Comments on: The Not-so-glamorous Life of the Video Game Tester

By: Sops

Sops — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 15:07:47 +0000

Well that would explain why quality control on games these days sucks.

By: Tim

Tim — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 02:56:52 +0000

I test for nintendo and i make 14 dollars an hour starting salary its just a summer job tho

By: Ursos

Ursos — Wed, 07 May 2008 19:51:35 +0000

hey Hackler
what company do you work for that sounds like it wouldn’t be to bad. and it does sound fun to do game testing, but that pay is horrible.

By: Hackler

Hackler — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 21:40:33 +0000

I get payed $120 an hour for 4 hours a day to do what i love to do no matter if the game sucks or not, even if i hate the game, i only have to play it for 4 hours and thats a good $480. If i love the game ill play all day and by the end of the day i am one rich mother. I’m not working here for the rest of my life, i just need to save money so i can start my own arcade and game arena.i started 8 months ago and make enough to make my dreams cum true. some advice, dont do drugs cuz u will be tested.

By: someguyfromseattle

someguyfromseattle — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 05:02:14 +0000

trust me, its boring as shit. i play tested gears of war (guess how many drooling fanboys wish they couldve done that?) but it sucked. i played the same section of the game in a pre-beta state. the same poorly textured hallway, over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over. testing that same hallway on every possible resolution, hardware, software, detail setting, drivers, os, monitor brand, audio cable brand got old REALLY fast. trust me by the end of the day you realize just what youre doing – testing broken software, because thats what it really is until it is finished and by that time you dont even want to touch it. you wont know til you actually do it so i (partially) cant blame the little kids for their drooling obsession, but once you do youll never EVER want to do it again. not to mention the pathetic pay, which considering gas prices these days is almost a crime. driving to redmond or LA from whatever suburb you live in to make $8 an hour replaying the same 5 minute segment of broken game makes you want to rip your eyes out. think about it – every other job you have to apply to them, convince the COMPANY they should hire you. game testing is (pretty much) the only job where a company actively recruits people and pays them to play a game – because NOBODY who knows what its about would volunteer to do it. Do you see those game devs playtesting? no, because theyve been staring at it for weeks, months or years and are tired of it. just as you will be once youve done it.

By: Tragedy Nightshade

Tragedy Nightshade — Sun, 22 Jul 2007 14:30:48 +0000

Personally, I think it’s all a matter of interest.

By: mangesh

mangesh — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 14:00:57 +0000

i wantjob

By: Sandstorm

Sandstorm — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 17:08:58 +0000

Bullshit, I tested one year and a half and i was tired at the end. Once I was testing a frogger-like game, at the end of the day I came out of the office and I tried to walk through the traffic, I almost got killed.

By: bob

bob — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 14:31:26 +0000

Im a video game tester for a year and its awesome!!!!

By: Will

Will — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 02:03:13 +0000

I hear they have sweat shops for gold farming in Asia.

By: xboxlenny

xboxlenny — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 21:44:06 +0000

For 8.75/hr, thats chump change. and im sure games are fun, but repetitive tests and looking for bugs must get tiredsome. Also if you dont like the game you are testing u are stuck with that. What is the worst game you ever played? imagine testing that all day. Ya i cannot see it being glamerous. Games are for fun. I think any game I ever played liked or not, to have to play 8 hours a day, 5 days a week for months, ya id go mental.

By: Chad

Chad — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 21:43:13 +0000

One of my buddies did QA for Sony and hated it.