The game copywriting position is crowded with liberal arts students who want a high salary.
"Workplace Bonus" (ID: ZhiChangHongLi)
Youyou is in the construction industry, which is in a deep winter. However, she is not worried at all because she is holding an offer from a game company for a "Copywriting Position" with an annual salary of 300,000 yuan.
Besides the main business of construction, Youyou runs a side business of online literature, specializing in science fiction creation. Her works have consistently ranked in the top 50 on well-known domestic online literature websites. Being able to write, having traffic, and knowing how to build a new world - this is why she has attracted the attention of game companies.
But for ordinary people who want to be game copywriters, after leaving 2023, the winter of the game industry has not passed.
According to the data from the Game Industry Layoffs project, which tracks layoffs in the game industry, in 2023, the total number of layoffs in the game industry was 10,500; and as of December 6, 2024, the total number of layoffs in the global game industry has reached as high as 14,000. Job search cases like "Graduated from a 985 university, with three relevant internship experiences and a one-year online literature contract, but I still can't find a job as a game copywriter" are everywhere.
The low-level copywriting in the wild growth period sows the seeds of job-hunting troubles ╱ 01
"A good game copywriter must be able to communicate" ╱ 02
Mid-sized companies have dreams, while large companies have... guarantees? ╱ 03
Excellent game copywriters are still a scarce resource ╱ 04
In a situation where the industry path is not clear, the salary level in the game industry is still an important factor attracting content practitioners to enter the game copywriting field.
The "2024 Big Data Report on Talent Supply and Demand in the Game Industry" released by Liepin Big Data Research Institute (hereinafter referred to as the "Liepin Report") shows that the current salary in the entire game industry shows a competitiveness higher than other industries. Compared with the average annual recruitment salary of the entire industry (211,700 yuan), the salary in the game industry is generally higher, at 220,800 yuan.
Workplace Bonus has learned that the average salary for game copywriters this year is 8 - 12k for junior copywriters, 12 - 16k for intermediate copywriters, 16 - 20k for senior copywriters, and over 20k for chief/senior copywriters. It is worth noting that the salaries of game copywriters in large companies can generally reach the highest value of the average salary for this position, and it is not solely based on job level as the only measurement standard, but more on the number of years of work as the salary determination standard.
At the same time, in 2024, favorable policies for games and frequent hit games have made people have to re-examine the future of the game world. The emergence of "Black Myth: Wukong" has given a strong boost to the game industry.
"Workplace Bonus" (ID: ZhiChangHongLi)
● "Opinions on Promoting the High-Quality Development of Service Consumption" released on August 3, 2024
"Workplace Bonus" (ID: ZhiChangHongLi)
If you want to engage in the game copywriting position, first-tier cities such as Shanghai are still the best choice. From the perspective of the city distribution of new game industry positions, first-tier cities such as Shanghai, Guangzhou, Beijing, and Shenzhen firmly rank in the top four, with Shanghai leading the country with a share of 20.92%.
"You don't need to understand games", "Just be able to write", "High income and no unemployment" - evaluations of the game copywriting job are rampant. But on the other hand, players' tastes are gradually improving, and rough and rushed works are destined to be criticized by fans and competing game companies. In front of young people who are passionate about games, some industry veterans are not optimistic about the current situation.
The low-level copywriting in the wild growth period sows the seeds of job-hunting troubles
The seeds of the predicament were sown many years ago.
Initially, even in large companies, game copywriting was marginalized. The interviewee, Raccoon, said: "The old concept is that copywriting is the packaging of the game, like monosodium glutamate, and it doesn't affect the consumption without it." At that time, MOBA games dominated the market. In competitive games, except for weapon and character introductions, there was not much space for the development of game copywriting.
Game copywriting is to "package" the game with words. Its job content can be simply summarized as table matching / plot scene editor, script, and world view construction. "Game copywriters will write more content such as weapon introductions to help players better understand the game and assist them in the action of 'playing'."
"Workplace Bonus" (ID: ZhiChangHongLi)
In 2016, "Onmyoji" was launched. This game, with Onmyoji as the protagonist and contracting monster Shikigami as the main plot, received widespread attention. People began to realize that a good game copywriting can make a game successful.
Three years later, "Genshin Impact" emerged, and the importance of the game copywriting position began to expand rapidly. The success of Genshin Impact made the market realize for the first time that excellent content can generate such huge commercial value. People then began to realize that game copywriting can provide the "flesh and blood" for the game.
"Genshin Impact" has driven the content growth of the game industry. The desire to replicate the success of "Genshin Impact" has led game companies to grow like wild grass, and a large number of second-generation games with gameplay reskins and theme innovations have emerged. Game companies have begun to seize copywriting and planning talents in large quantities. However, in the cold winter of game version numbers, game releases are restricted, and small and medium-sized companies that lack income sources are unable to afford the research and development costs raised by the talent-grabbing war, and a batch of game companies have declared bankruptcy.
The summer vacation of 2023 is jokingly called "The Great Escape of Second-Generation Games". Many game projects that survived the suspension of game version numbers were released during this period after obtaining version numbers. As a result, these manufacturers who were eagerly waiting for game players, due to severe content homogeneity, ultimately failed to become "the next Genshin Impact".
