With E3 all wrapped up and all the hype around Battlefield 2042 and Starfield in full swing, with all the exciting news and information coming out of this weekend’s announcements, it’s not difficult to see why job seekers are looking into the gaming industry in order to progress their careers.

If you take a look at the number of releases and news that has been released just from E3 alone, you’ll start to see how many opportunities there are available for professionals of any sort trying to move into the gaming industry.

A gaming company works in the same way as any other company and has a hierarchy/vertical that needs more than just developers and software engineers to make everything ‘tik’.

As soon as people think about working for a major tech/gaming company, the stereotypical job role that immediately comes to mind is software developer or games designer.

I’m not a software developer, so what options are available for me?

What Can I Do?

As a recruitment company ourselves, we know more than most that it takes a whole team of people with different skill sets and backgrounds to make a company succeed. Tech-related skills are obviously going to be a major investment for video game development companies, but this isn’t where the opportunities to break into the industry stop.

If you head over to one of the big players at E3’s website, EA, then you can see that the window of opportunity to work within this industry isn’t as narrow as you may have thought.
For example, if you’re more creative with the work that you do or have a side-hobby/passion where you create digital art or animations, opportunities to work as a technical artist are abundant with this line of work.

Having proficiency in tools such as Photoshop can definitely stand you in good stead, especially when you start looking at the mobile gaming sector of the gaming industry as well.

Mobile gaming has shown massive growth over the past few years with projections of over 3 billion people worldwide playing a mobile game on a daily basis by 2023.

Whether it’s designing a new cover image for promotional material for a game launch or coming up with character design concepts and UI (User Interface) elements, those people who are more artistic have the chance to really thrive in this sector.

Now, although becoming a digital artist isn’t a software developer, some of you may be thinking that this role is still too technical for your particular skill set.

According to ibis world, the majority of the jobs in the UK are within industries that typically include face-to-face interactions whether that’s in the hospitality sector or sales and marketing, etc.

Source: ibis world

Taking another look at EA’s available positions, you can find roles relating to Project and People managers, Social Media Managers, Recruiter, Health & Safety Specialist, Content Manager, and much more.

The wealth of opportunity within gaming development companies and the market as a whole is definitely there and it’s growing at an accelerated rate as well thanks to the continued rise of mobile gaming and the recent launch of the new PlayStation and Xbox consoles giving a predictable bump in interest as well.

Well, there have been a lot of articles, YouTube videos, and posts online, documenting the journey of a tech-savvy developer moving up the ranks and managing to put their work out there enough to get some attention from the right people. 

There is more of a set strategy involved if you’re in the tech world and there has been a good amount of advice circulating online by heads of companies for what you should consider.

A gaming company is exactly the same as any other company, but instead of selling t-shirts and shoes, they sell video games. 

This is important to remember because we can now look at the typical roles that every company looks for when conducting a recruitment drive, especially when mass expansion and scaling is to be expected. 

The gaming industry is due to receive a Compound Annual Growth Rate of 12% each year from 2020 to 2025 (according to islandecho.co.uk)… and that means a LOT more job opportunities to become available for a wide variety of roles.

Let’s take a look at an accessible route into the market that most people can start making progress in right now. 

Becoming a Marketing Executive boils down to being proficient in or having experience with the same technologies that everyone in the industry has heard of such as Photoshop, Google Ads, etc.. However, it’s important to keep in mind that the budget for major triple-A video games such as Starfield that has just been announced will have a production budget well into the millions of pounds being spent on development and marketing campaigns.

No one is going to want to buy a game that they’ve never heard of, that’s why having a strong understanding of popular marketing platforms and social media channels such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, Photoshop, Adobe Creative Suite (e.g. Adobe Spark, Adobe Premiere), PPC campaign set-up and analytics e.g. Google Ads and Google Analytics, Social media scheduling software such as HootSuite and Zoho, project management tools such as Trello and Asana are so important.

These tools are the leading examples of what companies are using throughout their marketing life-cycle for their products. YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, etc. are used to create engaging content that will develop more of a bond with their target audience.

When you think about a marketing campaign, there are many moving parts that need to be in place for it to work. 

Designing and creating content which will be used as promotional material is the starting point of the marketing journey. Content creation can vary depending on what type of gaming company you are looking to work for and what positions are available on their jobs board/careers page.

Content creation usually refers to copywriting, video creation, and audio production. This could come in the form of blog articles, ad copy, YouTube videos, Podcasts, email marketing campaigns, website content, and much more.

The next set of tools that will be helpful to have a good understanding of is project/tasks management software such as Trello or Asana. This is less important for you to dive into, in comparison to editing software and content creation, for example, but it will help you transition into your new working environment a lot more seamlessly if you do have some up-front experience.

If you’re looking for a job in gaming, marketing is a thriving sector and it’s always going to be in demand so this is where I would look into if your goal is to work for companies like EA, Bethesda, Microsoft, etc.

Picking up these new skills and showing potential employers that you know what you’re talking about and can actualise your concepts by creating your own work, designs, PPC (Pay Per Click) campaigns, etc. is going to give a great head-start into working your way into step 2 of what we would recommend when trying to break into a new job role.

PPC is getting more and more popular every year with Google raking in massive revenues to the tune of 146.92 billion dollars last year (2020), so this would be a great way to start. The best thing about gaining experience with PPC through Google Ads is that Google actually provides all of the training material that you’ll ever need! And better yet… It’s completely free!

