Now if those numbers sound good to you and you love playing any kind of video game then there is some great news because the simple fact is, although the industry makes enough money to fund a good size army, non of it would be possible if the development and publishment companies didn't have Game Testers to actually try the products before they are put on the market.
Game Testers. It is a real job and it does pay very well indeed.
Every business that sells products to consumers there is something called field research. This holds true for the video gaming industry also.
Before any game is released it has to go through a series of tests to ensure that the game is actually fun to play, is challenging enough, the graphics are pleasing and that it actually seems real to gamers. The only way companies can ensure that these things are all in place is to have gamers test the products for field research.
As an example: If EA Sports releases a game to the general public and the game really sucks or has a ton of bugs in it then EA will lose profits in 3 ways.
First, they lose money on reissues and returns.
Second, the lose money because some gamers will avoid buying future products from them.
Third, they lose referrals that would have spread from one happy gamer to another.
In this industry word of mouth is very very important for the reputation of a company.
The list of companies it is possible to end up playing games for is truly immense. Some of the big boys are such as Activision Blizzard, Electronic Arts, Sony Computer Entertainment and PopCap Games, and this is by far not even half the list.
The pay can vary from company to comapny, but if you are reliable and helpful to the developers you can increase your reputation as an excellent games tester and make upwards of $80 an hour.
$80 an hour times 8 hours a day works out at $ 640 for a days work. Do that several times a week and it turns into a hefty pacheck.
The Video Games QA is the way to becomming a video game tester and it's fast, fun and simple to follow, with just 3 easy steps to follow: Review the easy to understand intructions that are provided, put what you discover into action and then sit back, relax and get payed for playing games. Simple.
