China has continued to top the list as the biggest games market in 2022, with revenue over US$50.18 billion. There are 742.19 million active players in China, around 3.8 times than that in United States, the second largest market. With the ability to produce games in Chinese language, Hong Kong doesn’t seem to have tapped into the thriving market with only 100 game development companies in Hong Kong and few of them are more than 50 people in size.

Compared to other IP driven industries, game industry is very labour-intensive, namely, the crunch culture, and substantial amount of teamwork. The soaring rent level may have limited its development in the past. In recent years, however, we started to see game industry booming in Hong Kong. According to Statista, revenue in the Video Games segment is projected to reach US$120.49m in Hong Kong and an annual growth rate of 8.79% is expected from 2022-2027. Why is that?

China’s ban on cryptocurrency in late September 2021 has caused a migration of NFT enthusiasts to Hong Kong. Auction houses reported seeing a strong bidding interest from Asia, particularly Hong Kong, after the ban. The increasing interest in NFT spilled over when Hong Kong collectors of Degenerate Ape Academy, an NFT project, had a 90-second ad ran on a huge curved-screen outside of Lan Kwai Fong, and another project Delirious Mind Travellers took out half of the 200-metre passageway of the Central MTR station in early 2022. Hong Kong is dubbed ‘the next NFT hub’. Animoca brands, a Hong Kong-based game software company and venture capital company, has recently raised a further $75million at a valuation of $5.9 billion.

With the metaverse bringing huge potential and commercial interests to the games industry, the NFT hype in Hong Kong is undoubtedly unleashing fresh demands for games professionals.

According to a veteran game producer, however, there has always been a shortage of game artists in Hong Kong. Game companies have to look for freelancers from Taiwan, southeast Asia, and the mainland China. Currently, companies favour artists from Taiwan because of the quality of the artworks and affordable price. Good artists from the mainland China are less affordable as the huge demand in the mainland has also driven up the price. Nevertheless, outsourcing involves certain development risks. Local game artists, once available, are meant to be snatched up as soon.

How to become a game artist?

Top Tips:

• Submit your Art Portfolio via online platforms such as Art Station, Pixiv, Deviantart, and Behance for your potential employers to browse;
• Employers are fond of game artists with entrepreneurial spirits – establishing your brands on social media platforms and selling your NFT collection on Openseas, Foundation, Rarible, Solandart will be a big plus;
• Most of the employers look for art style that matches their products, so diversifying your style will increase employability.

Software to know:

• Photoshop, Procreate, Clip Studio Paint for producing 2D game arts;
• 3Ds Max, Maya, Vray, zBrush, Blender, Unity 3D, Substance Designer, Substance Painter, Cinema4D for 3D modelling, rigging, texturing and rending to produce motion graphic and animation;
• VoxEdit, MagicaVoxel, Gamemaker for Metaverse Game.

Education requirements:

• Preferably with drawing and game design-related diploma but it is not a must;
• Design-related discipline will also be considered.

Career progression, salary range (estimate monthly salary in brackets), and bonus:

• Junior Game Artist (HK$12-15K); Game Artist (HK$16-23K); Senior Game Artist(HK$24-30K); Art Lead/ Project Lead (HK$31-40K); Art Director/ Creative Director (HK$40-70K)
• Large scale metaverse game companies such as Animoca Brands will issue Game Token as year-end bonus which is equivalent to 1-3 months of salary.