Video Game Professions in France (2023 Edition)

Here's the job offer description formatted in Markdown, following your specifications:

This study is published by the AFJV with the support of Gaming Campus. The data comes from the directories and the AFJV employment portal, which collects almost all job and internship offers in the French video game industry. Only ads with positions based in France were counted, for a total of 2763 offers proposed in CDI, CDD, internship or work-study for the year 2022. Author: Emmanuel Forsans.

The video game professions in France (2023 edition) 🎮

Summary

• Statistics by region

• Demographics of video game companies in France

• Distribution of job offers and applications by region in 2022

• Progression of the distribution of job offers by region since 2015

• Ranking by departments

• Ranking of recruiters in the top 3 regional

• Statistics by profession

• Distribution of job offers by profession in 2022

• Evolution of job offers and professions in video games

• Distribution of professions according to regions

• Distribution of contracts according to professions

• Distribution of applications by profession

• Statistics by contract

• Distribution of contracts offered in 2022

• Evolution since 2016

• Comparison of contracts in the 3 main regions

• Average number of applications for each type of contract

• Distribution of job offers by profession in 2022

Glossary 📖

Each industry has its own job nomenclature. For this study, we have grouped video game professions into 15 major categories below. For clarity, here are some examples of professions covered by each category. These lists are obviously not exhaustive and are given as examples.

• Development
  Unity3D Developer - AR / VR, Programmer, Gameplay Programmer, Front End / Back End Programmer, Unreal Engine Programmer, Full Stack Web Developer, JavaScript / C++ Developer (nodeJS, Angular...), TD FX

• Conception
  Game Designer, Level Designer, Economy Designer, UX - UI Designer, Narrative Designer, Scriptwriter, Ergonomist, Mission Designer

• Commercial / Marketing
  Team Lead CRM, User Acquisition Manager, Video Game Product Manager, Sales Representative, Marketing Manager, Business Developer, Sales Manager, Appstore / Digital Platforms

• Production
  Project Manager, Associate Producer, Producer, Line Producer, Project Manager, Production Director, Project Coordinator, Game Producer, Production Manager

• Test / QA
  Tester QA, User Researcher (UR), Lead QA, Tracking Tester / Analyst, QA Analyst, QA Manager, Compliance QA Tester, Quality Tester

• Graphic Design
  VFX Artist, Props Artist, 3D Animator, Character Modeler, Environment Artist, 2D Graphic Designer, UX / UI Artist, Lighting Artist

• Press / Communication
  Press Relations, Press Officer, Communications Officer, Versatile Communicator, Communication RP and influencers, Event Project Manager, PR Manager, Versatile Copywriter

• Support / Hotline
  Community Manager, Playtest Coordinator, Player Experience Manager, Customer Supporter, Help Desk Technician, Social and Community Executive, Customer Support, Customer Success Officer

• Administrative
  Office Manager, Administrative Manager, Human Resources Manager, Finance Administration Manager, Talent Acquisition Specialist, Purchasing Assistant

• International
  Release and Build Specialist, IT Technician, IT Manager, Systems and Network Administrator, Operations Engineer, CRM

• IT Manager
  Database Administrator, DevOps, Management, Team Leader, CTO, Associate Producer (M/F), Product Director, IT Team Leader, Chief Executive Officer, Operations Director, General Manager

• Data management
  Data Engineer, Data Scientist, Product Analyst and Sales Forecasts, Data Analyst, Data Manager, Data Engineer, Data Mining, Monetization Manager

• Music / Sound
  Sound Designer, Voice Designer, Audio Designer, Dubbing Art Director, Audio Integrator, Sound FX Designer, Audio Director, Mixer

• Web / Internet
  Web designer, Web developer, HTML5 Developer, Web Integrator, Fullstack Developer (HTML CSS JS MySQL PHP), Webmaster, Web content manager, SEO Project Manager

• Trad. / Localization
  Localization Project Manager, Translation and audio localization expert, Video game translator EN / DE / ES / IT / PT, Localization tester, Linguistic Coordinator, Localization Specialist, Transcreation Specialist, French Linguistic Coordinator

Over-represented creative professions 🎨

Graphic designers, programmers, and game designers are the three fundamental professions in video game design. The proportions of ad publications fairly reflect the volumes specific to each profession within a studio. Graphic designers make up the majority of a studio's employees, closely followed by programmers and then - to a lesser extent - game / level designers. As France is a very dynamic country in video game creation, it is logical that marketing and distribution professions are less represented than creative professions. Indeed, it takes fewer people to sell a video game than it does to design and produce it.

| # | Profession | Nb ads | Percent |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Infographie | 832 | 30 % |
| 2 | Programmation | 718 | 26 % |
| 3 | Conception / GD LD | 389 | 14 % |
| 4 | Production | 187 | 7 % |
| 5 | Commercial / Marketing | 180 | 7 % |
| 6 | Test / QA | 139 | 5 % |
| 7 | Support / CM | 75 | 3 % |
| 8 | Presse / Communication | 57 | 2 % |
| 9 | Administratif | 49 | 2 % |
| 10 | Technique | 40 | 1 % |
| 11 | Data management | 28 | 1 % |
| 12 | Management | 28 | 1 % |
| 13 | Musique / Son | 21 | 1 % |
| 14 | Web / Internet | 11 | 0 % |
| 15 | Divers | 6 | 0 % |
| 16 | Trad. / Localisation | 3 | 0 % |

