What gaming companies hire for

Industry Vertical 31, Gaming, in Domain VIII, Gaming, streaming and media.

The short answer

The companies in Gaming build games and the software around them. They make console, PC and mobile games, the tools and devices around the gamer, the games and systems of the casino floor and the lottery counter, betting on sport and skill, and the apps for going out. Hiring here is modest. The global game publisher Electronic Arts in Hyderabad and the casino-game maker Light & Wonder in Bengaluru, Pune and Chennai carry much of it, with mobile game studios, like Zynga, Scopely and PlaySimple Games, behind them. Games companies mostly hire under a plain software engineer or game developer title, so game developers are by far the largest group, and engine skills such as Unity and Unreal are found almost nowhere else in the product industry. Cloud, data and GenAI engineers are rare. This is one of the most open Industry Verticals for juniors, and hiring barely slowed in July to September 2026.

Who gets hired, and why

Game Developer

Java backend and full-stack

Test

Also present

Game Developer. Most engineers here are hired under a plain software engineer or game developer title. Part of them build the games themselves, in Unity above all and some in Unreal Engine, for phones, consoles and casino machines, mostly at Light & Wonder and the mobile game studios. The rest build the services, tools and websites around the games in JavaScript, Java and Python on AWS, at Electronic Arts, the social-games company Zynga, the skill-gaming platform Skillz and Light & Wonder, where games are the setting rather than the skill. Together, game developers are by far the largest group here, and they take juniors readily.

Java backend and full-stack engineers. Player accounts, game servers, wallets and lottery systems run on backend services. Java engineers build them, mostly at Light & Wonder and Electronic Arts, in the Spring stack with PostgreSQL, MySQL, Docker and Kubernetes. Java holds about its usual place.

Test engineers. Every game and casino release is played through before it ships, and regulated casino games are tested against strict rules. Test engineers do this, mostly at Light & Wonder, and an unusual share of the postings are for manual testing alongside automation in Java and Python. Testing takes juniors more readily than any other large role here.

Also present. A small group of fintech software engineers working on in-game payments at the mobile game studios, cloud and data engineers, both far below their usual weight, a few GenAI engineers at Electronic Arts, also far below their usual weight, mobile engineers, Node engineers at the lottery-technology company IGT, Go engineers at Electronic Arts, platform developers at the betting company Entain, .NET engineers at the lottery and casino-systems makers, like Scientific Games and American Gaming Systems, and firmware and C/C++ engineers for gaming devices and casino machines.

Rare here. SAP barely appears.

The skills that set Gaming apart

Game engines

Unity above all, and Unreal Engine, in the game developer postings.

Games on the phone

iOS and Android SDKs alongside Unity.

The Spring stack behind the game

Spring Boot, Spring Security and Spring Batch, in the Java postings.

Testing by playing

Manual testing beside Selenium and Appium, in the test postings.

What is changing

These readings follow the record quarter by quarter, from October to December 2025, the third quarter of the financial year 2025-26, to July to September 2026, the second quarter of 2026-27. Hiring here is modest, so a longer record will show whether they last.

Hiring barely slowed

Openings rose in early 2026 and held almost level through July to September 2026, when openings across product companies fell sharply, so this Industry Vertical's share of hiring grew.

AI is far behind and not catching up

AI work was a much smaller share of hiring here than across product companies in every quarter, and the gap widened through 2026.

The mix held steady

Game developers stayed the largest group throughout, and testing picked up again between July and September 2026.

Persistently open roles

Fewer jobs here are persistently open than across product companies.

Java roles stay open a little longer than usual, and the skills that turn up most often in the jobs that stay open are the Spring stack, Terraform and Azure DevOps.

Test and AI jobs fill quickly.

Electronic Arts and Zynga are regularly hiring, keeping many of their jobs open again and again. Scientific Games and Entain never post a job twice.

How long they stay open. When a job is posted again, its first and last postings are typically about three weeks apart, and rarely more than about seven weeks.

Where in the Industry Vertical the work is

Market Segment 31.3

Casino gaming and lottery technology hires the most. The casino floor, through Light & Wonder and other casino-systems makers, like American Gaming Systems and Walker Digital Table Systems, hires game developers, Java and test engineers, and The lottery counter hires Java, C/C++ and .NET engineers. This is the most open corner for juniors.

Market Segment 31.1

Game development studios is close behind, almost all in The global studios, through Electronic Arts in Hyderabad and the mobile and social game studios in Bengaluru, hiring game developers, many of them in Unity, and Java and cloud engineers. India's own studios hire little.

Market Segment 31.4

Sports betting and real-money gaming hires game developers, Java, platform, test and mobile engineers at Skillz, Entain in Hyderabad and the poker company Baazi Games.

Market Segments 31.2 and 31.5 hire very little. Game payments and player services hires a few firmware and Node engineers, and Event ticketing and sports booking apps a few mobile engineers.

Some companies listed here have their main home elsewhere. They are Stats Perform and PFF (Market Segment 8.3, in Industry Vertical 8, Analytics and data providers) and Momentus Technologies (Market Segment 15.6, in Industry Vertical 15, Customer service and CX). Their hiring is described where they live, not here.

Bengaluru leads, through Light & Wonder, Scientific Games and the mobile and social game studios. Hyderabad is a strong second, almost entirely through Electronic Arts, with Entain. Pune and Chennai appear through Light & Wonder and IGT.

The door

This is one of the most open Industry Verticals in the product industry. Junior hiring is far above the average for product companies, and senior and staff hiring are well below it.

Game developers take the most juniors, followed by test and Java. Test and Go take them most readily in proportion.

Light & Wonder and Electronic Arts take the most juniors, and the casino floor and lottery counter is the most open Market Segment.

Cloud and fintech roles are hired mostly with experience.

In one line

If you want to build games, or you are early in your career and can work in Unity, Java or testing, Gaming is one of the most open doors in the product industry, centred on Hyderabad and Bengaluru, and it held steady through 2026.

Terms used on this page

Unity and Unreal Engine

are the two most widely used game engines, the software in which most games are built.

Skill gaming

is play for money in games that depend mainly on skill, such as rummy or fantasy sports, as distinct from games of chance.

Back to the story

This page reads the openings. The story of the companies is on Gaming.