Start a Career in Gaming Industry: Tips & Best Employment Opportunities

Do you absolutely love video games, or know someone who does? Perhaps you enjoy spending all day leading your virtual troops into battle in shooter games, RPG games, and more? 

Maybe you spend more time seated in your Razer gaming chair in front of a gaming computer than you do in the chairs in your living room? 

If that is the case, then you definitely are one of the many avid gamers out there who could turn your hobby into a career and make a living doing what you love. 

From developing video games to playing video games professionally or even running a gaming business, there are many career and employment opportunities you can pursue in the sector.

You could start a profitable and satisfying career in the gaming industry.

Top Gaming Career & Employment Opportunities

Here are some lucrative career and employment options in the gaming sector, along with top tips on how to get started on a rewarding career path in the video games industry:

1. Professional Gamer

Believe it or not, the thing that you love the most – being one of the world's top gamers – is actually a career now. People are becoming professional gamers every day. 

If you've watched other gamers playing video games on streaming services but never really thought that you could do the same, well, you can! Gamers make a lot of money live streaming their gameplay or entering tournaments ;for the prize money.

However, it's important to note that you'll need to invest a lot of time, patience, and effort into becoming a professional gamer before you make money at it. So, don't quit your day job right away. Keep practicing and improving your gameplay to pave the way, keeping in mind that you're still going to have to make money to pay the bills until your dream takes off. 

If you're looking for the best gaming setup and equipment like mouse pads to get you started, start with one that is durable, works on any surface, and delivers a solid performance. You also need to decide if you want RGB lighting, a mousepad without RGB, and whether you want your mouse pad to be wireless charging, or even have a USB port included. 

When choosing the right mouse pad and other equipment for your gaming needs, there's a lot to consider, so do your research and choose your gaming gear wisely. 

2. Video Game Designer

If you're a creative person and you are always coming up with interesting ideas on improving the game you're playing or on designing your own games, then you can turn that creativity into a career as a games designer.

Designing video games is a little more complicated than being a professional gamer, so you're likely going to need further education in the field. Most video game designers have a bachelor’s degree in graphic design, multimedia design, or a related field.

Some universities even offer a degree specifically for video game design, with study coursework including 2D and 3D animation, computer design, and programming languages. But that is not to say that there are no successful self-taught games designers as well.

As a games designer, you may have to work in teams most of the time, creating and designing various aspects of a video game, such as characters, setting, storyline, game levels, player engagement, and overall mechanics, animation, and mood of the game. Nonetheless, you may be able to start a new job and convince your clients that you do better work at home. 

With quality training, you can start your video game design career by redesigning games you already love to hone your skills and finding video game design internships or volunteer to get your career off the ground. You may then start promoting your video game design skills and services online and start building your portfolio working with different clients. 

If ever you find someone screaming, “I want to sell my business,” such as an indie video game design company, you can buy it to take your career and business to the next level. Even still, striving to launch your own studio or production company is a step in the right direction. 

3. Video Game Programmer/Developer

If you are a passionate gamer who would love to start a career in the gaming industry but you don't have a creative bone in your body, you can still pursue a career as a software developer or programmer in the gaming industry. 

As a software developer/programmer in the gaming industry, you would develop codebases for video games or related software to make games a reality instead of undertaking the creative role of designing video games from scratch and coming up with game ideas. 

Video game software developers and programmers often work with a creative team on theme, graphic design, characters, and layouts. You can venture into this field to work on gaming projects you love, while also honing your software development skills for nongame jobs.

4. Video Games Tester

Another option you can explore in this sector is that of a games tester. These are the people who test video games for glitches, bugs, and other errors. They then let game designers and developers know if video games are any good and what needs to be fixed before release. 

Game testers know their stuff, typically having excellent knowledge of different types of games, styles, platforms, and more. They conduct thorough testing and research, connecting with real-life gamers who provide real-world insights into the quality of video games.

You can boost your prospects of landing a job as a game tester (sometimes also known as beta game tester) by completing a college degree in video game design or related field in addition to having good communication and observational skills and a passion for playing video games.

In your role as a game tester, you’ll spend long hours testing new games and locating bugs and flaws that should be fixed before the game can be put out in the market. That will not only be a lucrative task, but also a fun undertaking because you already love playing video games, right?

Conclusion

Those are only a few of the most lucrative gaming career and employment opportunities you can pursue to turn your love of video games into a successful career. 

Of course, there are other opportunities you can look into as well, including games writers who come up with video game scripts, gproject manager who oversees a game’s developmental processes, and producer who is in charge of the business and marketing sides of development.

With a bit of effort and investment, you can find a suitable niche you'll start and love working in.