


What does a Video Game Tester Salary Look Like?
One of the most asked questions about the video game tester career is what a video game tester salary looks like.
Until a few years ago, many people didn’t realize that video game companies pay people to test games for them.
Then, once it became common knowledge, gamers became very curious about how much a video game tester could
make.
Making Money the Unusual Way
There are a number of ways, nowadays, to make money in unusual ways. It used to be that you got up, drove to
work, put in a solid eight hours, drove home, and did it all over again the next day. Now, however, people are getting
paid to do jobs that didn’t even exist ten years ago. Take, for instance, bloggers.
Blogging is a concept that has only been around for a few years. It’s sort of like an online journal, except that you’re
writing it for the masses. That’s right – your life becomes fodder for discussion around the water cooler. In one way
it makes you feel good, releasing all of your pent up frustration and knowing that people are reading what you write,
and in other ways it is a bit strange knowing that people know what that you ate a Snickers bar for breakfast this
morning.
Soon companies began realizing that there was plenty of opportunity to make money from bloggers. They started
building companies and hiring people to write blogs for famous celebrities, like Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, for
television shows, like House or Heroes, and for pretty much every topic you could think of. Bloggers and companies
make money off of these sites thanks to advertisers!
Making Money Testing Games
How amazing is it to know that you can get paid to test video games? Some people play games all day long, making
this the perfect career for them. The payment on game testing, however, ranges quite a lot, depending on how far
up the ladder you are able to get. Most people start by testing games for free in order to break into the business. If
you get hired with a company, you will likely make anywhere from $8 to $12 an hour. Some gamers who have been
working with a company for a number of years can pull in $40,000 a year. This may sound a lot, but many of these
positions require that you live where the game company is, and the price of living may be proportionately high for
this salary.
You can absolutely make money by being a video game tester, but in some ways it’s a labor of love, because you
certainly don’t make much money when you start, and you may have to, in fact, begin by working for free. If you
stick with it, however, and get some training on top of the work, you will likely be able to pull in a substantial game
tester salary.