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Video Game Designers vs Art Directors

Side-by-side · O*NET · BLS · AI-exposure research · Anthropic Economic Index

A factual, source-backed comparison of Video Game Designers and Art Directors on the dimensions both occupations carry. Every figure is a position within an independent published dataset — not a verdict on which job is better, safer, or more “future-proof.”

Video Game Designers Art Directors
Median pay · BLS OEWS
$98,090
$111,040
Employment · BLS OEWS
111,400
50,370
AI exposure (percentile) · task overlap, not automation
86th pct
78th pct

At a glance

Dimension Video Game Designers Art Directors
Median pay $98,090 $111,040
Employment 111,400 50,370
Employment outlook (2024–34) · BLS projection Growing fast (+7.0%) About average (+4.2%)
Annual openings · BLS projection 9,100 12,300
Typical education · O*NET Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not. Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.
AI exposure · published exposure studies High · 86th pct High · 78th pct
Global GenAI gradient · ILO ISCO-08 · via crosswalk — 68th pct · 37% of tasks
Observed AI use · Anthropic Economic Index — Augmentation-leaning (54.1%)
Mostly remote-capable · Dingel–Neiman — Yes

Pay and employment are BLS OEWS estimates; outlook and openings are BLS 2024–2034 projections; AI exposure and observed-use figures come from separate research and reflect exposure and usage, not predictions that either job will disappear. Compare like with like.

Skills

Shared: Design, Computers and Electronics, Fluency of Ideas, Written Comprehension, Originality, Near Vision, Active Listening, Oral Comprehension, Written Expression, Information Ordering, Reading Comprehension, Critical Thinking, Oral Expression, Problem Sensitivity, Deductive Reasoning, Inductive Reasoning, Complex Problem Solving, Judgment and Decision Making, Active Learning, Communications and Media, Time Management, Writing, English Language, Visualization, Speech Recognition, Speaking, Monitoring, Coordination, Speech Clarity, Social Perceptiveness, Persuasion, Operations Analysis.

Specific to Video Game Designers

  • Programming
  • Systems Analysis
  • Selective Attention
  • Mathematics
  • Psychology
  • Systems Evaluation
  • Negotiation
  • Technology Design

Specific to Art Directors

  • Fine Arts
  • Visual Color Discrimination
  • Sales and Marketing
  • Category Flexibility
  • Customer and Personal Service
  • Instructing
  • Far Vision
  • Learning Strategies

Knowledge, skills & abilities O*NET rates as important for each occupation. “Shared” are common to both; the columns list what is distinctive to each (top by the order O*NET surfaces).

Tools & technology

Shared: Graphics or photo imaging software , Object or component oriented development software , Video creation and editing software , Project management software , Development environment software , Web platform development software , Operating system software , Spreadsheet software , Office suite software , Electronic mail software , Presentation software , Word processing software .

Specific to Video Game Designers

Specific to Art Directors

Full profiles

This page is a summary. See the complete source-backed profile for Video Game Designers or Art Directors — tasks, the full skill graph, tools, work context, preparation, wages by percentile, industries, AI exposure and the AI work map.

More comparisons

Related occupations you can place side by side on the same sourced scale.

Sources for this page

Every figure above traces to a named public dataset and the exact release below — not hand-written opinion. See the full methodology for what each measure does and does not mean.

Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.

Cite this page
Plain

Singulariki. "Video Game Designers vs Art Directors." Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Built from O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans; ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025; IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022; Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026. https://singulariki.com/compare/video-game-designers-vs-art-directors

APA

Singulariki. (2026). Video Game Designers vs Art Directors. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/compare/video-game-designers-vs-art-directors

BibTeX 
@misc{singulariki-video-game-designers-vs-art-directors,
  title  = {Video Game Designers vs Art Directors},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans; ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025; IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022; Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/compare/video-game-designers-vs-art-directors}
}

Citations name the underlying public dataset releases — they reflect what this page is built from, not just the URL.