Professional video game testing is obviously a lot better than most other jobs out there. However, being a paid video game tester, like any other job, does have it's downsides. Admittedly, these downsides are few and far between, but they do exist and each & every tester has to put up with them.
How Much You'll Make as a Video Game Tester
There is no set amount that you'll begin making when you start testing video games for money. Different companies pay different wages, so it's hard to give an exact figure on what a beta tester can or will be paid. In light of that fact, don't wholeheartedly believe ads that say game testers get paid up to $120 per hour. Although it's not technically a lie, it's not really truth either -- Beta game testers are paid well, just not that well.
At a rate of $120 per hour, a tester would make $600 per day just working a minuscule 5 hours. Honestly, you'd be hard pressed to find a professional game tester that gets paid half that sum for a days worth of work.
Ball-Park Figures: The yearly salary of a video game tester can range from a low $18,000 to a staggering $80,000 or more. The monthly salary can range from $1500 to a high $6000. The weekly salary can be anywhere from $250 to a whopping $2000.
What you're paid as a professional game tester relates directly with the developer you're working for as well as the amount of work you can take on.
What You'll Do As A Paid Game Tester
Unfortunately, you won't just be playing video games all day long. In truth, playing video games and testing video games are two COMPLETELY different things. Although you'll still likely have fun doing the job, it won't be quite as much fun as you originally thought. Why? Because there is actual worked involved with the testing process.
Rather than just being paid to judge the "fun factor" of a video game, testers are paid to find what programmers can't -- bugs and glitches. Game programmers can easily identify the larger bugs & glitches, but when it comes to the smaller, less noticeable ones, developers rely on testers to get the job done. In light of that fact, as a video game tester it is YOUR JOB to play a video game as many times as it takes in order to locate and document all known bugs and game breaking glitches -- locate AND document!