Note: You will need to have a set budget for your Google Ads to run for a long period of time, however, Google offers £75 worth of free ads credit for you to get started with. Just make sure you keep an eye on your ad spend at the end of each day!

The other topic we will touch upon is social media and how you can gain valuable experience and technical ‘know-how’ that will give you a great platform to build from when looking to land your first job in the world of Gaming.

Your next step will be making a website where you can actively promote a product or service that you can sell, this could be social media content creation, article writing, marketing services, etc. that you can build your PPC campaigns around. 

Using website building tools such as Squarespace or paying a website development company to make a website for you (for the sake of this task, using a website builder such as Squarespace will be absolutely fine) and running Google Ads for your products or services.

This will show potential employers that you’re proactive with your learning and that you generate leads from a campaign that you’ve set up by yourself! Which is exactly what marketing is all about. If you need a bit of guidance on how to set up your own website, Squarespace has written an article detailing all the steps you need to take here.

If you would like to find out more information about how you can break into the marketing industry through PPC, take a look at this really helpful article that goes into more depth about the topic here

The great thing about marketing is that anyone who has access to a computer and an internet connection can start their journey into building up their portfolio and either changing their career path or getting a head-start into the job market.

So where do you start? Well, we know our end goal is to give you work that you can use in a job interview and progress your way up the ladder into a position within a gaming company. 

So our goal now will be to develop a portfolio and build up a good understanding of all the tools you’ll be using when you eventually get your foot in the door.

Similarly to PPC, you can build out your knowledge and proficiency with these tools by spending your free time setting up social media campaigns, creating online communities around a certain niche or topic, writing out regular and engaging posts, and generally being active on the most popular platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Tik Tok, etc.

The great thing about becoming familiar with this side of the gaming industry is that communication with fans and interacting with the community that’s built around a certain franchise is key and will lead to more opportunities.

For example, a role within a gaming company that will require you to demonstrate these skills on a day-to-day basis is a Community Manager.

A Community Manager is someone whose job it is to..well, manage the community.

Whether this is responding to fan comments on Reddit, Facebook, and Twitter or creating community-focused events to drive engagement as part of a marketing drive to build up hype around a new release, or be the point of contact for fans to ask questions to.

ESports is a thriving sector within the competitive gaming scene and offers people looking for a way into Gaming in a professional sense a fantastic opportunity. 

This job highlight details all of the skills, knowledge, and experience that you will need to build up if you’re looking to get a head start in your job prep.

Once you have spent a couple of months learning the ins and outs of PPC and Social Media Marketing/Management by running your own PPC campaigns, starting a few Facebook groups, posting out regularly on your own/a new business Social Media account, managing your posting schedule, and feeling like you’re ready to take that next step forwards… It’s now time to start looking for jobs!

You may think that a few months of running your own campaigns won’t be enough to impress potential employers, but that’s exactly how Tony Guo who owns a digital marketing agency in Houston, Texas got started with his career in digital marketing and PPC.

He now owns two digital marketing companies and an Amazon store that turns over $2m a year selling Magic The Gathering and Pokemon cards/merchandise.

If you have already had on-the-job experience with communication management, social media posting, copywriting, etc. then you can use this in your CV and cover letter when applying for positions within the gaming industry.

If you don’t have any experience, then the previous steps that we’ve shared with you in this article will give you that base to build from when it comes to finding an entry-level position in digital marketing.

The digital marketing industry isn’t showing any signs of slowing down either, net spend for companies in the UK rose to over £15bn back in 2019 which was an all-time high for expenditure on digital marketing. 

Not only is the digital marketing side of the gaming industry as a whole proving to push new boundaries each year, but the cost of physical marketing and brand awareness at events such as E3 also doesn’t get much cheaper.

It has been reported Destructoid, to rent a booth at E3, will set the featured gaming companies back up to $100,000 in booth building costs, rent, fees and expenses, and marketing.

When you have a portfolio prepared that demonstrates your capabilities with the social media channels and tools that we’ve been over previously, now, it’s just a matter of going through the motions of applying and interviewing for a new job.

This process is going to be the same regardless of what industry you’re applying for, and luckily, we have written out a full guide on how you can prepare yourself for an interview along with how you would go about answering the dreaded ‘why do you want this job’ question that everyone is bound to face in their lives.

So long as you have a body of work that you can speak passionately about in your, you answer with confidence and authority, demonstrate your knowledge of the industry and the company you’re applying for, follow some tried and tested tips of how to write the perfect CV then you give yourself the best chance of starting the journey on your new career path.

E3 continues to show us just how much of impact video games have on popular culture and how much opportunity there is for financial gain and career progression as well.

In the gaming industry, there’s a constant flow of innovation, creativity, and development within the space that will require people from all positions of a business hierarchy to build up more than just the development side of engineering a new video game release.

If you’re looking to enter this exciting industry but don’t have the technical knowledge of a software developer, there is still a range of opportunities available.

Taking initiative and having a clear understanding of what is needed to accomplish your goal will give you the roadmap you need to know what skills you have to develop, how you can demonstrate the new skills you’ve learned, and how to apply them in a way that will impress future employers and hopefully lead you to the job role that you have been aiming for.

Written by Lucid Support