The Gaming Industry

Currently valued at $160 billion, the gaming industry is in the midst of a revolutionary transition, which has the potential to accelerate the industry’s already impressive growth, positively affecting more than 2.7 billion gamers worldwide. Now is such an exciting time to be part of the gaming industry with brands racing against each other in an attempt to not only capture more and more of the ever-growing global user base but also gain dominant market share from the quick adoption of emerging innovations.

To meet the increasing demand and widening opportunities brought by these technological changes within the industry, Japanese gaming companies have continued to hire top talent in a fiercely competitive yet rewarding market. Hidetaro Konno, Associate Director of RGF Professional Recruitment Japan, explains that the gaming industry is driven by one fundamental objective: creatively entertaining people through groundbreaking use of technology. On top of that, he discusses that novel ideas translated into beautifully designed and flawlessly executed work has become the core of highly successful and globally-renowned games.  

It’s not surprising then that since 2018, these are the most in-demand positions within the game & entertainment industry in Tokyo, Japan:

1. Game Planner/Director/Producer 43%
2. Creative Designer/Illustrator 23%
3. Game Engineer 17%
4. Others 17%

The 3 most in-demand positions in the game and entertainment industry

RGF Professional Recruitment Japan's Game & Entertainment team has been actively connecting numerous companies to professionals seeking roles such as infrastructure engineer, server-side engineer, client-side engineer, UI/UX designer, 2D/3DCG designer, illustrator, project manager, product manager, planner, director, producer, QA, CS, localizer, etc. However, these are the 3 most in-demand positions handled by the game and entertainment team:

1. Game Planner / Director / Producer

Salary range:

3 million to 20 million depending on experience and qualifications (you may consult with a recruitment consultant for more details about salary benchmarks)

Language ability required:

• Japanese proficiency is an asset

Since you will be communicating and working with Japanese professionals, knowing the language would be an advantage. Most roles require JLPT N3 and above but some roles do not need Japanese proficiency. At the end of the day, your work history and passion weighs more than your language ability. By speaking with our recruiters specializing in the gaming industry, they will be able to provide you proper advice on your qualifications and how you can move your career forward.

• Spanish and/or English proficiency is an asset

English is the medium used to communicate globally while Spanish is one of the most widely spoken languages in the world, giving rise to increasing interest in capturing that specific market segment.

What you need to know before the job interview:

Hidetaro points out that if you are interested in these positions, it’s important to understand your strengths so you could identify whether you are most suited for a role that focuses on making an intangible unique idea into a tangible product capable of enlivening gamers around the world (0 to 1) or another role that helps catapult these games into successful business ventures (1 to 100).

He also emphasizes the need to build trust between you and a potential employer. Given the current circumstances where employees around the world work remotely, the significance of building trust during job interviews becomes more and more dramatic. By sharing the following during your interview, you not only build trust but you may also increase your chances of landing the job:

• Your previous accomplishments
• The results of your past accomplishments
• Concrete examples of how you can contribute to the company (e.g. prepare to answer “If I could take over _______, these are the 3 things I will do/change to improve it” and then explain why)
• Your passion for the industry or the company (e.g. Hidetaro advises that if you have some game merch and you're interviewing with the maker of that game, showcase these merchandise on your video call background during a remote interview)

2. Creative Designer / Illustrator

Salary range:

3 million to 15 million depending on experience and qualifications (you may consult with a recruitment consultant for more details about salary benchmarks)

In-demand technical skills:

General: Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator

3DCG: Maya, Unity, 3DMax

Wireframe: Sketch, Figma, Adobe XD, InVision

Front-end programming: HTML, CSS, JavaScript

Language ability required:

Japanese proficiency is not required but may be an asset

What you need to know before the job interview:

Although some companies prefer candidates with an art degree, your portfolio still speaks volumes more about your ability and potential to thrive in the new role.

Your portfolio represents you and it plays such a central role for you to land the job. This is why the Game & Entertainment Team’s recruitment consultants work with a highly connected portfolio specialist to help job seekers improve their portfolios. If you’re building or polishing your portfolio, Hidetaro Konno or our Game & Entertainment recruitment consultants could give you feedback straight from this specialist within 5 business days.

However, one important tip that some designers and creative professionals forget is the advantage of tailoring your portfolio to the job vacancy you’re applying for. The two biggest distinctions between creative jobs are specialist and generalist roles.

To be time-efficient when tailoring portfolios, choose to have at least two tailored portfolios: one for specialist roles and one for generalist roles as this can grant you higher chances of being interviewed. Unfortunately, some companies may advertise that they need a specialist on the job title; however, upon closer evaluation of the job description, they actually need a generalist or vice versa. To ensure that you’re sending the right portfolio, always check the job description but bring both to your interview.

Additionally, sometimes choosing between a specialist role or a generalist role may be quite challenging for some. Take advantage of the connection you have built with a recruiter. By speaking with your chosen recruitment consultant about your professional goals, strengths, and weaknesses, you open the opportunity to discuss which roles are most suitable for you and how you can concretely get to the next level of your career.

3. Game Engineer

Salary range:

3 million to 20 million depending on experience and qualifications (you may consult with a recruitment consultant for more details about salary benchmarks)

Language ability required:

Japanese proficiency is not required but may be an asset

In-demand technical skills:

Front-side engineer:

C# and Unity for the mobile game industry

C++ for the consumer industry

Server-side engineer:

PHP

What you need to know before the job interview:

Since these roles are highly technical, Hidetaro advises that you should expect that some companies will test your ability through on-the-spot programming and other aptitude tests.

Prepare to answer the following questions as well:

• What was your biggest coding mistake and how did you fix it?
• This assesses your role, responsibility, problem-solving skills, and accountability
• What are the language limitations of C++, C#, PHP?
• This demonstrates the depth of your knowledge.
• What are some good and bad points of C++, C#, PHP? (Also cite some examples)

This further demonstrates your knowledge of the coding language(s) and the limitations of each language.