Outlook for Video Game Design Careers

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The Time is Right for a Video Game Design Career

With video game sales nearly tripling between 1996 and 2006, video game design represents a vibrant and fast-growing part of the entertainment industry. In fact, with $7.4 billion dollars in sales in 2006, video games are catching up with films, which brought in $9.49 billion in the same year.

The chart below shows US video game sales from 2000 to 2006:

Numbers like these make it clear that video games are a staple of daily life for many Americans. According to the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), roughly 33 percent of American households have one or more video game consoles, and 41 percent of Americans planned to purchase video games in 2007. This is good news for individuals hoping to start video game design careers.*

Video Game Design Salaries

Many factors go into determining your future salary in a video game design career. Here are just a few of the issues that will come into play when you are looking for jobs and hoping for that big paycheck:

• Where do you live?
• How many years of experience do you have?
• What is your education level?
• What kind of job are you looking for within the video game design industry?
• What kind of company is your prospective employer?

While you may not be able to pinpoint your expected earnings before you're actually ready to begin your job search and can answer the questions above, here are some general statistics that will give you an idea of what to expect. The following data shows average salaries for various jobs in the video game design industry in 2005:**

Job Title	Under 3 Years Experience	3 to 6 Years Experience	Over 6 Years Experience
Programmer/Engineer	$52,989	$73,618	$90,658
Lead Programmer	$76,848	$81,591	$100,528
Technical Director	N/A	$107,738	$121,071
Artist/Animator	$45,675	$61, 065	$69,457
Lead Artist/Animator	N/A	$68,112	$82,750
Art Director	N/A	$65,313	$98,696
Video Game Designer	$43,486	$54,777	$69,813
Writer	$51,944	$61,000	N/A
Creative Director/Lead Designer	N/A	$72,125	$88,734
Tester	$24,797	$29,722	N/A
Q/A Lead	$33,125	$43,125	$61,310

Get Started in a Video Game Design Career

The increasing complexity and popularity of video games has translated into more video game design jobs and larger design teams. With the growth in the video game design industry, this is a great time to think about starting a career in this field. If you have a passion for games and the drive to succeed, a video game design career might be the perfect fit for you.

Sources:
*ESA
**Game Career Guide

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