Music for Games, Films, and other Visuals

I ran across a couple of great articles earlier in the month, related to working in the video game industry. You know, things have changed drastically in the last few years. In case you haven’t been keeping track, the video game industry now far outpaces the film industry when looking at profits. We all know that usually equates to more work! According to the most recent Mix Magazine Game Audio edition where they quote a study from the Entertainment Software Association, more than 80,000 people were employed by the US entertainment software industry in 2006. Now, that isn’t just music and audio, it also includes legal staff, marketing and all of the other positions needed in a software development company, but oh my goodness, that seems like a lot of jobs!

All of this is to say, if you’ve ever wanted to work in games, this is the perfect time! Ok, ok, calm down… it is not as if game developers are hanging out on street corners begging people to come work for them. Now, more than ever, they are looking for qualified people that are also very creative. They are also really only interested in people that really want to work in the games industry. Being genuinely interested in the industry shows and they can tell if you love games or not. So, perhaps I should change that sentence above slightly…. how about this….

All of this is to say, if you’ve ever wanted to work in games, this is the perfect time to work your darndest to make it happen! I wish I could say I have the ultimate list of ways to prepare for work in the industry, but honestly, there is no one way to get your start. Just like the music or film industry, everyone takes their own path, it can’t be scripted. There is no Harvard Business School education that gets you into the equivalent of the Fortune 500 in the video game industry.

Over the holiday break, a couple of stalwart staples of reporting and discussion on the videogame industry came up with some resolutions for getting a job. Take a look at the CMP article on Game Career Guide and the rebuttal on Gamasutra for an interesting look at what you should do if you want to work on games.

I’ve decided, after reading the two articles, basically the same thing I decide every few months… really, I need to buy “a couple” of new games so that I can research them and really listen and assess how I think the music and sound work in them. It’s all about the research…