Games Job Trends in the West Midlands

Gaming
England > West Midlands

The table below looks at the prevalence of the term Games in permanent job vacancies in the West Midlands. Included is a benchmarking guide to the salaries offered in vacancies that cited Games over the 6 months leading up to 16 May 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
16 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 129 123 157
Rank change year-on-year -6 +34 -125
Permanent jobs citing Games 77 44 94
As % of all permanent jobs in the West Midlands 0.91% 1.40% 1.27%
As % of the General category 1.85% 2.26% 2.21%
Number of salaries quoted 19 19 69
10th Percentile £35,750 £32,250 £36,000
25th Percentile £36,875 £32,500 £37,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £45,000 £55,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year -18.18% - +71.88%
75th Percentile £52,500 £71,250 £61,250
90th Percentile £53,750 £72,500 £69,000
England median annual salary £50,000 £55,000 £54,900
% change year-on-year -9.09% +0.18% -12.16%

All General Skills
West Midlands

Games falls under the General Skills category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent job vacancies requiring general skills in the West Midlands.

Permanent vacancies with a requirement for general skills 4,170 1,945 4,260
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the West Midlands 49.29% 61.82% 57.71%
Number of salaries quoted 1,965 1,065 3,017
10th Percentile £29,350 £28,250 £25,500
25th Percentile £37,000 £36,250 £32,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £52,500 £47,500
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% +10.53% -9.52%
75th Percentile £65,000 £65,000 £62,500
90th Percentile £80,000 £77,500 £75,000
England median annual salary £55,000 £57,500 £52,500
% change year-on-year -4.35% +9.52% -12.50%

Games
Job Vacancy Trend in the West Midlands

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings citing Games relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised in the West Midlands.

Games job vacancy trend in the West Midlands

Games
Salary Trend in the West Midlands

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the West Midlands citing Games.

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the West Midlands citing Games

Games
Salary Histogram in the West Midlands

Salary distribution for jobs citing Games in the West Midlands over the 6 months to 16 May 2026.

Salary histogram for Games in the West Midlands

Games
Job Locations in the West Midlands

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Games within the West Midlands region over the 6 months to 16 May 2026. The 'Rank Change' column provides an indication of the change in demand within each location based on the same 6 month period last year.

Location Rank Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Matching
Permanent
IT Job Ads
Median Salary
Past 6 Months
Median Salary
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
Warwickshire - 55 £24,500 - 7
Birmingham -39 5 £50,000 -25.93% 4
Worcestershire -21 3 £52,500 +50.00% 1
Staffordshire -7 2 - -
Coventry -21 2 £40,000 -15.79%
Wolverhampton - 1 £45,000 - 1
Games
England

Games
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the West Midlands by Category

The following tables expand on the one above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. They cover the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each category:

Application Platforms
1 1 (1.30%) Confluence
1 1 (1.30%) SharePoint
Applications
1 5 (6.49%) Adobe After Effects
1 5 (6.49%) Adobe Illustrator
1 5 (6.49%) Photoshop
2 3 (3.90%) Adobe Creative Suite
3 2 (2.60%) Microsoft Project
4 1 (1.30%) Microsoft Excel
4 1 (1.30%) Microsoft Office
4 1 (1.30%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Cloud Services
1 2 (2.60%) Google Analytics
2 1 (1.30%) Amazon S3
2 1 (1.30%) AWS
2 1 (1.30%) AWS Lambda
2 1 (1.30%) AWS Step Functions
2 1 (1.30%) Power Platform
2 1 (1.30%) Serverless
2 1 (1.30%) Snowflake
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (2.60%) Looker
2 1 (1.30%) Power BI
2 1 (1.30%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 2 (2.60%) JIRA
2 1 (1.30%) Git
General
1 9 (11.69%) iGaming
2 4 (5.19%) Finance
2 4 (5.19%) Social Skills
3 3 (3.90%) Law
4 2 (2.60%) Analytical Skills
4 2 (2.60%) Influencing Skills
4 2 (2.60%) Organisational Skills
4 2 (2.60%) Presentation Skills
4 2 (2.60%) Retail
Job Titles
1 40 (51.95%) Programmer
2 37 (48.05%) Senior
3 21 (27.27%) Senior Programmer
4 17 (22.08%) Lead
5 8 (10.39%) Lead Programmer
6 6 (7.79%) Technical Artist
6 6 (7.79%) Technical Leader
7 5 (6.49%) Animator
8 4 (5.19%) Senior Technologist
8 4 (5.19%) Technologist
9 3 (3.90%) Developer
9 3 (3.90%) Graphic Artist
9 3 (3.90%) Lead Developer
10 2 (2.60%) 2D Animator
10 2 (2.60%) Analyst
10 2 (2.60%) Lecturer
10 2 (2.60%) Project Manager
10 2 (2.60%) Senior Animator
10 2 (2.60%) Senior Manager
11 1 (1.30%) Data Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 27 (35.06%) Unity (Game Engine)
2 3 (3.90%) .NET
2 3 (3.90%) .NET Framework
2 3 (3.90%) Avalonia
2 3 (3.90%) OpenCV
2 3 (3.90%) WPF
3 1 (1.30%) Streamlit
Miscellaneous
1 35 (45.45%) Virtual Reality
2 19 (24.68%) Mobile Games
3 7 (9.09%) Animation
4 3 (3.90%) Graphic Design
4 3 (3.90%) Legacy Systems
4 3 (3.90%) Photography
5 2 (2.60%) Product Ownership
6 1 (1.30%) Data Centre
6 1 (1.30%) Online Games
Processes & Methodologies
1 5 (6.49%) User Experience
2 4 (5.19%) Decision-Making
3 3 (3.90%) Agile
3 3 (3.90%) Collaborative Engineering
3 3 (3.90%) Computer Vision
3 3 (3.90%) Continuous Improvement
3 3 (3.90%) Image Processing
3 3 (3.90%) Mathematics
3 3 (3.90%) Project Management
3 3 (3.90%) Stakeholder Management
3 3 (3.90%) Storyboarding
3 3 (3.90%) Video Processing
3 3 (3.90%) Web Development
4 2 (2.60%) Analytics
4 2 (2.60%) Data Analysis
4 2 (2.60%) E-Commerce
4 2 (2.60%) Game Development
4 2 (2.60%) Time Management
4 2 (2.60%) UX Design
4 2 (2.60%) Visual Effects
Programming Languages
1 3 (3.90%) C#
1 3 (3.90%) C++
2 2 (2.60%) Python
2 2 (2.60%) R
3 1 (1.30%) SQL
Qualifications
1 4 (5.19%) RIBA
2 3 (3.90%) Degree
3 1 (1.30%) Numerate Degree
3 1 (1.30%) PMI Certification
3 1 (1.30%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 1 (1.30%) GDPR
1 1 (1.30%) PMO
System Software
1 3 (3.90%) Firmware
Vendors
1 5 (6.49%) Adobe
2 2 (2.60%) Google
2 2 (2.60%) ServiceNow
3 1 (1.30%) Anaplan
3 1 (1.30%) Genesys
3 1 (1.30%) Microsoft
3 1 (1.30%) Verint