Video Game Designers

Design core features of video games. Specify innovative game and role-play mechanics, story lines, and character biographies. Create and maintain design documentation. Guide and collaborate with production staff to produce games as designed.

The occupation "Video Game Designers" carries an automation risk of 46.9%, just slightly below the base risk of 47.9% for the field. This figure represents a moderate likelihood of machines partially automating tasks associated with designing video games. Automation risk is influenced by how much of the role’s core work can be achieved through algorithms and artificial intelligence, especially as automation advances in graphics, narrative generation, and user experience design. While many elements of video game design require creativity and intuition, the industry’s dependence on digital tools and repetitive testing practices also makes it more vulnerable to emerging technologies capable of automating structured and data-heavy tasks. The most automatable aspects of this occupation include "Balance and adjust gameplay experiences to ensure the critical and commercial success of the product," "Devise missions, challenges, or puzzles to be encountered in game play," and "Create core game features, including storylines, role-play mechanics, and character biographies for a new video game or game franchise." Recent advancements in AI-powered balancing tools allow for simulation and data-driven decision-making, thus reducing the need for human balancing. Similarly, procedural content generation can automate quest, puzzle, and storyline development at scale, which has become more common in game studios. These areas are increasingly susceptible to specialized automation, driving the overall risk higher. Conversely, tasks most resistant to automation are typically those requiring human judgment, nuanced understanding, or interdisciplinary coordination. "Provide test specifications to quality assurance staff," "Create gameplay test plans for internal and external test groups," and "Prepare and revise initial game sketches using two- and three-dimensional graphical design software" are less vulnerable to automation due to the creative, communicative, and open-ended nature of the work. Such activities depend heavily on contextual understanding, negotiations between team members, and the translation of abstract or creative concepts into tangible design assets—skills currently challenging for AI to replicate. Bottleneck skills for automation in this occupation, such as originality (4.0%, 4.1%), further limit risk because machines still struggle with tasks that require true novelty and inventiveness, highlighting the enduring value of uniquely human creative contributions in video game design.