People have been dreaming of turning their hobbies into their full-time job since the dawn of time. The reality is that for most people, that is and likely always will be mostly a dream. Well, gaming and esports are no different. Watching your favourite streamer or pro game may make you wonder if gaming is a career… but only a few of the most dedicated out there ever even come near that reality of making gaming a good career.

IS GAMING A CAREER?
Gaming as a career is always a viable choice. There is plenty of jobs in the gaming market in various fields.

Game developers employ thousands of people, so do esports tournament companies and esports teams. There are plenty of jobs in gaming and all the industries tied to playing video games. Now yes, learning to code, design or test is hard work and will take a long time, but it’s also a highly in-demand and well-paid career option for those who master the skills involved. That doesn’t mean it’s not a viable path for how to make a career in gaming, but it will require some work.

There would not BE a gaming industry without people making games. While it isn’t a world-famous streaming channel, jobs like that make those possible in the first place.

The same is true for the event staff that makes those incredible League of Legends, Dota 2 and CS:GO competitions possible. These can all be great careers in gaming. Esports started out in basements, in small community halls, organized by a few players after work… and now there are dedicated esports stadiums all around the world. There are plenty of careers in this industry varying from project management to broadcasting production and everything in between.

Esports and gaming have many more potential career paths – with things like crypto gaming on the rise, there is a direct intersection between the financial industry and gaming, allowing investors and crypto holders to directly use their investments like NFT tokens in games. Naturally, if you have the financial freedom, you can also go and straight up buy an esports team! The biggest esports teams out there have yearly turnovers in the tens of millions and are valued above that still, so maybe this is a bit out of reach for most seeking a career in gaming.

Investment and sponsorship opportunities have long since opened the door to intersections between gaming and completely unrelated industries. In other words, it’s perfectly possible to stumble across an esports or gaming-related job even if you work in, for example, the betting industry – esports betting is growing daily. The same is true for things like hardware design and peripherals. gaming wouldn’t even exist without the breakthroughs in technology we have seen since the beginning of computing.

Here 7 rising career options in gaming industry for you

1. Game Artist/ Designer
2. Game Animator And Visual Artist
3. Game Play Tester
4. Audio Engineer
5. Market Research Analyst
6. Game Developer/Programming
7. Interpreters And Translators

GAME ARTIST/ DESIGNER

For someone who is brimming with new gaming ideas and can come up with creative concepts that can eventually take the face of a video game, a Game Artist or Designer is the right role. A Game Designer comes up with the main concept of the game and works in tandem with the development, programming, animation, and audio engineering team to develop storylines and characters.

Their KRAs also include doing initial market research to know which concept would actually be unique and at the same time can get the right and desired attention from the audience.

Preferred Qualification: A Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science or Game Designing.

GAME ANIMATOR AND VISUAL ARTIST

The ability to create gaming characters that come to life visually can land an individual a successful career in the gaming industry as a Game Artist or Animator. These enthusiasts are in charge of creating realistic 2D and 3D images of characters, scenery, and objects present in the product and use them to create graphics in the game. Specifically speaking, the artists design the characters mostly in raw form and later animators give shape to their mold using computer graphics and create lifelike characters with realistic visuals.

Preferred Qualification: Bachelor’s degree in Computer Graphics or Art or Animation or Illustration.

GAME PLAY TESTER

Although people assume that the job of Game Tester is just to play games all day long, their main responsibilities include quality assurance of games, identifying bugs, and suggesting improvements to the programmers. Their work entails enhancing the quality and gaming experience of their product before it steps down into the market.

Preferred Qualification: B.tech/BE in Computer Science followed by a professional certificate from the Indian Testing Board or equivalent reputed organization.

AUDIO ENGINEER

From the screechy noises of sirens to the ambient sounds such as car vrooming, they are all created by Audio Engineers or more commonly known as Sound Designers. They add a realistic touch to the in-game experience through soundtracks and effects.

While this may sound like a cushy job, it requires lots of research and development from the candidate’s end. As each game has a unique plot and genre, the prime job of Audio Engineers is to find that unique essence and encapsulate that through soundtracks in the game.

Preferred Qualification: Bachelor’s degree in Sound Engineering or Audiography

MARKET RESEARCH ANALYST

You don’t necessarily need a technical background to grab a job in the gaming domain. Even marketing professionals can find work in a variety of ways within the gaming industry. A market research analyst uses their research skills to analyze the core industry and its key trends and use this data for carrying out various campaigns which are significant for the gaming product’s reach and success.

Preferred Qualification: A Bachelor’s degree in Marketing or Statistics

GAME DEVELOPER/ PROGRAMMING

The Game Designer comes up with the vision of the game but it is the Game Developer or Programmer who does the groundwork and converts it into a playable format. As an integral part of the whole team, they write the code as per features and functionality of games and design software, keeping in mind the aim of providing a seamless and realistic gaming experience.null

Preferred Qualification: A Bachelor’s degree in Game Programming or Development is the most preferable road. However, a BTech degree in Computer Science would also be good to go.

INTERPRETERS AND TRANSLATORS

Needless to say, to make a game successful in the global market, it is essential to curate it for international audiences. In short words, “localise it”. The prime role of interpreters and translators is to make a gaming product available in multiple languages in order to increase its reach.

Broadly speaking, interpreters are in charge of converting the dialogues of gaming characters into languages understood globally. Whereas, translators convert the documentation and instructions presented in the game to other languages so that they can be marketed in the global market.

Preferred Qualification: There are no hard and fast rules as of yet, as this career option is not very common.

I hope this article is very helpful for you.