Revealed: the highest-paying jobs in the video game industry in the UK

A new study revealed that Game Developers, Marketing Managers and QA Testers are the professions in the video games industry earning the highest salaries. 

The study, conducted by online gaming platform Solitaired, analysed Indeed UK data for the different video games roles and ranked them according to the average annual salary for each role in the UK. 

According to results, the 14 highest-paid video games jobs in the UK are: 

Ranking  Job   Salary (£) 
1  Game Developer  43,469 
2  Marketing Manager  38,278 
3  QA tester  35,919 
4  3D Artist  35,828 
5  Game Producer  33,796 
6  2D Animator  33,438 
7  Game designer   31,584 
8  Writer  31,356 
9  3D Animator  30,721 
10  Audio engineer  29,885 
11  Market Researcher  28,685 
12  Translator  28,446 
13  Sales Representatives  26,559 
14  IT technical support officer  23,537 

 

According to the results of the study, Game Developers are the highest-paid job in the UK, with an average yearly salary of £43,469. 

Game Developers’ main task is to take video games designers’ ideas and concepts and write the code for the game to suit an array of different formats, such as consoles, PCs and mobiles.  

The top five cities in the UK to be a Game Developer, and their respective average annual salaries, are: 

Rank  City  Annual salary (£) 
1  London  59,940 
2  Birmingham  46,897 
3  Manchester  46,159 
4  Leeds  44,524 
5  Glasgow  39,948 

 

The findings show that Marketing Managers are the second most profitable profession in the video game sector in the UK, earning an average annual salary of £38,278.  

Taking care of the promotional aspects of the game, Marketing Managers are developing and implementing marketing strategies to meet consumer need — and maximize the companies’ financial profits. 

The top five cities in the UK to be a Marketing Manager are: 

Rank  City  Annual Salary (£) 
1  London  43,178 
2  Medway  40,000 
3  Nottingham  39,125 
4  Manchester  37,745 
5  Portsmouth  36,823 

 

With an average yearly salary of £35,919, Video Games QA Testers are the third best paid video game job in the UK. QA Testers set up plans to test video games software, finding and fixing bugs and generally improving the service.  

According to the findings, the top five cities that offer the highest salaries to QA Testers are: 

Rank  City   Annual Salary (£) 
1  Cambridge  46,976 
2  London  42,030 
3  Manchester  34,241 
4  Bristol  34,107 
5  Cardiff  34,040 

 

Earning an average of £35,828 a year, 3D artists come fourth in the ranking, and are responsible for creating three-dimensional animations and visual effects. Being one of the most common roles nowadays in films and games production, 3D artists are the fourth most paid job in the UK. 

The UK cities that pay their 3D artists the most are:  

Rank  City  Salary 
1  London  43,616 
2  Glasgow  40,004 
3  Newcastle upon Tyne  35,436 
4  Manchester   31,100 
5  Leicester  30,883 

 

With an average salary of £33,796, video games producers are the fifth highest paid professionals in the industry, according to the findings. Game producers ensure that the whole development of a game is actually implemented and achieved.  

The top 5 UK cities to be a Video Game Producer are: 

Rank  City   Salary 
1  Liverpool  38,802 
2  London  36,170 
3  Bristol  35,632 
4  Manchester   34,271 
5  Birmingham   33,628 

The research was conducted by solitaired.com, a free, browser-based card game platform with more than 500 games available to play.

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