Many of us are interested in such a thing as the salaries of video game testers. First, it’s thought that the task of a game tester is to simply play games. Second, people believe that testers receive a huge amount of money for such “easy” work.

Nevertheless, the ones who are actively engaged in game development and testing know that this is an absolutely wrong opinion. Testing the game functionality needs a lot of effort, technical skills and sometimes trivial human patience.

Further, we will analyze a few peculiarities of the game industry and also, overview the tester salaries.

Main requirements to a video game tester

Education, technical skills

We can say for sure that you don’t need to have any special knowledge in development to perform game testing. Moreover, there are actually no special centers or schools where you can gain such knowledge.

So we can conclude that a person isn’t required ho have any specialized education.

But still, one should be familiar with the development and related fields. This will be a kind of bonus to get a well-paid job.

Frequently, the ones who know a few foreign languages and have basic programming skills choose such a field. Therefore, if you have a diploma in one of these fields, you will be chosen for such work. You will have a better understanding of the way a game works and test it more properly.

Education spheres preferred for game testing are computer development, software development, game design, software testing.

Skills

There are many technologies and skills a person should have before he/she will try to receive the job of a video game tester. A person should know the process of gaming in XBOX, PS4, Android console. These platforms are the most popular in the field of video game testing.

The skills needed for  a computer game tester:

• Knowledge of new computer technologies used during video game creation;
• Game skills. It’s easy: a tester should know how to play a game, what hidden places it can have and what functional blocks should be tested more thoroughly;
• Self-motivation – a skill that is important for every tester. It’s because a tester has to perform numerous monotonous actions to eliminate maximum evident and hidden bugs;
• The ability to work in a team. Teamwork is crucial for this field since you will need to approve your actions not only with other game testers but also game developers and designers who work on a particular game.

Experience

Experience is very important for such work since the more time you work in this field, the higher qualification you have. You’ll manage to efficiently test any game if you have the corresponding experience.

Game tester salaries in 2019

So, the range of salaries always depends on the following factors:

[highlight dark=”no”]The level of education[/highlight] – even if a tester has just graduated from a secondary school and doesn’t have a higher education, he/she can have a good salary, working as a game tester.

The main thing is to have up-to-date skills in the corresponding field, which are an indicator of the technical skills of a person.

According to the study of Game Developer Magazine in 2013, more than half of respondents said that they can receive up to [highlight dark=”no”]$ 32,000[/highlight] having only special secondary education. We can say for sure that from that moment to this time (4 quarter of 2019), this amount became even higher.

The ones who have a certification of association or a degree receive from  [highlight dark=”no”]$ 49,000[/highlight] to [highlight dark=”no”]$ 50,000[/highlight].

This demonstrates that game testing doesn’t need a high level of education. If you have skills, you can have a huge salary regardless of the type of your diploma.

[highlight dark=”no”]Experience[/highlight] is important in the testing field since it is considered more valuable than education. A one may have several degrees from educational institutions but if his/her experience is only 3 months, he/she can receive only a minimum wage.

For example, testers who have 3 years of experience and less, can get approximately [highlight dark=”no”]$ 32,000– 36,000[/highlight] a year.

A game tester who has 4-6 years of experience receives about [highlight dark=”no”]$ 43,000 – 45,000[/highlight] a year.

[highlight dark=”no”]The statistic of hourly payment[/highlight] – according to ZipRecruiter portal, since 2019 an average hourly wage of a game tester in the USA equaled [highlight dark=”no”]$ 33[/highlight]. 25 percent of testers receive [highlight dark=”no”]$ 15/hr[/highlight], the rest 75 percent – approx. [highlight dark=”no”]$ 48/hr[/highlight].

ZipRecruiter has studied new job posts in New-Delphi, India and discovered that these game testers get also a wage of $33/hr and this is an average payment for one hour of work throughout the whole country (about 40 percent of all game testers are located in India).

A weekly salary – an average payment for one week of work is $ 1300 in New-Delphi (India).

25 percent of US testers receive a wage of $ 600/wk and the rest 75 percent earn not more than $ 200 a week.

A monthly salary – a salary of a game tester is from [highlight dark=”no”]$ 1,625[/highlight] to [highlight dark=”no”]$ 11,708[/highlight]. 25 percent of US testers gain a monthly salary of $ 2,625. The rest 75 % of QA testers earn about [highlight dark=”no”]$ 8,667[/highlight] a month. The average wage of Indian testers is [highlight dark=”no”]$ 5,840[/highlight].

Conclusion

Today game development field has a high demand for qualified specialists for testing the game functionality. This work becomes quite popular among numerous offers of game testing companies. Though the work of a game tester doesn’t need numerous proofs of the higher education, you can’t do without a few technical skills (especially, when you’d like to get your first job).

A game tester is a good start of your career development in the field of IT for any newcomer.

As for the statistic of 2019, an average salary is $ 52,000 a year. Even if you are new to this field but you find a really good job, you can earn from 20,000 to 32,000. It is natural that 2019 is considered to be a year of games and there are all preconditions to see numerous incredible innovations in this industry. Alongside this, there is a rise in the potential employment and salaries of the testers and developers.