Hitmarker releases video game job data from 2022
With the year coming to a close, Hitmarker has released an infographic on the state of the video game job market in 2022.
The data used was taken directly from Hitmarker.net and covers the period between December 1, 2020 and November 30, 2022. Since two years were analyzed, it’s possible to draw comparisons between 2022 and 2021 and how the market has changed in that time.
The infographic:
The key takeaways:
The total number of games industry vacancies dropped by 19.16% in 2022.
Full time positions accounted for over 90% of all gaming job vacancies.
For the first time since 2018, fewer than 3% of vacancies were internships.
Entry-level roles took another hit and now make up just 5.2% of all listings.
Marketing was the fastest-growing hiring sector, boosting its share by 6.35%.
Unity was the most active hiring company in 2022, posting 5.8% of all listings.
Over 50% of all gaming jobs were hiring in either the USA (44.2%) or Canada (12.8%).
Fully remote gaming jobs returned to pre-pandemic levels (6.37% of all listings).
The context behind the numbers:
Full time jobs make up over 90% of all listings. There’s a positive and a negative to this finding if you ask us — especially since this percentage rose in 2022. On the plus side, it means more jobs are offering permanent employment rather than offering people short-term contracts. This leads to greater job security and the ability to rise within the ranks of a company. But, on the down side, it means there are proportionally fewer freelance, part time, and internship opportunities. These tend to be more friendly to junior level candidates and to remote working, which makes any decrease in them a real blow.
Fewer than 3% of listings were internships. This is the first time since 2018 that our internship figure has dropped below 3%. And while a number of AAA studios have initiatives to support young professionals in their career, the bulk of what we’re finding is still intermediate and senior level positions. With more companies operating remotely or part-remotely, it can be trickier to set up effective learning opportunities for students — but it’s still necessary. It’s one avenue that a person who later applies for a senior position might come from, after all.
More than half of all listings were based in North America. The video game industry has always been centralized in the USA (and Canada to a lesser extent), which this figure only proves. Interestingly, the proportion of US-based jobs rose from 37.55% in 2021 to 44.19% in 2022. Combine this with the fact that remote jobs are on the decline and it’s clear that some of those positions that were previously advertised as work-from-home during the pandemic are now being substituted for in-person hires.
Remote gaming jobs drop to 6.37% of all listings. This is more in line with what we were seeing pre-pandemic. A shame, to be sure, but it’s a drop that people had been predicting. What’s worth noting is that a number of the positions we find—especially at smaller and mid-sized studios—do offer hybrid working. But if it’s not fully remote then we won’t list it under our remote filter as there’s still a location requirement for the candidate.
It’s a shame that, amid this economic uncertainty, it seems to be the positions that are of most value to people (entry level and remote roles) that are being hit.
We produce reports like this throughout the year so be sure to keep your eyes open for the next one to see how things have changed.
