The industry is growing in a variety of ways, some of them frightening. Every now and then, someone pops out of the woodwork with a doomsday prophesy about outsourcing (for the real scoop, you need to talk to this guy - yes, actually losing American game development jobs overseas is largely a myth). But the truth is that the games industry, always multinational, is now truly international.
Something I have come to appreciate immensely is the growing internationalization of the games industry. I've always loved travel, and one of my regrets when I became a freelance designer 12 years ago was that I'd just begun to reach the point in my career where my company was willing to send me overseas for meetings and conferences. But happily, that proved to be a false concern, now more than ever. In the last four months, for example, I've been on business trips to Germany, New Zealand, Finland and Israel. That's a very busy slate even by my standards, but the chance to see different countries and cultures while having fun making interesting games (or lecturing about them) is one of my great pleasures from work.
- Noah Falstein, Game Designer, The Inspiracy
So long as we cultivate the best in interactive talent here in the U.S., there will always be work to be had, and probably, for those with experience, more demand than we can ever fulfill - which is why it becomes increasingly important to keep our veteran developers happy.
The industry has also seen a radical shift in perspectives toward quality of life and many of the elements associated with it - particularly parenthood - in the last five years. With the expansion of game genres into casual markets and broader demographics, we find ever-increasing relevance and acceptance of what we do as developers.
And game parents also get the bonus of being "the cool mom":
Many things keep me in the games industry. I've been fortunate to work for companies that value their employees and do whatever they can to make crunch easier, which is a big help. But the real reason I stay in games is the emotional fulfillment I get from helping to create a product I love. When I talk about games, my face lights up. When I walk around my offices, I feel at home; I'm with my people, an incredible, diverse, eccentric, amazingly intelligent group of people dedicated to creating fun. When I play games with my daughter, I tell her that when Mommy goes to work, she helps make games, and I'm a hero in my little girl's eyes (and in the eyes of every neighborhood kid). When I volunteer for games organizations like the IGDA, I feel like I'm not only making the industry better, I'm encouraging more people to share the passion I have for an amazing career.
I love games, I love playing them, I love making them - anything and everything to do with them. In the immortal words of Wesley, "this is true love, do you think this happens every day?" How can I walk away from something I love so much?
-Jennifer MacLean, VP of Business Development, 38 Studios; IGDA Board of Directors
So those are the warm and fuzzies. They are legion. If they weren't, quality of life issues couldn't be so challenging - there would be no reason not to simply walk in favor of another career.
