While the entertainment industry as a whole is one of the largest and highest earning industries in the world, the game segment of that industry is the highest earning. Since there are so many different types of games and so many platforms upon which to play them,m ranging from console systems such as Microsoft’s Xbox 360 to personal computers and, today, even mobile phones that are capable of playing games, the industry has expanded over the course of its 40 year existence to phenomenal proportions that could scarcely have been imagined at the outset. Even the recording industry and Hollywood itself do not come anywhere near the amount of money spent worldwide on video and computer games of one form or another. While there are certainly many different types of games, some of which are small enough to be created and distributed by a single game maker, most games these days have large budgets and require vast teams of people working in a variety of different artistic and engineering oriented disciplines in order to complete. The list of disciplines needed includes: visual artists, sound engineers, musicians, game designers, programmers of software and script writers for games with a narrative focus. All of these people are only part of the development studio that must see the game through from planning to development to beta testing and then they hand it over to the publishing company.
The publishers of the gaming world operate in much the same way as a record label or movie studio would and these are generally the companies that will fund the making of a game. The contract wither with a 3rd party game development studio or use their own in house staff of creative people and programmers in order to bring a game to market. It is their capital that is invested and their team of professionals includes managers, attorneys, accountants, sales and marketing people and a variety of other careers whose skill sets are needed to see a game through to completion. There are independent game studios, as well, which are capable of releasing games all by themselves, but these companies generally sell to specific markets such as gamers on mobile phones and also the web. The development of new markets has still not changed the amount of labor which goes into these games, however, which is immense whether the platform is the traditional arcade machine, a console system or even a mobile phone. Every title must be designed, created and rigorously tested before it reaches the consumer.
While game studios have a strong reputation as being idealistic work environments with easy dress codes and an emphasis on a fun work place, the fact is, this is an industry where those who cannot pull their weight when it comes down to crunch time will not be tolerated for long. There are milestones to meet and errors to root out and obliterate so those who want a career in game making will need to be of strong substance and solid work ethic in order to earn a spot on the development team.
