Recently BBC CeeFax printed an article indicating that we here at SPOnG could offer you advice on how to become a games tester. This came as a bit of a surprise to us, but as we were inundated with calls and emails, we decided to have a sniff around on your behalf and give you the benefit of our experience and our industry contacts...
Below you will find SPOnG's list of contacts for game testing opportunities in the UK. The problem you may find if you are looking to get into testing, is that many of the larger developers and publishers tend to test their products in the States or Japan. Other companies prefer to have the development team test titles as they are in construction thus leaving little scope for dedicated testing.
Don’t be too down-hearted though. There are jobs in testing out there to be had and if approached in the right way, you could find the job of your dreams.
A good in-road would be to get yourself a job in the industry. Any job. Stef's first job within the industry was taking telephone orders for a large retailer. Marcus started as a designer on a computer games mag.
Once on the inside, you will start to understand how the industry works and the mentality of those who work in it. People in the video games world tend to be very approachable and often, very flexible. With some companies the route to employment will not be the business-standard 'CV to phone call to interview to second interview' orthodox approach. You will find that most of the people you come into contact with, are in the industry for the same reason that we are, and that you want to be in for: they are gaming enthusiasts. The most important thing you need to do is impress upon everyone that you come into contact with that you love playing games and you have the first hand knowledge and experience they require.
Write to every company you want to work for and keep tabs on the progress of everything you send out. If you come to a dead end with a contact ask them what they would suggest or if they know of any opportunities elsewhere. Above all keep trying. There are jobs out there.
Below you will find SPOnG's list of contacts for game testing opportunities in the UK. The problem you may find if you are looking to get into testing, is that many of the larger developers and publishers tend to test their products in the States or Japan. Other companies prefer to have the development team test titles as they are in construction thus leaving little scope for dedicated testing.
Don’t be too down-hearted though. There are jobs in testing out there to be had and if approached in the right way, you could find the job of your dreams.
A good in-road would be to get yourself a job in the industry. Any job. Stef's first job within the industry was taking telephone orders for a large retailer. Marcus started as a designer on a computer games mag.
Once on the inside, you will start to understand how the industry works and the mentality of those who work in it. People in the video games world tend to be very approachable and often, very flexible. With some companies the route to employment will not be the business-standard 'CV to phone call to interview to second interview' orthodox approach. You will find that most of the people you come into contact with, are in the industry for the same reason that we are, and that you want to be in for: they are gaming enthusiasts. The most important thing you need to do is impress upon everyone that you come into contact with that you love playing games and you have the first hand knowledge and experience they require.
Write to every company you want to work for and keep tabs on the progress of everything you send out. If you come to a dead end with a contact ask them what they would suggest or if they know of any opportunities elsewhere. Above all keep trying. There are jobs out there.
| Acclaim Studios Teesside | Guy Miller | (01642) 614000 |
| Bitmap Brothers | Abby Haines | 0207 702 3644 |
| Codemasters | recruitment@codemasters.com | |
| Crawfish | Tim Broardstock | timb@crawfish.com |
| EA | Mat Price | mprice@eaeurope.com |
| Infogrames | Tim Heaton | 0161 827 8000 |
| Mattell Interactive | Catherine Hade | chade@learningco.com |
| Rage Games | recruitment@birm.rage.co.uk | |
| Tarantula for Take2 | Mark Lloyd | mark.lloyd@tarantula-studios.com 01522538826 |
| Team 17 | 01924 267776 | |
| Ubisoft | Simon Maflin | smaflin@ubisoft.co.uk |