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Animators and Visual Effects ArtistsvsGames Designers

Games Designers is 4 points more exposed than Animators and Visual Effects Artists (58 against 54) and its window opens 1 year earlier.

Animators and Visual Effects Artists
Games Designers

Exposure

Animators and Visual Effects Artists
54

Elevated exposure

More exposed than 53% of 250 roles

Games Designers
58

Elevated exposure

More exposed than 63% of 250 roles

Window · adoption

2–6 yrs

until most of the change has landed

High adoption

1–6 yrs

until most of the change has landed

Medium-High adoption

In one line

Generative image and video tools now produce concept art, backgrounds, in-betweens and rotoscoping, reshaping who does what on a production.

AI significantly augmenting level design, asset creation, and playtesting.

Inputs behind the score · scaled 0–100

Task applicability

26

Observed usage

48

Official exposure tier

70

Labour-market trajectory

n/a

Published adoption rating

70

Editorial adjustment +6

Task applicability

57

Observed usage

36

Official exposure tier

100

Labour-market trajectory

30

Published adoption rating

55

What is driving it

  1. Generative image models
  2. Generative video
  3. AI inside the standard packages
  4. Markerless performance capture
  5. AI-assisted in-betweening and physics
  6. Budget pressure and content volume
  1. Advancements in Generative AI (Image, Text, 3D, Audio)
  2. Demand for Larger, More Dynamic & Personalized Game Worlds
  3. Need to Accelerate Game Development Cycles & Reduce Costs
  4. Availability of AI Tools & Plugins for Game Engines (Unreal, Unity)
  5. Player Expectations for More Intelligent NPCs & Adaptive Gameplay
  6. Growth of User-Generated Content (UGC) Platforms (AI can assist creators)
  7. Data Analytics for Understanding Player Behavior & Improving Design
  8. Procedural Content Generation (PCG) becoming more sophisticated with AI
  9. Desire for Rapid Prototyping & Iteration in Design
  10. Independent Developer Empowerment through AI Tools

Skills worth building

  1. Art direction and taste
  2. Character performance
  3. Generative tool fluency
  4. Compositing and finishing
  5. Pipeline scripting
  6. Rights and licensing awareness
  1. Core Game Design Principles (Mechanics, Loops, Pacing, Player Psychology)
  2. Creativity, Imagination & Conceptualization
  3. AI Tool Proficiency & Prompt Engineering (for Design)
  4. Narrative Design & Storytelling
  5. Systems Thinking & Balancing
  6. Player Empathy & User Experience (UX) Design
  7. Technical Aptitude & Understanding of Game Engines
  8. Critical Curation & Editing of AI-Generated Content

Tools in the work now

  1. Adobe Firefly
  2. Runway
  3. Midjourney
  4. Adobe After Effects
  5. Cascadeur
  1. Midjourney / Stable Diffusion / DALL-E
  2. ChatGPT / Claude / Jasper (for narrative elements)
  3. Houdini (for advanced PCG, can be AI-enhanced) / Specific AI PCG research tools
  4. Modl.ai / Unity Game Simulation
  5. Unreal Engine (with MetaHumans, AI tools) / Unity (with AI/ML toolkits like Sentis)

Where the work moves

Graphic Designers59

More exposed

Games Designers58

Different skills, growing

Fine Artists, Including Painters, Sculptors, and Illustrators48

Complementary, less exposed

QA Testers (Executing repetitive, scripted test cases)

More exposed

AI Programmers for Game AI / Machine Learning Engineers for Games

Different skills, growing

Game Producers / Creative Directors (High-Level Vision & Team Leadership)

Complementary, less exposed

Full report

Read Animators and Visual Effects Artists
Read Games Designers

Scores are the CareerGuard Exposure Index v2: the same five inputs and weights for every role, so a gap of ten points means the same thing wherever it appears. How scores are built.