry. A lot of the jobs I find in the industry are a step back from where I've been. Also the worst part is every studio I've been at has shut down. With 9 years in the industry the longest stint I had was three years and that was the first studio I was at, every studio after that I have been there for 6-18 months.

 

[sandboxgod]

I have been in the industry for yrs (over 10 yrs straight) in the past. Seen a lot of crunches and some layoffs. One day I'll be able to enjoy stable employment and nice work/life balance like I did before I entered games.

But it can tough to achieve escape velocity if thats all you've ever done

 

[____]

I work in marketing as a project manager. I love my job as stressful as it is. I think I'd love it the same if the industry was different so sure why not.

 

[Sean Noonan]

I've been a designer for over a decade. I've shipped a lot of awesome projects and met a bunch of cool people along the way.

I'm glad I got "in", I can't imagine doing anything else. It doesn't feel like work to me.

 

[Cybersai]

I heard people who work on games all day actually hate playing games because they're so sick of them by the time they come home.

 

[Ωλ7XL9]

I was this close to getting my dream job in a studio that I am obsessed about, not just me but almost every single PlayStation gamer like myself is obsessed about. My chances were robbed by my h1b immigration status after a successful skype interview :(

 

[Deleted member 1627]

Hell no. Can' enjoy a game you made. You know everything about it.

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This isn't strictly true - I've been able to play and enjoy a whole bunch of stuff I've worked on. Some day 1. Some a few months later. But if the game is good, you're going to enjoy it so long as the experience of making it hasn't destroyed you :)

 

[Dremorak]

I heard people who work on games all day actually hate playing games because they're so sick of them by the time they come home.

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Nope. 8 years+ in and still play games any chance I get. I feel it makes me a better developer

 

[Akai]

I was this close to getting my dream job in a studio that I am obsessed about, not just me but almost every single PlayStation gamer like myself is obsessed about. My chances were robbed by my h1b immigration status after a successful skype interview :(

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Damn, that sucks. I feel sorry for you. :'(

 

[Samus_Aran]

I can confirm that even though I was hyped working on some games I never touched them once they got released. Couldn't see them anymore.

 

[JamboGT]

I do and I love it. Really happy.

Been working in the industry 8 years now.

 

[Deleted member 37928]

As an indie developer sure. But I believe that AAA development would be too stressful for me.

 

[Deleted member 2809]

Hell naw. IT is already bad enough sometimes.

 

[NekoNeko]

hell no.

 

[Ladioss]

Maybe on a passion project, as an indie, then yes.

But generally I try to divert my creative drives to more accessible mediums.

As a software dev, I also don't think I'd be able to deal with management making decisions I don't agree with on a project that I'm passionate about. (and indie dev is too much of a crapshoot)

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Agreed. As a regular soft dev management is already too often an insufferable nuisance full of know-it-all incompetent geniuses, I would never be able to cope with it on a passion project.

 

[sbkodama]

Some friends anf family members asked me this long ago when I began game dev alone, it's a clear no.
Jobs are too specialised and I can do what I want at the pace I want alone.

 

[plié]

Never, I heavily dislike tech and computers. It also seems very money/capitalism centric, yuck.

 

[Unclebenny]

I would love to work in the industry but have no coding experience skills, nor do I really see myself having time to develop them.

Like the idea of being a community manager or something, interacting with fans, trying to bring the best of a game out into the world. The reality probably is much more angry.

Just don't think I have a skillset to transfer over into anything games wise at the moment.

 

[MattXIII]

The Game's Industry is the Dark Souls of industries.

 

[Deleted member 12790]

I was this close to getting my dream job in a studio that I am obsessed about, not just me but almost every single PlayStation gamer like myself is obsessed about. My chances were robbed by my h1b immigration status after a successful skype interview :(

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:(

My condolences

 

[DennyDifferent]

This isn't strictly true - I've been able to play and enjoy a whole bunch of stuff I've worked on. Some day 1. Some a few months later. But if the game is good, you're going to enjoy it so long as the experience of making it hasn't destroyed you :)

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I put at least 40 hours into the PS3 version of Sonic Racing Transformed and even more into the PC version and I was on that project from pre-production to release.

