Remote jobs are a great way to balance your work with your life by cutting out your lengthy or unsafe commute. They’re even more essential for certain types of people, from young parents to those caring for elderly relatives to anyone with a chronic disability.
All of those people are just as likely to love the billion-dollar gaming industry as the next person. So, for this article, we’ll be highlighting the top companies hiring in today for a fully remote position in gaming.
We won’t sugarcoat it: The games industry is hitting a rough patch right now. Back in June of this year, the number of layoffs across the industry surpassed 10,000 — which means that the industry lost the exact same number of jobs that it lost across all of 2023, but in half the time.
You still have many more options, however, both domestically and internationally. Here are the top positions we were able to dig up, all from companies that are open to hiring remote workers right this second.
Best Remote Gaming Jobs at Sony
With a massive $29.8 billion in revenue, Sony Interactive Entertainment is the biggest video gaming company on the planet. If you’ve heard of a little gaming console called “PlayStation,” you already know why.
Unlike the second biggest company, Tencent, Sony is based out of the United States, making it easy for US residents to land a position at the company, although they have plenty of international offices as well. Plus, while it has a ton of in-person positions in states including California, Washington, and Texas, a number of remote positions are also available across a wide range of experience and focuses.
The jobs listed here include the specific division first, followed by the job title that’s currently open. Every single position is listed as US-based and remote.
- Bend Studio: Surfacing Supervisor
- Bluepoint Games: Lead Technical Artist
- Information Security: Senior Security Incident Response Engineer
- Information Security: Sr Application Security Engineer
- Insomniac Games: Lighting Manager
- Insomniac Games: Senior Designer
- Insomniac Games: Senior Gameplay Animator
- Partner Marketing Intern – Undergraduate
- San Mateo Studio: Director, Development Strategy and Support
- San Mateo Studio: Principal Product Manager
- Software Engineering & Services: Lead Engineer, Mobile SDKs
- Software Engineering & Services: SDET Contractor
If you’re outside the US — or if you want to see your non-remote options — you can find more job listings on the company’s website.
Best Remote Gaming Jobs at Xbox
Xbox Game Studios is a division of Microsoft Gaming, the company behind other top brands including Bethesda Softworks, Activision, and Blizzard Entertainment. Xbox alone has plenty of positions open right now, however, and that includes a handful of remote options.
There’s a catch, though: The Microsoft job site only offers positions that are “up to 100% work from home,” and you’ll likely be asked to come into the physical office once in a while — possibly even a few days a week. That means that the exact location of each position still matters.
We’re including international positions as well. If you’re a digital nomad software engineer who loves video games, these positions could be just the ticket. Here are a few of the open remote positions for team Xbox:
- Software Engineer II-Xbox (multiple locations: Chile, Mexico; Colombia; Costa Rica)
- Principal Software Engineer – Gaming (Redmond, Washington, US)
- Strategic Partner Associate – Xbox (Tokyo, Japan)
- Senior Data Scientist (Redmond, Washington, US)
- Senior Labor Relations Manager (Multiple Locations, US)
- Senior Mixed-Signal Intellectual Property Register Transfer Level Engineer (Austin, Texas, US)
- Principal Software Engineer – Hardware Security (Redmond, Washington, US)
- Machine Learning Engineer (Redmond, Washington, US)
You can head over to the official Microsoft jobs board here to search through the rest of the positions. They have Sony beat, however: All the results for Xbox-related remote positions add up to 62 openings, so there are many dozens more to consider.
Best Remote Gaming Jobs at Wizards of the Coast
Wizards of the Coast owns both Magic: The Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons. Naturally, it’s a great company brand name to boast on your resume, and there are plenty of open positions that can help you do just that.
That said, they’re on the smaller side compared to giants of the gaming industry like Sony and Xbox, and they’re not a video gaming company — D&D titles such as Baldur’s Gate are created under a license by different studios. Still, they’re looking for a handful of remote positions, for everything from Content QA to full stack engineers.
Here are all eight of the company’s open remote positions:
- Sr Game Designer – Card Design – Magic: The Gathering – Arena Alchemy
- Content QA Specialist (Contract/Temporary) – D&D Beyond
- Sr Full Stack Software Engineer II- Contract/Temporary
- Principal UX Designer
- Associate QA Analyst
- Director, Global Franchise Strategy
- Software Development Engineer
- Full Stack Software Engineer II – D&D Beyond
You can check out all other open positions now by heading over to the company’s job site to view all 98 openings.
Best Remote Gaming Jobs at Keywords Studios
The video game industry services company Keywords Studios has a long history in the business. It launched in 1998, and initially handled localization services for business software before pivoting to video games.
If you want to keep your finger on the pulse of the behind-the-scenes logistics that go into video game creation, this studio is a great place to land a position. Plus, they’re large enough that they have more than enough remote positions available, which isn’t always the case for many companies in the industry.
Here are a selection of the best open and fully remote positions at Keywords, no matter where you are in the world:
- Accounts Receivable Technician (Mexico City, Mexico)
- AI Prompt & Language Specialist (Spanish) (Montreal, Quebec, Canada)
- Associate Design Director – Electric Square, UK (Brighton, England, UK)
- Audio Development Project Manager ZH/EN (3 Month Contract) (US)
- Business Development Manager/Director – Localization Services (UK)
- Combat Designer Freelance (Toronto, Ontario, Canada)
- Employment Counsel (Montreal, Quebec, Canada)
- Game Engineering, Programming & Tech Art – Talent Community (US)
- Game Server Programmer, (Tokyo, Japan)
- Group Sustainability Manager (UK)
- Partner Activation Specialist – Outbound Licensing (Alabama, US)
- Research Intern – AI Start-up (San Francisco, California, US)
You can check out the entire list, which includes an impressive 75 remote positions, over here.
Going Deeper to Find Remote Work at Gaming Companies
The openings we’ve listed above are just scratching the surface. The truth is that gaming can be a gruelling industry, and its seen far more than its fair share of layoffs recently.
Not every company is easy to apply to, either. Take Electronic Arts as an example: They currently have all job applications and postings rendered unavailable until November 12, since they’re overhauling their recruiting system.
This just in! View
the top business tech deals for 2024 👨💻
Other companies just aren’t remote-friendly enough to pass muster: Top brands like Roblox Corporation or Epic Games, the company behind monster hit Fortnite, won’t even let job seekers search for remote positions on their sites. Ubisoft does a little better, with exactly three remote positions.
If you’re open to hybrid positions, more options open up. Nexon has six open positions, and all of them are listed as hybrid.
If you’re really committed to finding or continuing a career in the industry — and you don’t have to be! — you may need to look at small, independant studios in order to get the best fit for you. OtherSide Entertainment, the company behind Thief, Deus Ex, and others, currently has two fully remote positions listed on its site: “World Builder / Level Designer,” and “Gameplay AI Engineer.”
Keep your ear to the ground and set up plenty of Google alerts to stay aware of the next opening at any gaming company that you’re interested in.
Landing a Remote Tech Position
While you’re waiting for the dream job to open up, you can do a few more things to position yourself for success. We’ve previously shared our guides to creating the perfect remote work resume, and for how to answer all the most common job interview questions.
Other job-seeking advice might include deciding if you want to send a “thank you” email after your interview, or if you’re open to remote-friendly fields like data entry. Some states will even pay you to move to them, which might be an attractive option for a remote worker with few ties to their current location.
Remote work isn’t for everyone. But the more companies offer it, the more flexibility we all have to find a the exact work-life balance we need. Here’s hoping the gaming industry keeps adding more remote positions for a long time to come.
