Hi everyone!
I’m currently a fourth-year student in a japanese university, aiming to be a game planner/designer (specialized in Unreal Engine) and will soon graduate next year with a bachelor’s degree. I’m currently job-hunting and preparing my game dev portfolio.
So just as the the title say, I would appreciate any advice going into the game industry as a new grad as I’m actually getting more anxious as my graduation getting closer haha. If anyone could also recommend me any english/foreign-friendly game companies too, that would also be much appreciated. I have JLPT N2 but I feel like I’m not quite ready to enter the work environment in japanese companies as I do hear quite some things from people around me. But I would still go and apply for them. Some of the game companies required JLPT N1 and I failed twice on that exam(the last one, I failed by 2 points, super close) Also, does anyone have any advice for making a good game dev portfolio?
Thank you for reading the long post!
4 comments
If you’re graduating on March 2024 then it’s a bit late to be searching for fresh graduate job now, very difficult though not impossible. Fresh graduate position would already be filled during student’s third year to beginning of fourth.
Try to look at your univ’s career center and see if they have recruitment info still available. Applying through rikunavi or mynavi would be hit&miss by now.
Most “foreigner friendly” companies don’t hire 新卒 because they’re small, so it’s always recommended to apply to Japanese game companies. That being said CyberConnect2 is very foreigner friendly (you don’t even need to speak Japanese to work there, they have translators on site) and IIRC Square Enix also doesn’t require that high Japanese ability (maybe N3).
Honestly if you studied in a Japanese university all in Japanese theres no reason you shouldn’t be able to enter a Japanese company
Good job you’ve been studying Unreal and not Unity seems they’ve made an unmitigated disaster with their recent business model change.
Game dev here. Mostly on the art side, but I did direction as well, so I know about that end as well.
So, as a game planner/designer, you are right to be concerned about your language abilities. Most places SAY they want N1 or N2, but if you are roughly around that level and can prove it in an interview, you can typically get by without actually passing (I never got N2 but currently work at a AAA studio).
The industry is surprisingly foreigner friendly, so I wouldn’t worry about that too much. As far as English friendly companies go, Soliel and Kojima Productions are the only two that come to mind. Everywhere else I can think of does everything in Japanese, so you need the base level of communication skills.
It seems rather late in your college journey to be applying for new grad stuff, so definitely get a move on. I would talk to your university’s careers department asap. As far as a portfolio goes, your professors will be your best bet there. We aren’t expecting new grads to be pros yet; we are looking for potential(at least that’s how it’s always been in my experience).
Best of luck!