1. Stanford University
Stanford, CA • Private
In-State Tuition
$51,354
Enrollment
7,083
What is a Lead Game Designer?
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a lead game designer. For example, did you know that they make an average of $52.35 an hour? That's $108,878 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 3% and produce 8,800 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a Lead Game Designer Do
There are certain skills that many lead game designers have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed computer skills, time-management skills and analytical skills.
How To Become a Lead Game Designer
If you're interested in becoming a lead game designer, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 72.9% of lead game designers have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 5.1% of lead game designers have master's degrees. Even though most lead game designers have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Lead Game Designer Career Paths
In addition to switching up your job search, it might prove helpful to look at a career path for your specific job. Now, what's a career path you ask? Well, it's practically a map that shows how you might advance from one job title to another. Our career paths are especially detailed with salary changes. So, for example, if you started out with the role of game farm supervisor you might progress to a role such as supervisor eventually. Later on in your career, you could end up with the title founder and chief executive officer.
Average Salary for a Lead Game Designer
Lead Game Designers in America make an average salary of $108,878 per year or $52 per hour. The top 10 percent makes over $161,000 per year, while the bottom 10 percent under $73,000 per year.
Average Lead Game Designer Salary
$108,878 Yearly$52.35 hourly
What Am I Worth?
States With The Most Lead Game Designer Jobs
Mouse over a state to see the number of active lead game designer jobs in each state. The darker areas on the map show where lead game designers earn the highest salaries across all 50 states.
Average Salary: Job Openings:
Number Of Lead Game Designer Jobs By State
| Rank | State | Number of Jobs | Average Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | California | 2,618 | $117,255 |
| 2 | New York | 1,078 | $106,265 |
| 3 | Texas | 1,002 | $94,663 |
| 4 | Georgia | 690 | $89,308 |
| 5 | Washington | 688 | $121,587 |
| 6 | Utah | 661 | $107,193 |
| 7 | Illinois | 649 | $87,548 |
| 8 | Florida | 614 | $87,044 |
| 9 | Massachusetts | 605 | $111,832 |
| 10 | Virginia | 591 | $92,315 |
| 11 | Pennsylvania | 526 | $94,128 |
| 12 | North Carolina | 492 | $88,701 |
| 13 | Michigan | 431 | $98,503 |
| 14 | Kansas | 431 | $80,452 |
| 15 | Ohio | 400 | $108,436 |
| 16 | Oklahoma | 379 | $85,277 |
| 17 | Oregon | 368 | $93,302 |
| 18 | Minnesota | 366 | $85,019 |
| 19 | Nevada | 358 | $124,267 |
| 20 | Arkansas | 349 | $89,982 |
| 21 | Maryland | 333 | $111,166 |
| 22 | New Jersey | 324 | $94,546 |
| 23 | Colorado | 319 | $99,967 |
| 24 | Nebraska | 294 | $94,675 |
| 25 | Wisconsin | 291 | $114,594 |
| 26 | Idaho | 278 | $114,024 |
| 27 | New Mexico | 266 | $97,023 |
| 28 | Arizona | 258 | $88,731 |
| 29 | Indiana | 222 | $113,468 |
| 30 | Missouri | 222 | $95,345 |
| 31 | Tennessee | 191 | $89,502 |
| 32 | Montana | 185 | $96,244 |
| 33 | Alabama | 157 | $84,933 |
| 34 | Connecticut | 156 | $112,333 |
| 35 | Iowa | 128 | $81,764 |
| 36 | South Dakota | 127 | $94,650 |
| 37 | South Carolina | 124 | $102,143 |
| 38 | Alaska | 123 | $103,363 |
| 39 | Kentucky | 123 | $101,267 |
| 40 | Louisiana | 94 | $103,988 |
| 41 | New Hampshire | 88 | $110,233 |
| 42 | Maine | 60 | $115,674 |
| 43 | Rhode Island | 56 | $124,546 |
| 44 | Mississippi | 55 | $102,646 |
| 45 | Delaware | 44 | $123,817 |
| 46 | West Virginia | 37 | $108,679 |
| 47 | North Dakota | 31 | $96,419 |
| 48 | Vermont | 29 | $106,272 |
| 49 | Hawaii | 21 | $72,871 |
| 50 | Wyoming | 18 | $82,313 |
Top Colleges for Lead Game Designers
2. University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA • Private
In-State Tuition
$55,584
Enrollment
10,764
3. Northwestern University
Evanston, IL • Private
In-State Tuition
$54,568
Enrollment
8,451
4. University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA • Private
In-State Tuition
$56,225
Enrollment
19,548
5. San Diego State University
San Diego, CA • Private
In-State Tuition
$7,488
Enrollment
30,018
6. Boston University
Boston, MA • Private
In-State Tuition
$53,948
Enrollment
17,238
7. New York University
New York, NY • Private
In-State Tuition
$51,828
Enrollment
26,339
8. Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Worcester, MA • Private
In-State Tuition
$50,530
Enrollment
4,571
9. University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
Minneapolis, MN • Private
In-State Tuition
$14,760
Enrollment
31,451
10. Harvard University
Cambridge, MA • Private
In-State Tuition
$50,420
Enrollment
7,582
Top Skills For a Lead Game Designer
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 8.8% of lead game designers listed game mechanics on their resume, but soft skills such as computer skills and time-management skills are important as well.
Choose From 10+ Customizable Lead Game Designer Resume templates
Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Lead Game Designer templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Lead Game Designer resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.
Lead Game Designer diversity
Lead Game Designer Gender Distribution
Male
71%
Female
29%
After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:
- Among lead game designers, 28.6% of them are women, while 71.4% are men.
- The most common race/ethnicity among lead game designers is White, which makes up 67.7% of all lead game designers.
- The most common foreign language among lead game designers is Spanish at 45.2%.
Online Courses For Lead Game Designer That You May Like
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Best States For a Lead Game Designer
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a lead game designer. The best states for people in this position are Rhode Island, Nevada, Delaware, and Washington. Lead game designers make the most in Rhode Island with an average salary of $124,546. Whereas in Nevada and Delaware, they would average $124,267 and $123,817, respectively. While lead game designers would only make an average of $121,587 in Washington, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. Nevada
Total Lead Game Designer Jobs: 358
Highest 10% Earn:
$182,000
Location Quotient:
2.7
$124,267
Avg. Salary
2. Washington
Total Lead Game Designer Jobs: 688
Highest 10% Earn:
$176,000
Location Quotient:
1.48
$121,587
Avg. Salary
3. Idaho
Total Lead Game Designer Jobs: 278
Highest 10% Earn:
$166,000
Location Quotient:
2.67
$114,024
Avg. Salary
How Do Lead Game Designers Rate Their Jobs?
Top Lead Game Designer Employers
Most Common Employers For Lead Game Designer
| Rank | Company | Average Salary | Hourly Rate | Job Openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Meta | $154,830 | $74.44 | 8 |
| 2 | Barnes & Noble | $137,131 | $65.93 | 4 |
| 3 | Microsoft | $129,412 | $62.22 | 8 |
| 4 | Vicarious | $122,076 | $58.69 | 2 |
| 5 | Best Buy | $117,287 | $56.39 | 6 |
| 6 | Main Event Entertainment Group | $110,094 | $52.93 | 2 |
| 7 | Breakout | $105,569 | $50.75 | 5 |
| 8 | Certain Affinity | $102,856 | $49.45 | 3 |
| 9 | Accenture | $102,298 | $49.18 | 6 |
| 10 | Electronic Arts | $102,121 | $49.10 | 3 |