The Xbox Game Tester Salary

[Marie Neill]

Lots of gamers are curious about the prospect of becoming a xbox game
tester. They think it would be awesome to test new games on their xbox
360's for oodles & oodles of cash. Is it as cool as they think?
Generally speaking, yes -- paid video game testing is very cool and it
pays quite well. How well does it really pay? Take a look below and
find out.
Let's face the facts, you're not going to start off at the top when
you first begin testing video games. So don't expect to live like a
fat cat when you land those first 2-3 xbox game tester jobs. They'll
be nice checks to cash when the job is finished, but you won't be able
to buy that 10-bedroom mansion just yet.
The Real Yearly Figures: A new video game tester can expect to make
anywhere from $18,000 a year to $24,000 a year. With hard work and
regular testing jobs, he can increase that figure to $60,000 a year
and beyond. Of course, this all depends heavily on whether or not he
sticks with the game testing and continues to apply for jobs with game
developers. If he doesn't, well, he won't make squat.
The downside to the yearly figures given above is that most testers
don't work on a contractual salary -- they work on a job-by-job basis.
This means once they finish a game testing job, they get paid and move
onto the next one; like a freelancer. Having said that, let's break
the game tester salary into a hourly/weekly figure for a better look-
see into what these game testers truly make.
Hourly/Weekly Figure: New testers tend to make $10 to $12 per hour,
depending on the company hiring them. If the tester has much more
experience, he/she may get a substantial increase in pay to $16 or
even $18 per hour. If the xbox game tester is at the top of his/her
game, he/she my get paid up to $30 or more per hour.
Let's take those figure and do some quick calculations with the
typical minimum of weekly work (35-40 hours). Quick Note: These
estimates are assuming the tester will get a new testing job every
week; which is, unfortunately, not usually the case for most.
New Testers
$10 x 40 hours is $400.
$400 x 52 weeks in a year is $20,800.
Mid-Level Testers
$17 x 40 hours is $680
$680 x 52 weeks is $35,360
Expert Testers
$25 x 40 hours is $1000
$1000 x 52 weeks is $52,000
Ultimate Tester
$40 x 40 hours is $1600
$1600 x 52 weeks is $83,200
Do you see the potential here? If you build you're way up the ladder
and become a well-known, highly experienced xbox game tester, you
could make nearly $100,000 a year!
The best part about the whole job-by-job basis thing is that you can
actually double your hourly wages by just doing your job more quickly
(IMPORTANT: You must not sacrifice quality for quickness!). If you can
cut what is supposed to be a 1-week game testing job (typically 40
hours) into a half-week testing job (20 hours), you will have doubled
your hourly earnings for that job!
So, what do you think? Is this salary good enough for you to get
involved with professional game testing? Well, you had better make up
your mind quickly -- as thousands of others have already made their
decision and they are now working to become "ultimate" xbox game
testers! Remember, if you don't act soon, someone else will likely
step up and take your place!

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