Interview with Jason Bay – founder of GameIndustryCareerGuide.com

Jason Bay is the founder of GameIndustryCareerGuide.com – which provides a host of useful information to candidates looking to build a career in the games industry. We sat down with Jason to get his thoughts on the current state of the games industry and how to advance your career within it;

 

Why did you set up your website?

I started GameIndustryCareerGuide.com way back in 2013, as a way to bring information and inspiration to young people hoping to build a career making video games. At the time, I had spent several years in leadership positions at a large game studio, where I interviewed dozens of candidates. I had also been guest lecturing at local universities and international game industry events, and two things became very clear: First, the game industry is a “black box” that young people have no idea how to break into. And second, that most of what universities were teaching them about how to get their first job wasn’t highly applicable to the game industry. I wanted to give back to the game community by writing as much as I knew to help people succeed at getting a job making games. And for the things I didn’t know, I of course had dozens of contacts across the industry to interview for their own perspectives.

 

Do you think a career in the games industry is a well understood career path for young people?

No. Even now, the game industry can look to outsiders like a “black box” that’s hard to break into. So many entry-level job postings require prior experience, but how do you get experience if you can’t get an entry-level job? Why do so many people in the industry have unrelated degrees, and why do people with, say, engineering degrees find it so hard to get hired making games? Even though the industry has been around for decades now, it’s still not what I’d call a well-oiled machine. It can be tough if you don’t have a good support network or some good advisors to help you navigate.

 

What are the biggest obstacles that you see facing folks pursuing a career in the games industry?

By far the biggest challenge is that it’s a “passion” industry that a lot of people want to work in, so there’s a ton of competition for every role from entry-level on up to the C-Suite. And in the past couple of years, that’s become even harder, due to the number of post-pandemic layoffs and studio closures. On the bright side, gaming is still a multi-billion dollar industry that continues to grow, so there’s still a huge demand for new games and new content. If you can build a strong portfolio that showcases your talents, there is going to be a role for you somewhere among the literally thousands of game studios worldwide.

 

Is there anything you found particularly surprising about working in the games industry?

Man, I’ve been in the industry for so long that I forgot what might have surprised me about it in the first place. I know that whenever I’ve worked outside the industry (twice, briefly), I’ve been surprised at how much I miss working alongside gamers. Gamers are just naturally interested in stuff I love – pop culture, sci-fi, fantasy, music, and of course video games – and it’s always surprised me how “normal” people often just aren’t into any of that. It’s like, How is it possible that you’ve never seen a Star Wars movie? The game industry just feels like home.

 

A lot of folks are facing layoffs at the moment – do you have any advice for people looking for a new role in the games industry?

This is a rocky time to be looking for a job in the industry, unfortunately, there are a lot of people freshly out of work. So my advice would be to stay patient and persistent – keep applying, keep networking, and (this is important!) use the time to keep building up your portfolio. Whether you’re an artist, programmer, designer, whatever – working on your portfolio will help you learn new skills, stay up to date with the latest tools and tech, and result in tangible work you can showcase to employers when you apply and interview. And if you work with others on your portfolio projects, it becomes a natural way to network and help each other out on the job search.

 

What do you see as the potential impact of AI on the games industry?

People talk about potential impact, but I can tell you right now: Artificial Intelligence (AI) is already having an impact on the industry. Studios are already using AI in their game pitches and concept work, and even the biggest publishers are using AI directly in player-facing assets. There are legal and ethical issues with the current crop of AI tools. But if we put that aside for now (not to minimize, but because those are solvable), AI tools are already helping dev teams work faster and handle undifferentiated work, which leaves more time for creativity and game-specific content. That said, we’re still figuring out the right and wrong ways to use these new tools. I personally don’t like seeing six-fingered, anatomically-weird characters in a commercial game, that’s just lazy. But I do think we’ll figure out how to use it for good, just like we did with other changes that were considered controversial at the time, like the shift from 2D to 3D animation. It will make game development faster and higher-quality, and it’s already spawning interesting new mechanics and new genres that weren’t possible before.

 

To find out more about building a career in the games industry, please visit https://www.gameindustrycareerguide.com/blog/