Video Game Designers
In short: today's best AI models could do about 48% of this job's working time (projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index) if the work were set up for them, and about 84% by the end of 2028 if progress keeps its long-run pace. The people and hands-on work, about 15% of the time, stays with people.
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.
$104,000 a year (for the broader BLS group this job sits in).
A typical 40-hour week
Not yet reviewed task by task- AI could take on19 h
- A person checks AI's work0 h
- Desk work AI can't do yet15 h
- Stays with people6 h
Video Game Designers, now: of a 40-hour week, AI could take on 19 hours, 0 hours become checking its work, 15 hours are desk work it can't do yet, and 6 hours stay with people.
The largest pieces: Create and manage documentation, production schedules, prototyping goals, and communication plans in collaboration with production staff (about 3 h); Balance and adjust gameplay experiences to ensure the critical and commercial success of the product (about 3 h); Develop and maintain design level documentation, including mechanics, guidelines, and mission outlines (about 3 h).
Estimates for a typical week of this job, if progress keeps its long-run pace, counting work the best models finish four times in five. Every task is below.
of the working time. Now is projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index.
- 85%
- 15%
- 0%
of the work: Anthropic's measure of what people already bring to Claude at work (2025). It counts help with part of a task, so it can be higher than the share within reach.
On the chosen pace and reliability. Estimate.
Share of the working time within reach, now to 2030
Change assumptionsHide assumptionsLong-run pace, four in five
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
At this date and pace, models finish tasks up to 2.4 work days long four times in five.
How far this has come
With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this job's working time was within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 0%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 7%. Today's estimate: 48%.
A backcast: today's task data with the best model METR had measured by each date. It shows how fast the models have moved, not what anyone forecast at the time.
Measured use over time
Of the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled and tied to a work task, 0.21% went to this job's tasks in May 2026, the 102nd largest of the 447 jobs that showed up at all; 3 of its 24 tasks showed up. Within each of Anthropic's methods, never across a change: 0.59% to 0.53% (released February and March 2025); 0.35% to 0.43% (August 2025 to February 2026); 0.21% to 0.21% (April to May 2026).
Each release
| Conversations | Share | Rank | Tasks seen |
|---|---|---|---|
| Released February 2025 | 0.59% | 30 of 708 | 6 of 24 |
| Released March 2025 | 0.53% | 32 of 703 | 5 of 24 |
| The week of Aug 4, 2025 (released September 2025) | 0.35% | 49 of 655 | 5 of 24 |
| The week of Nov 13, 2025 (released January 2026) | 0.35% | 50 of 672 | 4 of 24 |
| The week of Feb 5, 2026 (released March 2026) | 0.43% | 51 of 677 | 4 of 24 |
| April 2026 (released June 2026) | 0.21% | 97 of 434 | 3 of 24 |
| May 2026 (released June 2026) | 0.21% | 102 of 447 | 3 of 24 |
Measured, not estimated: Anthropic's samples of Claude.ai conversations, each tied by a model to an O*NET task, from the Anthropic Economic Index. It says where Claude's use goes, not how much of this job's working time it covers, so it is not on the same scale as the reach above. The releases differ in their sample, their classifier and the smallest share they report (the June 2026 file rounds each task to a hundredth of a percent, so a smaller task reads as none), which is why a change of method starts a new line. At least 96% of each older release's task-tied use matched this site's tasks, and all of the newest. Claude.ai only, so use through other tools and other companies' models is not in it. Every job ranked.
Robots and the physical work
Anthropic rates almost none of this job's working time as physical work, so robots do not reach it.
Anthropic's rating, not this site's estimate: Claude Opus 5, searching the web, rated each physical O*NET task by the kind of setting in which a robot it could cite (deployed, sold or demonstrated) does most of the task, weighted by its own estimate of each task's share of the time (What work can robots do?, September 30, 2026, data CC BY 4.0; every job ranked). A robot shown somewhere is not a robot in your building: cost, setup and safety decide that. The share within reach on this page still counts no body work. The robot behind each rated task is under the task below.