Evolution of job offers and professions in video games 📈

Doubling of recruitments between 2015 and 2022

Proof of the good health of the video game industry in France, the number of recruitments has progressed constantly between 2015 and 2022 (except in 2020 due to Covid and lockdowns). We went from 1400 ads in 2015 to 2763 ads in 2022, almost double. It is not certain that the number of young graduates specializing in video game design has doubled in the same period. This could partly explain the current recruitment tensions.

Professions in demand

Given the good health of the sector (+41% of ads in 2022), the job market is under pressure for almost all "senior" or "lead" positions. There is no longer a single experienced programmer, graphic designer, project manager, or game designer on the market; they are all employed and, barring exceptional cases, they are not really looking to move, and I'm not even talking about senior technical artists, who make you wonder if they really exist. As you can see, times are tough for recruiters and rather bright for talented candidates (with or without experience).

Comparison with 2021 (in number of ads per profession)

There is a significant increase in searches for graphic design professions (+23% year-on-year) while programming professions are seeing a 7% decrease year-on-year.

| # | Profession | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Infographie | 555 (29 %) | 582 (28 %) | 513 (28 %) | 674 (26 %) | 832 (30 %) | 23 % |
| 2 | Programmation | 618 (32 %) | 653 (32 %) | 585 (32 %) | 770 (29 %) | 718 (26 %) | -7 % |
| 3 | Conception / GD LD | 172 (9 %) | 216 (11 %) | 204 (11 %) | 379 (15 %) | 389 (14 %) | 3 % |
| 4 | Production | 88 (5 %) | 114 (6 %) | 104 (6 %) | 181 (7 %) | 187 (7 %) | 3 % |
| 5 | Commercial / Marketing | 170 (9 %) | 145 (7 %) | 147 (8 %) | 193 (7 %) | 180 (7 %) | -7 % |
| 6 | Test / QA | 90 (5 %) | 125 (6 %) | 112 (6 %) | 125 (5 %) | 139 (5 %) | 11 % |
| 7 | Support / CM | 42 (2 %) | 36 (2 %) | 41 (2 %) | 58 (2 %) | 75 (3 %) | 29 % |
| 8 | Presse / Communication | 57 (3 %) | 60 (3 %) | 42 (2 %) | 61 (2 %) | 57 (2 %) | -7 % |
| 9 | Administratif | 34 (2 %) | 30 (1 %) | 28 (2 %) | 42 (2 %) | 49 (2 %) | 17 % |
| 10 | Technique | 14 (1 %) | 22 (1 %) | 13 (1 %) | 35 (1 %) | 40 (1 %) | 14 % |
| 11 | Data management | 16 (1 %) | 14 (1 %) | 13 (1 %) | 26 (1 %) | 28 (1 %) | 8 % |
| 12 | Management | 34 (2 %) | 26 (1 %) | 29 (2 %) | 32 (1 %) | 28 (1 %) | -13 % |
| 13 | Musique / Son | 12 (1 %) | 10 (0 %) | 9 (0 %) | 17 (1 %) | 21 (1 %) | 24 % |
| 14 | Web / Internet | 15 (1 %) | 11 (1 %) | 8 (0 %) | 11 (0 %) | 11 (0 %) | 0 % |
| 15 | Divers | 4 (0 %) | 2 (0 %) | 0 (0 %) | 3 (0 %) | 6 (0 %) | 100 % |
| 16 | Trad. / Localisation | 9 (0 %) | 4 (0 %) | 7 (0 %) | 4 (0 %) | 3 (0 %) | -25 % |

Distribution of professions by region 🌍

The regions more or less follow the general pattern of job distribution, i.e., a predominance of programming ads followed by graphic designers, then offers in commercial/marketing or design professions.

| Profession / Region | Île-de-France | Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes | Occitanie | Nouvelle-Aquitaine | Hauts-de-France |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Administratif | 20 (1 %) | 12 (3 %) | 6 (3 %) | 2 (1 %) | 3 (3 %) |
| Conception / GD LD | 220 (15 %) | 50 (12 %) | 27 (14 %) | 35 (15 %) | 9 (9 %) |
| Commercial / Marketing | 93 (6 %) | 17 (4 %) | 14 (7 %) | 14 (6 %) | 15 (14 %) |
| Programmation | 350 (24 %) | 120 (29 %) | 42 (22 %) | 78 (33 %) | 21 (20 %) |
| Divers | 4 (0 %) | - | - | 2 (1 %) | - |
| Infographie | 430 (30 %) | 117 (28 %) | 55 (29 %) | 70 (29 %) | 31 (30 %) |
| Management | 15 (1 %) | 4 (1 %) | 3 (2 %) | 1 (0 %) | - |
| Presse / Communication | 42 (3 %) | 6 (1 %) | 1 (1 %) | 1 (0 %) | - |
| Production | 110 (8 %) | 33 (8 %) | 14 (7 %) | 14 (6 %) | 4 (4 %) |
| Musique / Son | 10 (1 %) | 2 (0 %) | 3 (2 %) | 1 (0 %) | 2 (2 %) |
| Support / CM | 31 (2 %) | 12 (3 %) | 6 (3 %) | 4 (2 %) | 8 (8 %) |
| Technique | 30 (2 %) | 6 (1 %) | - | 2 (1 %) | 2 (2 %) |
| Test / QA | 83 (6 %) | 19 (5 %) | 11 (6 %) | 10 (4 %) | 7 (7 %) |
| Trad. / Localisation | 2 (0 %) | - | - | - | - |
| Web / Internet | 4 (0 %) | 5 (1 %) | 1 (1 %) | 1 (0 %) | - |
| Data management | 9 (1 %) | 10 (2 %) | 4 (2 %) | 3 (1 %) | 2 (2 %) |

