Hey Guys,
Its been ages since I posted here but I had a question.
What do Video games Specific people move for?
I get loads of VFX Art positions but never people wanting to move because of how well they are treated in their current studio.
Are there no places, studios or types of projects you’d like to work on?
Id love to know as I’m trying to write an article about why a VFX artist would want to move and why they stay in places.
Any help would be hugely appreciated
It’s a chicken and egg thing. These days it’s rare to relocate a junior artist. However, the more senior they are the more likely they are to have family and roots in a place.
I just moved back to Stockholm for a job. They offered me the chance to be a part of building a new studio and take on an interesting role.
Basically, the offer has to be interesting and financially enticing enough to completely uproot your family and pretty much wreck your life for about a year. It takes that long to find your feet again. Building up a new social network, and finding work/schools for your family.
The actual relocation has to take care of EVERYTHING. If I have to pay for the trip there while the company pays for the transport of my stuff, that’s still a bad enough sign that I would back out.
When I moved from the UK to Sweden a few years back, the movers came and packed my stuff. I picked up the plane ticket from the mail and flew over to be greeted by a lady who drove me to a temporary apartment. The next day she took me to a few different apartments I could rent. A few days later my stuff arrived in the new flat and I moved in.
So, the role needs to be very interesting, the compensation needs to be a good step up (to be able to support family while they look for work) and the relocation needs to be on point.
Thanks for getting back so quick!
I’ve actually started to see studios pay for the whole relocation for juniors now which I think is crazy!
My job is to try help studios find VFX artists but I’ve always gone for telling them about the project rather than salaries. I have always thought guys would prefer knowing or either having an idea on what they would be working on as i guess i think people are in this industry to make games they love to play! Maybe I am being too naive there as i know people might have families to look after.
I do agree that the studios need to pull out the all the stops out to help you get integrated and be as stress-free as possible as moving countries is a huge thing and very stressful (coming from someone who has moved between 3 different countries regularly
Lack of Video Games VFX Artists is a big issue I think everyone is suffering from 
Cheers Andreas! 
Projects are interesting, but temporary. I’m not moving anywhere for an awesome project that lasts two years. If I’m moving countries, I’m doing it for the long term and then it’s more relevant what the culture of the studio is and what my career opportunities would be.
I’m a kid at the industry, i’m actually at my first job and I’m happy with my partners and other stuff. I’m really young and I’m not married, I dont have kids or my own home (I rent a room).
I think I will move for some cool conditions and an awesome project, I moved three times in my life (i’m near 20 years old), to life, to study and to work from one side to the other of the country). I think it depends of the person, the situation…
I like adventures and in the next years i’ll love to move to work in another country, i want to have new experiences at the industry but i’m sure that someday i want to stop and stay in a position.
It just my opinion about my situation but I hope it helps ^^
I’ll keep it all in mind then. Hopefully, with this I can get studio recruiters to realise what they need to be able to attract these people.
On a side note, you should get on our Search for a Star competition that recent/current VFX grads get into! it would be great to get your input and help us out with it!
As someone not married and has no kids, locations of studio and salary/compensation are my biggest factors. I wouldn’t consider moving for a project I wouldn’t really want to work on, so that’s a given. But if there were a game or new project I did want to work on, the state, city, and location of the studio would be the biggest determining factor for me. A big plus for me would be the studio encouraging and offering resources for me to improve as an artist, and a collaborative and constructive work environment.
If the state and city are more expensive than where I’m at now, I’m going to expect a bump in current pay to compensate so that I at least maintain my currently quality of life. If the studio is in a big city, again, I’d need an additional bump in pay to compensate for either A) living close to the studio, or B) sitting in traffic for 3-5 hours a day hating my life, regardless of how awesome work is. I could get something as crazy as a promotion to Art Director, but if I have to sit in traffic for 2 hours on my way home, I’m still going to end up stressed and mad at the end of the day.
If it meets all of those, I’ll pack up and move as soon as the new job needs me to (within reason).
Totally agree with you ^^
Hi Sol,
From my perspective, what Andreas said above rings 100% true. About working on interesting projects vs. salaries, I feel that as I get more experienced I’m less likely to get excited about the projects and IPs I’m working on and more invested in the people I’ll be working with and the quality of life for me and my family. Of course it’s great to work on amazing stuff, but we see cases of studios who make that amazing stuff having a lot of employee churn, big layoffs and crunch wrecking relationships, and personally it’s not something I’m willing to do. But cool, healthy workplaces in fun cities? Hell yea!