 

[Staf]

Absolutely not. It's my hobby, would ruined it if i worked in it.

 

[Legacy]

I actually studied games development at uni a lifetime ago but went into something completely different now and I'm grateful for it.

I certainly wouldn't want to be working in the industry at all. It could actually put me off games, which would be a nightmare

 

[JamboGT]

I have to say, I worked a tonne of different jobs before working in games, all of them were terrible in comparison.

I work for a AAA company and have good working conditions, good managers cool people to work with and I enjoy what I do. Don't think i would get anything like this doing anything else.

And I go home and play games every night!

 

[mxbison]

Yes, I'm on my way there.

People act like you don't have to deal with the same shit in other industries.

 

[mxbison]

Hell no. Can' enjoy a game you made. You know everything about it.

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I also can't enjoy the SQL to Excel tool I made.

 

[Iztok]

Nah, would love to be a part time pundit, though.

 

[Deleted member 35598]

Yes and I will.
Focused on my IT sales job for now, but I'm planning to move into the gsming industry in the next 2 years.

 

[Deleted member 8674]

I do but sadly video games still treated like kids toys here.

 

[tyfon]

Probably not, I used to be a machinist and now I can't watch movies on cinemas since I notice all the errors that are made behind the scenes.
I bet it's similar with games. I'm also very happy with my current job.
It probably wouldn't be impossible to get in though as I have had programming as a hobby almost all my life and used to program demos in the 90s. I'm not that worried about labour conditions, we have proper laws here to deal with that.

 

[Deleted member 10726]

Working in the games industry requires passion for game dev I don't have.

Never had any issue just leaving it as a hobby and I feel better off not having studied game design.

 

[Deleted member 1627]

I put at least 40 hours into the PS3 version of Sonic Racing Transformed and even more into the PC version and I was on that project from pre-production to release.

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It's a really good game!!!

 

[Deleted member 8561]

Not per-say.

When I graduate and have income (and don't have to worry about studying and can just do a simple 8 to 5/6 work week), I would love to actually dive into some game design and make some actual prototypes of things I've had floating around for a while.

Like everything, a lot of the "how well is the work" depends on managers and higher ups. Unfortunately, it seems like a good portion of the game design industry is filled with horrible deadlines and constant mismanagement which just gets passed onto the developers in the cost of insane work hours and zero work-life balance.

 

[cowbanana]

Never. I love video games as entertainment and for the art and tech, but I don't think I'd want to work in the industry. When I hear what the average dev makes, and under what conditions they work I'm not at all interested. As much as I love games, I don't really have a burning desire to make them.

I've worked with design and 3D visualization for 20+ year and I've done a minimum of overtime in all those years. My work/life balance is great and I've had time for my kids that I wouldn't have in a crunch heavy, life-sucking work environment.

 

[Deleted member 6056]

From my experience with working on other people's projects in the indies I dont think I'd ever wanna work for someone else's project again without any creative input. So much shit would just be tossed at me that was either a bad or lifeless half thought concept and they'd say the equivalent of" make it exactly like that but cooler."

If your idea sucks dude it wont be cooler than it already is unless you give me enough freedom to embellish it some and pitch improvements or various variants. There's concepting and then a refinement stage with your crew needed to maximize the usage of their skills and most would never allow refinement and were ran by folks with budget and no creativity forcing people to pump out the bad half thought designs. Hell most didnt even have the budget. They were just organizing folks trying to be the idea guy making money. If you're hiring designers and artists why aren't you using their abilities in those areas. Didnt you need them for those things?

Plus I ran into several projects that were completely directionless that just threw in ideas and art but had zero structured short term goals from week to week as well as no real design bible of which to speak laying out gameplay specifics.

If I work in the industry in any capacity ill remain working for myself. At least I can pinball ideas back and forth and am willing to make changes when necessary with the folks I do involve. I may take forever finishing but fuckit. I'd rather develop 1 owlboy type decade long project than be forced to spend the same amount of years only working on crap I dont agree with or that didnt reflect the full capacity of what I could achieve as a designer. Plus I'm not about to work myself to death on something I hate and starve. I got a decent career. I'd rather get paid outside the industry in a secure field and work on my own stuff with complete freedom at no risk.