Distribution of contracts by profession 📄

CDI is the norm

All professions are now eligible for CDI (remember that this was not the case for graphic designers, who were mostly hired on fixed-term contracts until 2018). Even though the situation for apprenticeships is improving year by year, there is still a certain reluctance to use them in video game production. Typically, game design, graphic design, and programming professions make the least use of apprenticeships. Conversely, publishing professions (sales, marketing, communication, administration) are more inclined to employ apprentices.

| Profession / Contract | Stage [527] | CDD [381] | CDI [1679] | Alternance [84] | Freelance [87] | Intermittent [5] | Total [2763] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Administratif | 16 % | 10 % | 57 % | 14 % | 2 % | - | 49 |
| Conception / GD LD | 16 % | 16 % | 63 % | 1 % | 5 % | - | 389 |
| Commercial / Marketing | 32 % | 6 % | 49 % | 11 % | 2 % | - | 180 |
| Programmation | 16 % | 8 % | 73 % | 2 % | 2 % | 0 % | 718 |
| Divers | 33 % | 17 % | 50 % | - | - | - | 6 |
| Infographie | 17 % | 19 % | 56 % | 2 % | 5 % | 0 % | 832 |
| Management | 4 % | 7 % | 75 % | 4 % | 11 % | - | 28 |
| Presse / Communication | 39 % | 7 % | 44 % | 11 % | - | - | 57 |
| Production | 20 % | 10 % | 68 % | 1 % | - | 1 % | 187 |
| Musique / Son | 19 % | 10 % | 52 % | 5 % | 14 % | - | 21 |
| Support / CM | 27 % | 11 % | 49 % | 9 % | 4 % | - | 75 |
| Technique | - | 25 % | 68 % | 8 % | - | - | 40 |
| Test / QA | 32 % | 28 % | 39 % | 1 % | - | - | 139 |
| Trad. / Localisation | 67 % | - | - | 33 % | - | - | 3 |
| Web / Internet | 36 % | - | 55 % | 9 % | - | - | 11 |
| Data management | 14 % | 14 % | 64 % | 7 % | - | - | 28 |

Distribution of applications by profession 🧑‍💻

Video game design professions (programmers, graphic designers, game designers, etc.) undeniably attract more people than publishing professions (community managers, press officers, sales representatives, etc.). However, it should be noted that production professions (project managers, producers, production managers, etc.) are relatively in demand, with only 19 applications per ad.

| Profession | Nb ads | Nb candidates | Average |
|---|---|---|---|
| Infographie | 780 | 46193 | 59 |
| Test / QA | 133 | 6389 | 48 |
| Conception / GD LD | 365 | 14662 | 40 |
| Trad. / Localisation | 3 | 119 | 40 |
| Musique / Son | 21 | 812 | 39 |
| Programmation | 670 | 20875 | 31 |
| Support / CM | 74 | 2271 | 31 |
| Presse / Communication | 57 | 1433 | 25 |
| Commercial / Marketing | 178 | 3710 | 21 |
| Production | 183 | 3467 | 19 |
| Administratif | 48 | 673 | 14 |
| Data management | 26 | 355 | 14 |
| Management | 26 | 289 | 11 |

CV processing rate (response sent) 📧

With an average response rate of over 48% to all applications (-4% compared to 2021), one could boast of being well above the national average, yet 52% of candidates are still desperately waiting for a response that will never come. Recruiters for marketing/sales positions bring up the rear with a 38% response rate (-1% compared to 2021).

While recruiters are working to polish their logo and their "employer brand", the first thing to do would probably be to simply respond to candidates.

| Profession | Total CV | Processed CV | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Test / QA | 6389 | 3558 | 56 % |
| Support / CM | 2271 | 1245 | 55 % |
| Conception / GD LD | 14662 | 7468 | 51 % |
| Infographie | 46193 | 22798 | 49 % |
| Programmation | 20875 | 9344 | 45 % |
| Presse / Communication | 1433 | 630 | 44 % |
| Production | 3467 | 1340 | 39 % |
| Commercial / Marketing | 3710 | 1418 | 38 % |