The tasks
Sorted by . 24 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Balance and adjust gameplay experiences to ensure the critical and commercial success of the product.Done daily by most who do it. | 12% | 6.7 h1.7 h to 2.5 work days | 55%Half by now | |
| Develop and maintain design level documentation, including mechanics, guidelines, and mission outlines.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 12% | 6.7 h1.7 h to 2.5 work days | 55%Half by now | |
| Document all aspects of formal game design, using mock-up screenshots, sample menu layouts, gameplay flowcharts, and other graphical devices.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 12% | 1.3 work days2.5 h to 3.3 work days | 42%Half by Jan 2027 | |
| Create core game features, including storylines, role-play mechanics, and character biographies for a new video game or game franchise.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 12% | 3.3 work days6.7 h to 2 work weeks | 10%Half by Oct 2027 | |
| Create and manage documentation, production schedules, prototyping goals, and communication plans in collaboration with production staff.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 10% | 5 h2.5 h to 2.5 work days | 80%Half by now | |
| Devise missions, challenges, or puzzles to be encountered in game play.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 8% | 5 h1.7 h to 1.7 work days | 80%Half by now | |
| Write or supervise the writing of game text and dialogue.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 7% | 6.7 h1.7 h to 3.3 work days | Stays with people | |
| Determine supplementary virtual features, such as currency, item catalog, menu design, and audio direction.Done more than monthly by most who do it. AI observed on this task. | 3% | 6.7 h1.7 h to 2.5 work days | 55%Half by now | |
| Solicit, obtain, and integrate feedback from design and technical staff into original game design.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 3% | 2.5 h50 min to 6.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Collaborate with artists to achieve appropriate visual style.Done more than monthly by most who do it. AI observed on this task. | 2% | 2.5 h50 min to 1 work day | Stays with people | |
| Oversee gameplay testing to ensure intended gaming experience and game adherence to original vision.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 2% | 6.7 h1.7 h to 2.5 work days | 55%Half by now | |
| Create gameplay prototypes for presentation to creative and technical staff and management.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 2% | 1.7 work days3.3 h to 1 work week | 28%Half by Apr 2027 |
Within reach, per task: the share of the task's time whose instances are short enough for a model to finish at the chosen date, pace and reliability. Half by: the date half of that time comes within reach.
Jobs that share skills with this one
From O*NET's related occupations. Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
Where this job works
The industry groups that employ the most of it (BLS, May 2025). Counts are for the broader BLS group this job sits in.
- Computer Systems Design and Related Services17,950 people
- Software Publishers16,970 people
- Management of Companies and Enterprises6,280 people
- Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services6,140 people
- Media Streaming Distribution Services, Social Networks, and Other Media Networks and Content Providers4,900 people
Where the most of these jobs are
The metro areas with the most people in it (BLS, May 2025). Counts are for the broader BLS group this job sits in.
Questions about this job
- How much of the work of Video Game Designers is within reach of AI now?
- An estimated 48% of the working time is within reach of AI models now and 84% by the end of 2028, on METR's long-run pace at four in five (77% to 85% across the three paces the site shows). Within reach means a model could finish work that long at that reliability. It is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings.
- Which tasks of Video Game Designers come within reach first?
- Weighted by the time each takes, the tasks with the most within reach now (projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index) are: Create and manage documentation, production schedules, prototyping goals, and communication plans in collaboration with production staff (80% of the task's time now, 100% by the end of 2028); Balance and adjust gameplay experiences to ensure the critical and commercial success of the product (55% of the task's time now, 100% by the end of 2028); and Develop and maintain design level documentation, including mechanics, guidelines, and mission outlines (55% of the task's time now, 100% by the end of 2028).
- Which tasks of Video Game Designers stay with people?
- Tasks that are people work or body work are not counted as within reach at any date. The largest: Write or supervise the writing of game text and dialogue; Solicit, obtain, and integrate feedback from design and technical staff into original game design; and Collaborate with artists to achieve appropriate visual style. Together such tasks are about 15% of the working time.
- Do people already use AI for the work of Video Game Designers?
- In the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled for May 2026 and tied to a work task, 0.21% went to this job's tasks, the 102nd largest share of the 447 jobs that showed up; 3 of its 24 tasks appeared. Anthropic's labor market measure puts the share of the job's tasks seen in real Claude use at work at 25%. These are measures of use, not of how much of the work AI could finish, and they cover Claude only.
- Can robots do the physical work of Video Game Designers?
- Anthropic's robot exposure rating (September 2026) finds almost none of the working time is physical work, so robots do not reach it.
- How is this estimated?
- From the 24 tasks O*NET lists for the occupation, each with an estimated length checked against GDPval and a share of the working time, each classed as desk, people or body work, and METR's measurements of how long a task the best AI models can finish, carried forward to the date from the latest, Claude Mythos Preview (early) in April 2026. Data checked November 10, 2026.
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