Once it's far enough I can always pitch it to publishers for backing for the final products completion or just pony up and pay to certify it, get qa and sound work myself.

 

[Jakisthe]

Adjacent...?

I work in tech/media/telecom as an investment banker, and have done a few transactions in gaming.

 

[Moz La Punk]

In making games? No way. Don't have the skill set anyway.

But you also mention writing about games, and that's what I've been doing for the past 20 years. First some voluntary stuff when I was 15/16, then my own site, then full-time for one the biggest publishings in the Netherlands. Made it to editor in chief and all. Did that for ten years, but it slowly drained the joy out of my passion and hobby. Not anyone's fault though, ten years in an office talking to editors and publishers wears you down eventually.

I've been freelancing for two years now and its perfect for me. I can focus on what I love again (writing), play the games I want to play, write about what I want to write. Sure, you have to have determination, a good network and of course the skill to write (fairly) well, but if you have all those things and enjoy it, its great. Wouldn't want to do anything else. I write about other stuff too, but games is my main bread and butter. Works out for me just fine.

But I would def. advise people to take the road I have taken, as in first try to get a fulltime gig to build up a good network and then go freelance. Becoming a freelance journalist that makes enough money is hard as it is, let alone in an industry as niche as the game-industry. Wouldn't recommend it to someone looking to make a living, I just had the luck (and work ethic) to make it work somehow.

 

[pswii60]

When I was very young, I really wanted to work in the games industry. Then I actually did, for a couple of months, as a sound engineer for a videogame developer here in the UK (talking late 90s here) - 2 weeks work experience with school, and then they kept on over the Summer and offered me a 12 month placement a year later.

I politely declined, because I hated it. I realised that being stuck at a desk in an office staring at a computer screen all day was my idea of hell. And I now have that much more appreciation for those that do it. Of course, it's a hugely rewarding job, as anything involving creativity is. But I couldn't stand being stuck in the same office all day every day.

Moon Studios has got it sorted IMO, the flexibility of working from home and at hours of your choosing. And they get to work for Thomas, who is a really cool dude, even if he does upset a few snowflakes on here from time to time :)

 

[Deleted member 6056]

Honestly for those with the capability to do art with all the front ends that are wysiwyg for major engines these days and code free game design software being so cheap there's no reason not to try your own stuff.

Do a few Game Jams after tinkering around in those engines just to meet some folks. Make a few friends with similar interests. Dont take long after that to begin working with a small network of folks for either a group project or just on your own thing with enough connections to get the answers you need or help you need with issues as you go solo after that.

 

[Duffking]

I think some people are overestimating the "making games makes you hate playing them" thing. It may be true if you do QA, but even then, it's more likely to just make you hate that one game. Most of my colleagues spend their lunches playing games, and play games when they go home, and talk games when they get in the next day. Most games jobs don't typically involve a lot of playing games, and making them is rather substantially different from the process of playing them.

 

[StraySheep]

Of course a journalist, critic, or even just a personality ala Giant Bomb in gaming would be fun, but that involves a whole lot of work for almost no pay to get a chance of working for one of the big boys, and like no job security even then.

As a web developer I could see myself seeking a job specifically for a company that works in the industry in the future.

 

[elenarie]

Already in, don't ever see myself getting out.

Battlefront, Mirrors Edge, Battlefield. Feel honoured and privileged to have worked on those franchises. Onwards to more stuff!

Finished 56 games and expansions and dlcs in 2017. 78 in 2018. 9 so far this year. I play a variety of stuff.

Love going in the studio. Love going back home to dive in and explore new worlds. :)

 

[Deleted member 31873]

I wanted to in the past, but software development is fun regardless of which industry you do it in, and there are far less stressful ones than the games industry.

I do game development as a hobby though.

 

[Munti]

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Just curious, what kind of job do you do now that you don't have to sit in an office the whole day?