Game Jobs Market 2024 | Trends & Insights
- The game industry job market is seeing stable but flattened hiring momentum, with mid-career professionals in highest demand.
- According to Satvat, hiring is primarily concentrated on roles for those with five to 15 years of experience.
- Narrative roles and business development positions are especially oversubscribed.
Discover the latest shifts in the game industry’s job market. Hiring trends are stable, but mid-career roles are in demand, while entry-level positions remain competitive, especially in North America. narrative and business development roles see intense competition, according to expert Amir Satvat. News Directory 3 provides insights into the evolving landscape, including an overview of in-demand job categories and career advice. Explore the new Games Role Workbook for job seekers, offering updated resources and categorized roles. Learn about the challenges and make informed decisions. Discover what’s next in this dynamic sector.
Game Industry job Market: Mid-Career Roles Dominate Hiring
Updated June 16, 2025
The game industry job market is seeing stable but flattened hiring momentum, with mid-career professionals in highest demand. Amir Satvat, a prominent figure in the games job space, recently shared data highlighting current trends across various functions, experience levels, and regions.
According to Satvat, hiring is primarily concentrated on roles for those with five to 15 years of experience. He noted that opportunities for new graduates and early-career professionals remain limited, with odds hovering around 7% globally over 12 months. In North America, that figure drops to 2%, and plummets to 0.3% outside major hubs.
Demand varies significantly by job category. Narrative roles and business development positions are especially oversubscribed. Satvat reported tracking 52 writing and narrative roles globally, with only 90 business development roles worldwide. Competition for these positions is intense, with demand potentially exceeding supply by 20 to 30 times.
Career switchers are also contributing to the intensified competition. Satvat noted that individuals without prior games experience are actively pursuing roles, further crowding already competitive functions.
While layoffs remain a concern, Satvat forecasts between 5,000 and 9,000 games layoffs this year. he believes long-term factors such as global labour cost variances and AI may have a more significant impact.
What this means for you
Satvat advises those considering a games career to be aware of the data. He urges collegiate programs to be clear with prospective students, particularly regarding the challenges of breaking into fields like game design and narrative. He recommends broader skill development and considering non-games roles or retraining as choice paths.
For those already in the industry, Satvat suggests preparing for shorter tenures, more project-based work, fewer remote opportunities, and higher mobility expectations.
To aid job seekers, Satvat’s team has launched the New Games Role Workbook v1.0, a resource updated twice weekly with nearly 40,000 roles every three-month cycle. The workbook categorizes roles into 25 standardized categories, providing direct links to applications and structured support for job search success.
The categories include:
- Account Management
- Administrative Support
- Animation & Cinematics
- Art & Tech Art
- business Development & Sales
- Customer & Community Support
- Data & Analytics
- Design & UX
- Engineering & Development
- Facilities & Maintenance
- Finance & Accounting
- General & Miscellaneous
- HR & Recruiting
- Internship
- IT & Security
- Legal & Compliance
- Localization & translation
- Marketing & Advertising
- Operations & Admin
- Production & Product
- Project & Program management
- Strategy & Consulting
- Technical Support
- User Research
- Writing & Narrative
This standardization allows job seekers to easily filter jobs across a consistent set of categories.
What’s next
Satvat’s team will continue tracking data and providing resources to help navigate the evolving game industry job market.