Breaking In to a Game Industry in Crisis

The worst gaming job market in recent memory doesn’t cure the heart of its big career dreams. How can you safely channel that energy?

12 min read1 day ago

Let’s be clear: it’s not a great time to break into gaming. But you clicked on this article because you’re still curious. I’ll do my best to give you some constructive advice on how to cope with that curiosity in these conditions.

Thanks to a major career announcement this week, I’ve seen an immediate surge in aspiring game developers from multiple disciplines — art, UX, game design, engineering — asking for my advice on the age-old “breaking in” question. This is a natural response to seeing someone grab a dream job, but of course the way I broke in isn’t relevant since I’ve been on a 2 decade journey to this point. I’m not going to put my story forward as a good example, because it was unique to the time, place, and circumstances. Circumstances now are wholly different. Competition is tougher, and the industry has been Thanos-snapping roles left and right for years. I myself was one of the 530 people caught up in the Riot Games layoffs in January 2024, and hit the pavement like all of my peers to find my next move.

What we’ll cover

And yet the questions about breaking in keep coming, because dreams don’t sleep. So what advice CAN I give to folks who are looking to break into the gaming industry? I’ll focus on 5 takeaways:

Don’t quit your day job
Develop a clear point of view on gaming
Network and grow via the creator community
Aim for a clear target discipline
Ground yourself: it’s about execution, not just ideas

This photo from Halloween 2006, when I was Lead Producer for Disney Friends DS at Griptonite Games, is probably what most people think game development looks like. It’s also foreshadowing, as I’ve just accepted a role with the Pokemon Company International — as you can see, that particular step was a long time coming.

1 — Don’t quit your day job

Seriously. Now is not the time to go running away with the circus if you have something reasonably secure in another industry. You will be the person with the least amount of security and tenure, and there are countless stories about folks who have had offers rescinded at the last minute, or experienced a layoff in the first year of work. Bide your time if you can, and use your down time to pursue strengthened skills. And take some time to reflect on what skills from your current job would transfer to a role in gaming. You may not think anything transfers, but games are “just” massive software development projects paired with the creative aspirations of a film or book. Skills that might help you:

Prioritization and product management
Customer outreach or user research
Analytics and working with big data
Production and project management, especially Agile
Collaboration across disciplines and business units
Working on training or onboarding systems
Working with cloud systems like databases
Experience designing for touch screens or VR
Community management, social media, and marketing

2-Develop a clear point of view on gaming via regular play

It may seem silly to say, but in a hugely competitive market, it’s not enough to just say “I like playing games on my phone.” While I do stand by the position that not everyone at a game company needs to be a gamer nor an expert in the specific discipline they’re working on, in this market you typically need to at least demonstrate a strong curiosity and open mindedness about gaming, which means having sampled a variety of recent experiences. And yes, if you really want to differentiate yourself, you’ll want to go deep on the games you’re applying to. I’ve been rejected at the 11th hour for not being a big enough fan of Battlefield, and my daily dedication to playing Marvel Strike Force helped me land my job there in an incredibly competitive market.

You don’t always have to be a lifelong fan, but you need to show willingness to engage. And for those looking to go the extra mile, there are ways to build up independent credibility as a gamer should you wish to pursue it. Platforms like Medium are great places to write about your experiences. Twitch is a great place to stream and engage with games and to learn about the creator economy. Try ranked play or get friends and family involved in your gaming experiments to help you with accountability. Become a student of the field.

3 — Network and grow via the creator community

Rather than focus on connecting with industry heavyweights who are wrapped up in their work, your best path to networking lies in your peers. The world is full of game jams and gaming communities. Many indie games are created by people who found each other in enthusiast communities, and these are often great ways to get early experience even if a game doesn’t take off. My experience at Carnegie Mellon University was differentiated by the Building Virtual Worlds class, where we had to create a different VR world with a different random team every 2 weeks. In the end, 99% of game development is deeply collaborative because games are so complex as software projects. Rapidly working with multiple teams will strengthen your soft skills and prepare you for the realities of the market, and you might just create a fun game or two along the way!

Keep in mind that you don’t have to make a game to learn how to use gaming software like Unity. My first Unity project was during my year of grad school at Carnegie Mellon’s Entertainment Technology Center: in a partnership with the Pittsburgh Children’s Museum, we scanned historic puppets in and created a museum installation that let visitors interact with those puppets in a way that would destroy them in real life. I got experience implementing code for controllers, 3D models, and 3D rigging and scenes. Today’s gaming engines can be put to many uses, and there are several options like Unity and Godot that you can experiment with without requiring an up-front investment.

