I read an article in the Los Angeles Times about video game developers. More and more young developers are getting into the video game arena. But is this a legitimate career? And is there any money in it? This is what many parents want to know.Initially, most video game developers were hobbyists. This was the same for early personal computer adopters. Things have changed now. Big games require lots of people to produce them. The largest often have staffs of 100 people or more.
The video game development field is still young. It involves multiple parts such as game design, artwork, and audio. There is nonetheless a high placement success for graduates. Many students go to work at Electronic Arts.
However video game development is not all fun and games. For example, it is not as fun to thoroughly test a game as it is to play a finished game. There is also a lot of stress due to tight deadlines. There is some hope. The average salary for a game developer is over $73,000 a year. This is according to Game Developer Magazine.
I remember I once worked for a defense contractor. We had some good work to do. But it was not too exciting. Almost all the people on the development team dreamed of being game developers. They went to game development conferences. And they were coding games at home in their spare time.
Me I really do not idolize the game development world. Yes it may have a product which is fun. However I don’t think many people will get rich doing game development. Sometimes the hours can be tough. And I do not think there is a lot of maintenance in the game development arena. You are most likely going to be developing the next big game all the time. I will let the younger more enthusiastic crew deal with that.
