How to get into games without making games

gamesindustry.biz:

This article is part of our Get into Games special, offering students insight on life in the games industry and advice on how to get into the business

When thinking about the games industry, we naturally think about the people and companies making the games, and so assume it's an industry only for those with hard technical skills. But as a £7.05 billion industry in the UK alone (based on the UK Consumer Games Market Valuation in 2022), there's many moving parts that make up the industry that don't involve core game development.

For people interested in getting into games but worried that they lack the technical skills, there are just as many roles – more importantly, paid ones – that are still creative and could be a good fit. A panel at EGX 2023 gathered individuals from a range of roles, and while some are from organisations that are linked to other sectors, their day-to-day is very much part of the games industry.

So if you want a career in games that doesn't involve making a game, just what kind of roles are there? From our panellist's backgrounds, these can include helping provide funding to game companies, marketing and PR for games, as well as creating a community that gets other people interested in games or a career in games.

Creating games, especially if you're putting together a team or needs years of research and development, requires money. There are many organisations that help provide funding.

Chris Filip is an international business development fund manager for the British Film Institute's UK Global Screen Fund, which provides funding across screen, including film and television, as well as games.

"My day-to-day involves a lot about reading applications, being able to understand what people mean and see opportunities, and that involves a lot of reading about the industry, knowing the direction in which it's going," he said.

Similarly, Nicole Stewart Rushworth's role as a marketing director at Digital Catapult, an innovation agency for advanced digital