How can you make money playing video games?
You don’t need to be a professional esports player to make money from doing your hobby. Digital entertainment enthusiasts can seek employment as QA Testers in the video game industry and test games while they’re in the development stage.
Being a QA (Quality Assurance) Tester is a dream job for many. In All in! Games’ home country of Poland, where many video game developers and publishers are based, this dream is within reach. The main responsibility of a person in this position is to seek out all of the mistakes that could be present in an unfinished game (so called ‘bugs’ or ‘glitches’) and create situations that developers didn’t predict when making the game.
“Modern video games are very complex and the number of possible interactions our hero can have with in-game objects, other characters, and the entire environment is simply limitless. With so many variables, it’s possible that the developers may have missed something. It’s the QA Testers who are responsible for finding such issues,” explains Paulina Mech, Head of HR & Office Administration at All in! Games.
It’s also important to be able to know how a gamer would play a game and what could cause them problems. To achieve that, someone needs to spend hours playing a given game, level by level, controlling every possible character and using different graphic settings on as many devices as possible. Thanks to testers’ work, publishers can be assured that the product that appears on the market is ready for players and without flaws.
Work and passion
“If someone spends hours of their free time in front of a computer or console, has high agility skills, enjoys playing games, and knows the video game industry really well, then surely QA testing would be the perfect job for them,” adds Paulina Mech. “With this job, there are no ‘bad Mondays’, we combine pleasure with business, and spend time with people who share our interests. It’s hard to think of a more attractive job.”
Of course, passion alone is not enough in this position. A tester should be thorough, a little creative, have analytical and communication skills, as well as be able to handle stress, since in the industry there are often deadlines looming over us. As most games are published in English, usually a strong command of the language is required. Most often, professional training is not necessary.
All aspects of the job
Most of a QA Tester’s usual day is spent actually playing games, although they also have other responsibilities. After testing is finished, a Tester must create a detailed report with documentation of the bugs they encountered with a thorough description of how to reproduce them and any feedback for the developers.
“The position definitely is one of the fascinating ones, although before applying you should consider a few issues. A tester rarely tests a game of their choice. It’s possible that a shooter enthusiast will spend a few weeks playing a family game. You must also remember that analyzing one given aspect of a game may seem monotonous,” says Paulina Mech. All in! Games currently employs 14 testers and is recruiting more.
Chances for employment and a salary
The video game industry is one of the most dynamically developing in the entire economy, so a job in this industry is relatively stable. The global crisis caused by the pandemic seems to not have affected the sector as much as other industries, therefore, recruiting processes in the video game sector didn’t need to be suspended.
“Salaries in the QA Tester position should interest young people just entering the job market, and looking to take their first steps in the video game industry. Working as a QA Tester could be the beginning of a game development career,” summarizes Paulina Mech.
Next to the enjoyable responsibilities, another important argument for applying for the position is a friendly work environment, which characterizes so-called gamedev companies. Employees can count on a modern office, flexible working hours, and a variety of employee benefits.
About All in! Games
All in! Games is a video games publisher based in Krakow, operating in the gaming industry since 2018. The company creates and publishes unique titles for personal computers and consoles, working on Polish and international projects. All in! Games is the publisher of such titles as Ghostrunner (One More Level, co-publisher of 505 Games), Alaloth – Champions of The Four Kingdoms (Gamera Interactive), and Tools Up! (The Knights of Unity). All in! Games is listed on the stock exchange in Warsaw after their merger with Setanta in 2020.