Not sure where to start with your networking? Try industry organizations like the International Game Developers Association or Women in Games International.

The Virpets project I worked on at Carnegie Mellon used a very early version of Unity, tied to custom control rigs built from Happ controls often seen at arcades, allowed visitors to play with historic puppets that had been recreated in digital form. While not a game, the experience I gained with 3D engines and controls were very relevant all the same.

4-Aim for a clear target discipline

I’ve noticed a trend in job hunting in general, where folks try to paint themselves as generalists. There’s a mistaken belief that this makes you more appealing. “I’m flexible! Teach me anything!” But here are the problems with that approach:

You look less competitive against applicants to a role that are emphasizing their specific qualifications that align with the job requirements.
You send the inadvertent message that you are unfocused, and just looking for “any” job. That’s not what a hiring manager looking to invest in an employee long term wants to hear. You could be a flight risk if the role isn’t a match and you were just using it to get a foot in the door.
In cases where you’re pitching your ability to learn, you are implicitly assuming that the manager has the time and desire to teach you. Unfortunately, in an incredibly competitive job market there’s almost inevitably someone applying who’s not going to require that time drain.

Common Game Development Disciplines

In my upcoming 2025 book release “Enduring Play: Creating Video Games that Thrive”, I’ll be sharing an overview of the video game production process and common roles as part of a holistic look at game development and design. In the meantime, here are some example disciplines into which your skills might slot:

Design

The umbrella craft of design in video gaming covers a wide variety of subdisciplines including game design, narrative design, user experience design, user interface design/art, and sound design.

Art

Video game artists are sometimes generalists at small companies, but at large companies they may specialize; common skills include animation, environments, 3D modeling, 2D art/textures, and special effects. Concept art and illustration is often handled by vendors as there isn’t enough consistent work in R&D for full timers, so be aware.

Engineering

Video game engineers are often specialized into subgenres like gameplay engineer, graphics and UI engineering, engine programming and optimization, network engineers, database engineering, and beyond. There are also a fair number of hybrid roles that combine engineering and another discipline — like technical designers who work to tune game designs in-engine, technical artists who specialize in rigging and optimization of art, and technical UI designers who specialize in the implementation of UX designs in game engines.

Production & Roadmap

There is a ton of inconsistency in product and program management across video game companies.

Sometimes, producers act as product managers, maintaining the creative vision for a game in addition to the operational elements. (That’s how my career in production went at EA and Griptonite Games.)
At large companies, producers are sometimes specialized and focused on operational considerations like JIRA, Agile rituals, planning, and communications.
Product managers or leads typically have responsibility for identifying new feature opportunities aligned with strategic business needs, and helping to see that they’re translated into practical requirements.
And program / project managers in the software and gaming worlds are typically hyper specialized in interfacing with technical teams and ensuring their work is aligned and on track.

Publishing & Marketing

Games don’t get played if people don’t know about them. Much of the focus of publishing teams is getting a game out to market, and maintaining the connection with fans by keeping a steady stream of new content available. Publishing teams are often the home of localization operations as well — the teams that translate games from their original language into a variety of other languages. Localization isn’t just a text task; a proper localization system requires robust engineering, tools, processes, and even game design.

Quality Assurance

The “game tester” stereotype refers to the Quality Assurance role: people whose job it is to play a game repeatedly to identify unexpected behavior and document it so that the game team can fix it before release. Game testing is often glamorized or downplayed as something anyone can do, but it is a grueling craft. It requires incredible patience and attention to detail, as you are usually playing the same game, level, or feature dozens if not hundreds of times. It requires technical expertise as you’ll be expected to manage game installations, possibly even work with game development engines and prototype hardware. It requires focus — for security reasons, most game testers aren’t allowed to bring their own phones or devices with them to work. And it requires flexibility — game testers are the last line of defense when trying to get a game approved for release, and will often end up pulling extra hours when unexpected issues arise. QA is critical, but easy to get wrong.

Community Management & Player Relations

In a hyper-connected world, games have fluid, demanding, engaged communities. Players expect real time customer service, and for 24/7 games it’s not necessarily unreasonable to expect that. Within communities, it is all too easy to accidentally create environments where player harm can become rampant. It takes conscious, careful engagement to shape communities and create safe spaces for play. When players are harmed or excluded, that not only causes bad feelings but it shrinks your potential audience. It’s worth investing in your community.

Live Operations

A specialty discipline focused on maintaining short-term events on live service games, you may find dedicated production, design, engineering, marketing, and analytics resources on these teams. Live Ops requires around the clock availability and the ability to adapt in high stakes situations.

