Every product needs testers: dedicated individuals who help workshop a product before it’s released to the general public. It’s true for video games, too! Any game that you’ve ever bought from an electronics store, on Steam, or in the iOS App Store has gone through hours upon hours of playtesting before release.
For a lot of gamers, that surely sounds like a dream job. There’s a lot more to a professional tester’s work than grabbing your gaming keyboard and playing all day, though! Up ahead, we’ll learn more about this challenging but rewarding job — including the best ways to get yourself into the field.
What is Playtesting?
Playtesting means playing a game before its release to ensure that it works as intended. That simple definition, however, covers thousands of complex tasks. The process occurs at every stage of game development and covers basically every aspect of the game’s content and gameplay.
Playtesters play through every inch of these games and discover what doesn’t work, and then document the flaws in detail so developers can fix them. Game developers and publishers may employ dozens or hundreds of professional playtesters. Third-party playtesting contractors also employ many testers, and that’s before you even get to gig work and volunteer playtesting.
You’ll also hear playtesting called QA, or quality assurance — a term that also applies to a much wider field devoted to all kinds of quality testing processes. Just about every industry uses QA testing, from video games to vehicles to food, and a job in game QA teaches skills that can be relevant in other QA positions.
What Does a Playtester Do Every Day?
The average paid game QA tester spends their days doing some combination of the following:
- Plays through games multiple times at various stages of development, from unfinished pre-alpha to feature-complete beta
- Performs in-depth testing on specific characters, weapons, levels, items, and gameplay features
- Creates QA tickets for bugs they encounter in the game world, including screenshots and written descriptions to aid developers
- Collaborates with developers to help them reproduce, understand, and fix bugs
- Attends meetings with teammates to discuss goals, procedures, and schedules for testing processes
What Does it Take to Be a Good Playtester?
You generally don’t need a college degree for game QA work, although a degree or certificate might be required for certain advancement paths. Many playtesters today work from home, although in-person work is still around, especially in large game studios. Most game QA testers rarely have to travel for work.
As for skillsets, there are some attributes that practically every playtester will need:
- You have a knack for logical reasoning and problem-solving. These analytical skills are essential for reproducing bugs and helping developers identify chains of cause and effect.
- You’re patient, tenacious, and don’t mind repetitive tasks. Playtesters may have to play through the same content dozens or even hundreds of times to help devs solve an issue.
- You’re good at working independently but can collaborate when necessary. Most playtesters work without close day-to-day supervision, but many also collaborate extensively with other QA staff and game devs.
- You’re organized, have good writing skills, and don’t mind documentation and paperwork. Playtesting requires taking notes, filing tickets, and describing bugs in detail so that devs can find and fix them.
- You’re an avid gamer who knows what makes a game fun and balanced. It also helps to be skilled at games in multiple genres, since getting through a level quickly can be a necessary skill for productivity.
How Can I Get a Playtesting Job?
Entry-level playtesting jobs are available both through first parties (game studios) or third parties (professional QA contractor services), and finding them is often as easy as searching “game tester” or “game QA” on a jobs site. If you’re OK with gig work, you’ll also find QA work on freelance sites like Upwork and Fiverr, or through companies that recruit paid focus groups. Note that for gig work, you might need your own console or a custom or prebuilt gaming PC with acceptable specs.
Higher-level, in-house game QA jobs tend to be more competitive and require more experience. These positions will often involve working on bigger-budget games and require more complex testing processes and documentation. You’ll test the very earliest versions of games and work closely with developers and engineers to guide the development of core game features.
As of June 2023, ZipRecruiter lists the average salary for a game QA tester at approximately $40,000 per year. Playtesting itself can provide a reasonable living, but those looking for a higher salary will want to look at opportunities for advancement. Skilled leaders might move up to QA team lead, while those with a more technical background might move toward positions like QA engineer. (Again, these positions may require a degree.)
Other Ways to Playtest
You don’t have to make playtesting your livelihood to participate in the process! Volunteer playtesting also gives you early access to cool games and the opportunity to help guide their development. Many big game studios offer volunteer programs that allow you to playtest alpha and/or beta versions of upcoming games and provide feedback.
You can also sign up for open betas of upcoming games. For triple-A titles, thousands or even millions of gamers may participate in these, so don’t look for a heart-to-heart with the developers. It’s more of a fun way to get early access to a game and know you played a (very) small role in its development.
On the other hand, playtesting can also happen on a micro level. Indie game developers often advertise for playtesters through platforms like Reddit and Discord — often for volunteers, but sometimes paid. These can be especially great opportunities for people who want to learn about game dev processes or just enjoy the more intimate experience of working closely with an indie developer.
While video game playtesting might not be all fun and games, it’s definitely a viable job that can lead to a productive career in games and/or QA. If you think you’ve got what it takes, put in some applications, or sign up for a volunteer testing program!