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● The Moments post by Xiaopa when "Estranged: Damira" was launched
The game "Estranged: Damira" that practitioner Xiaopa is in charge of was also launched at this time. Just like the vast majority of projects that did not survive the great escape, her game also did not escape the fate of "failing".
Nowadays, after the bubble burst, small and medium-sized companies have recognized the reality and no longer easily start game projects, resulting in a still small number of projects.
After experiencing the wild growth period, the job market for game copywriting is actually sharply contracting. There are few new game projects, but the game copywriters who entered during the boom period are still there. During the crazy expansion, the game copywriters recruited were mixed, and in the process of "fighting fiercely", low-level game copywriters were able to pass through. But when the bonus period fades, these projects and the corresponding personnel become particularly conspicuous. This is why the situation of "difficult to find game copywriting jobs and high layoff rate" has emerged.
"A good game copywriter must be able to communicate"
The way to enter the game copywriting industry nowadays is completely different from the past.
Around 2012, entering the game copywriting industry was "almost without barriers". At that time, Youyou's college roommate entered Tencent as a programmer, but because the game department was short of people, the roommate was called to fill the position by mistake and has been doing it until now.
Overall, in the game industry in the past two years, the requirements for educational qualifications for new positions are not very strict. According to the data from the Liepin Report, a bachelor's degree is the mainstream (55.38%), followed by a junior college degree (21.77%).
"Workplace Bonus" (ID: ZhiChangHongLi)
Nowadays, entering the game copywriting industry seems to have become something that only "top talents" can do.
Youyou and her friends who are engaged in game work believe that this is actually because there is a large information gap between practitioners and non-practitioners. Except for the list authors invited to participate in the production, other people who do not understand the game industry work are difficult to know about the game copywriting position. "Mostly, game planning positions are used to recruit game copywriters."
Similarly, students from non-top universities will also lose a path to enter the game copywriting position due to the information gap in competitions. Game companies tend to launch competitions only for the relevant clubs of 985 and 211 universities, and select talents on a targeted basis. During the interview, Youyou, who graduated from a top 985 university in China, learned that Mihoyo is holding a competition. The launch site of the competition is the literature club that Youyou joined when she was in university.
However, people who simultaneously meet the requirements of "understanding games" and "being able to write" still have the opportunity to become game copywriters.
Raccoon has been paying attention to this profession for a long time. He graduated from a Chinese language major at a second-tier university, and his major is not completely relevant. In order to enter the game copywriting industry, he not only participated in all game-related job fairs in Wuhan at that time, but also managed to scrape together 4,000 yuan in his poor financial situation and participated in a game course that he considered quite luxurious by installments.
In the process of studying hard, Raccoon continuously accumulated game knowledge. He studied many games, wrote many game analysis reports, and also published many articles on the game capital website. These "many" became a truly accessible opportunity - Raccoon successfully obtained an interview opportunity at a top game company with a 102-page, more than 30,000-word game analysis report. After passing the interview, he entered the company for an internship. With this experience, he knocked on the door of Perfect World and officially became a game copywriter.
For game copywriters, the most important thing is to have a deep understanding of the game and understand the players.
Xiaopa is now in charge of the chief copywriting work of a certain game project. She studied animation design in college and originally wanted to become an anime original painting author, but unfortunately "couldn't compete with those great painters". Her experience of signing an online literature contract in junior high school and her love for games made her decide to try game copywriting.
"The main plot, character plot, item description... The design and writing ideas of each module are different." From the perspective of a newcomer in the industry, if one has not played games or has not played enough games, it will be very difficult to understand what types of copywriting are needed for each module in the game, and it is even more impossible to understand how the text serves the players. "The fundamental difference between game copywriting and ordinary authors is for whom the text is written."
The recruitment of game copywriters requires two stages: written test and interview. Xiaopa's company usually gives candidates one week to complete a written test paper, and sets questions according to the module that the required position is responsible for, such as world view and character design. Generally, a general direction is given, that is, a character image and several keywords are provided, and candidates are asked to make a character card and a character biography based on this. The creative ability is examined within a limited time, usually one week, and sometimes two or three days.
"A good game copywriter must be able to communicate". In the interview, game copywriters are more likely to recruit "non-tech nerds" who can communicate smoothly. Because this position is a central link that needs to communicate with various departments such as art and programming, only smooth communication can ensure the efficiency of game completion.
Among the candidates, transferees have a much higher advantage than ordinary fresh graduates.
Due to the poor general environment, in the large company where Raccoon is, now the recruitment of game copywriters "in recent years, only fresh graduates from Tsinghua University, Peking University, Fudan University, and Shanghai Jiao Tong University can enter, and online literature experience can only be regarded as a plus point". And the proportion of some industry talents transferring to the game industry can almost reach a ratio of "one in ten".
People with experience in the film and television screenwriting industry or strong English skills have more advantages in entering the industry. Personnel in the film and television screenwriting industry have cross-industry capabilities and professional transferability. Generally, they are more capable of answering how to create good visual expressions in games. Some companies do overseas business and have clear requirements for English skills. People who are strong in English and understand games are very popular. On this basis, overseas students who are familiar with local expressions in foreign countries are even better.