Now, these aren’t even the ONLY career tracks in gaming, but they are the most common and closest to the traditional “game development” model. The key here is that there is SO MUCH possible in gaming, selling yourself as a jack of all trades is actively unhelpful. You need to be clear about where you see yourself fitting in. If you can’t tell that story, a hiring manager isn’t going to be able to piece it together on their own. And if you’re multitalented, great — keep multiple resumes and cover letters staged as you apply to roles in different disciplines.

5-Ground yourself: it’s about execution, not just ideas

When folks have developed a perception of game making informed primarily by, say, Hallmark Christmas movies or Saturday Night Live sketches, I find there’s a tendency to sell one’s ideas, as if the quality of a specific idea will get you hired at a company. I’m here to tell you that no one is looking to HIRE you for your specific ideas.

If you’re throwing unsolicited new ideas at game companies, most will ignore them and discard your application so that they don’t get sued in case they accidentally brush up against any of those concepts in the future.
If your pitch is that “I had this great idea, you should hire me”, then we’re really talking about selling an idea. I have no idea how long that idea took you or where you got it. An idea is not enough to convince me you are a candidate for a full time job.
Many, many ideas that folks think are unique have been thought of. Or even developed. It is the ability to work with an idea within the specific constraints and strategies of a specific business that differentiates a full time employee. Ideas that come out of the blue likely haven’t been tested by context.

What I and many hiring managers would be looking for is evidence that you’re capable of working with existing ideas and amplifying their success, or that you’re capable of pitching an idea into an organization and making headway despite the constraints of budget, technology, staff, strategy, and time. This is the sign of a potential ability to thrive in the product or design disciplines in games — and for that, you’ll need to become a student of the game industry.

But not all roles need to have this skill. There are plenty of game development roles where you’re NOT going to be pressured to generate a bunch of new ideas — you’ll be working within constraints defined by the business. Sometimes constraint is a gift, and many of my past employees have thrived specifically because they are able to work within existing structures. Don’t make the mistake of painting yourself as an auteur for an industry that needs grounded, practical talent day to day.

Closing: Bring your patience

I am often asked why I love Pokémon so much. Aside from Pikachu, who is objectively fantastic, I find the games and the anime to have a strong positive message that resonates in real life. It took Ash Ketchum over two decades to become a Pokémon Master, but during that whole journey he maintained his faith in his own value. Gaming is a tough, competitive, and often unforgiving industry. When Ash found he was short on skills or hit obstacles, he welcomed the opportunity to grow. Bring humility, a fire for learning, and an unwavering faith in your own value… but pack your patience and make sure you have a backup plan, particularly during these dark times for the industry.

The hard truth is that over 23,000 video game jobs have been eliminated in the past 2 years, according to Wikipedia. I actually fear that the contraction is going to stick for several more years. It feels like the big studios used the chaos as an excuse to prematurely downsize in preparation for the next console replacement cycle, which is expected to hit in late 2027/2028. When new consoles are announced like the Playstation 6, sales of the previous generation slow, and investments in new games for that generation also peter out. However, it’s impossible to immediately ramp up on the new consoles as they are physically not ready for prime time, and often the hardware is extremely constrained. (Ask me sometime about working on a DS launch title, and how little time we actually had in advance on 2 screens…)

There will come a time when the industry starts to grow again. When it does, we’ll be looking at new tools, new technologies, new standards. Folks proactively learning will be at an advantage. In the meantime, indie game innovation is going to pick up the slack — another reason why leaning into creator communities is so important right now. Know that many industry veterans have been forced out due to the lack of jobs, and that there’s no shame in biding your time and building skills in a more stable industry. Success doesn’t happen overnight; mine sure didn’t. No matter what, best wishes on your gaming journey. GLHF (good luck, have fun!)

If you found value in this free article, consider checking out my book Design Beyond Devices: Creating Multimodal, Cross-Device Experiences. I’ve used many of the techniques there in my own work in the video game industry as a creative leader. Reviews are most welcomed and help support my future writing work.

Cheryl Platz is a game designer, director, instructor, author, and streamer. She is an adjunct instructor of video games at Carnegie Mellon University’s Masters of Entertainment Industry Management (Hollywood Campus). Her second book, a holistic look at game development and design entitled “Enduring Play: Creating Video Games that Thrive” will be published in 2025 by Rosenfeld Media. You can follow along on her writing process by following Cheryl on LinkedIn, BlueSky, Twitch, or TikTok.