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Video Game Designers vs Special Effects Artists and Animators

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

A factual, source-backed comparison of Video Game Designers and Special Effects Artists and Animators 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 Special Effects Artists and Animators
Median pay · BLS OEWS
$98,090
$99,800
Employment · BLS OEWS
111,400
21,280
AI exposure (percentile) · task overlap, not automation
86th pct
43rd pct

At a glance

Dimension Video Game Designers Special Effects Artists and Animators
Median pay $98,090 $99,800
Employment 111,400 21,280
Employment outlook (2024–34) · BLS projection Growing fast (+7.0%) About average (+1.6%)
Annual openings · BLS projection 9,100 5,000
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 Moderate · 43rd pct
Global GenAI gradient · ILO ISCO-08 · via crosswalk — 88th pct · 49% of tasks
Observed AI use · Anthropic Economic Index — Augmentation-leaning (52.1%)
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, Selective Attention, Writing, English Language, Visualization, Speech Recognition, Speaking, Monitoring, Speech Clarity.

Specific to Video Game Designers

  • Programming
  • Systems Analysis
  • Mathematics
  • Psychology
  • Systems Evaluation
  • Coordination
  • Social Perceptiveness
  • Persuasion

Specific to Special Effects Artists and Animators

  • Customer and Personal Service
  • Sales and Marketing
  • Visual Color Discrimination
  • Telecommunications
  • Engineering and Technology
  • Production and Processing
  • Geography
  • Category Flexibility

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 , Development environment software , Enterprise application integration software , Web platform development software , Operating system software , Spreadsheet software , Office suite software , Presentation software , Process mapping and design software , Word processing software .

Specific to Video Game Designers

Specific to Special Effects Artists and Animators

Full profiles

This page is a summary. See the complete source-backed profile for Video Game Designers or Special Effects Artists and Animators — 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 Special Effects Artists and Animators." 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-special-effects-artists-and-animators

APA

Singulariki. (2026). Video Game Designers vs Special Effects Artists and Animators. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/compare/video-game-designers-vs-special-effects-artists-and-animators

BibTeX 
@misc{singulariki-video-game-designers-vs-special-effects-artists-and-animators,
  title  = {Video Game Designers vs Special Effects Artists and Animators},
  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-special-effects-artists-and-animators}
}

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