The Xbox Game Tester Salary - How Much Can I Make Testing Video Games?   by Sean Saunders

in Entertainment / Video Games    (submitted 2010-01-01)

Lots of gamers are curious about the prospect of becoming a xbox game tester. They think it would be awesome to test new games on their xbox 360's for oodles & oodles of cash. Is it as cool as they think? Generally speaking, yes -- paid video game testing is very cool and it pays quite well. How well does it really pay? Take a look below and find out.



Let's face the facts, you're not going to start off at the top when you first begin testing video games. So don't expect to live like a fat cat when you land those first 2-3 xbox game tester jobs. They'll be nice checks to cash when the job is finished, but you won't be able to buy that 10-bedroom mansion just yet.



The Real Yearly Figures: A new video game tester can expect to make anywhere from $18,000 a year to $24,000 a year. With hard work and regular testing jobs, he can increase that figure to $60,000 a year and beyond. Of course, this all depends heavily on whether or not he sticks with the game testing and continues to apply for jobs with game developers. If he doesn't, well, he won't make squat.



The downside to the yearly figures given above is that most testers don't work on a contractual salary -- they work on a job-by-job basis. This means once they finish a game testing job, they get paid and move onto the next one; like a freelancer. Having said that, let's break the game tester salary into a hourly/weekly figure for a better look-see into what these game testers truly make.



Hourly/Weekly Figure: New testers tend to make $10 to $12 per hour, depending on the company hiring them. If the tester has much more experience, he/she may get a substantial increase in pay to $16 or even $18 per hour. If the xbox game tester is at the top of his/her game, he/she my get paid up to $30 or more per hour.



Let's take those figure and do some quick calculations with the typical minimum of weekly work (35-40 hours). Quick Note: These estimates are assuming the tester will get a new testing job every week; which is, unfortunately, not usually the case for most.



New Testers

$10 x 40 hours is $400.

$400 x 52 weeks in a year is $20,800.



Mid-Level Testers

$17 x 40 hours is $680

$680 x 52 weeks is $35,360



Expert Testers

$25 x 40 hours is $1000

$1000 x 52 weeks is $52,000



Ultimate Tester

$40 x 40 hours is $1600

$1600 x 52 weeks is $83,200



Do you see the potential here? If you build you're way up the ladder and become a well-known, highly experienced xbox game tester, you could make nearly $100,000 a year!



The best part about the whole job-by-job basis thing is that you can actually double your hourly wages by just doing your job more quickly (IMPORTANT: You must not sacrifice quality for quickness!). If you can cut what is supposed to be a 1-week game testing job (typically 40 hours) into a half-week testing job (20 hours), you will have doubled your hourly earnings for that job!



So, what do you think? Is this salary good enough for you to get involved with professional game testing? Well, you had better make up your mind quickly -- as thousands of others have already made their decision and they are now working to become "ultimate" xbox game testers! Remember, if you don't act, someone else will!

About the Author

For more in-depth information about paid video game testing as well as where you can find the best video game tester job openings, try visiting http://www.GameTestingParadise.com, a very popular video-game website which can help you jump-start your game testing career.