I’m also really curious about this, similar position as you! I’ve checked out many websites on games tester recruitment but they all look aged and grim and it put me off a little, the forums aren’t much better. Packed full or 14yr olds asking “hi i wuz wunderin how to b a games testa cheers david r”. I sent an application anyway, nothing back and its been a couple of weeks.

I think we should both just spam all the recruitment companies, when we find them.

Volunteer yourself for free to get some experience. Find out the contact details of your favourite game companies. Look for little ones too – they might not be so overwhelmed with requests. Or a local company.

Or you could start by studying it at college or uni. Lots of courses in this. The lecturers and tutors would probably have connections in the industry and get placements organised.

Pestering the companies might work but you generally need experience before you can get a job :o(

This may be a scam, but it purports to tell you how to become a video game tester.

Here is a video.

I know there are people who play multiplayer (US) football, and they make a living doing it. It’s a pay-to-play game, and if you win consistently, you make money. I have been told there are some who make their living at it. I know it’s not “testing” games, but it probably would fit your parameters. http://www.madden-tournaments.com/

Firstly, it’s not as exciting as you think.

During my career as a software engineer I have had the opportunity to count game testing among my primary functions. In the first instance I was working for a major semiconductor manufacturer who counted an audio chip among their portfolio. I got to do compatibility testing for drivers for folks that used the chip. The job consisted of running the top 100 games on various hardware configurations to make sure the sound worked right. Sound fun? Not so since all I really got to do was set up the systems run the game for literally a few seconds to make sure the sound worked properly so there was really very little actual game play involved.

The second opportunity was working for a gaming company that did slot machines. I wrote driver code for them so, of course, had to make sure that my code worked before it went to production. So, although I got to do a bit of testing, the real job was software development. The real testing was generally done by a bunch of co-ops (read students that work ridiculous hours for almost free so they can have something to put on their resume when they graduate).

So… your best bet is to go to school and be top of your class as in a software related field and get one of those co-op jobs, but be prepared to work hellish hours for darned near nothing. Then, if you are very lucky, you might be able to land a “real” job at a gaming company. However, be prepared to work even more hellish hours where the bulk of your time will be spent cranking out code rather than “blowing stuff up” (in the virtual world, of course).

In my previous company, I worked on game testing. I used to test iPhone, iPad and Ipod-ITouch games. Game testing is very interested as well as difficult. I feel it’s an interesting thing rather than difficult. You have to have detailed knowledge about game flow. True fact is there are less openings in game testing, don’t know why!. Recently, I changed the company and I have to work on ERP domain. It really sucks!!! :(