The Top Two Recruitment Trends in Games for 2026

The Top Two Recruitment Trends in Games for 2026

Almost three months in to 2026 recruitment activity in starting to show a couple of major trends. One is almost a roll back in time while the other signposts a significant change in the way people will hire and games, and likely bring the industry in line with the rest of the Tech industry

• On Site

The push for some of the largest Game Studios to tear up the post covid work structure for a pre covid one has been well documented. Although many studios that have on site working operate on a hybrid structure it’s increasingly common to see roles promoted as 5 days a week on site. Over the last 3 years we’ve seen our open roles reverse from an 80.20 split in favour of remote working to 80.20 split in favour of onsite. The research I’ve seen on this seems to agree that full remote working tends to be fantastic for task based roles and general employee quality of life (with the caveat that in some cases it can feed isolation and loneliness). The research also shows it’s not great for employers in terms of internal team and brand engagement and loyalty. In a nutshell remote mostly favours the employee over the employer in terms of best interests. I’m not here to debate remote working but just to reflect that those able to work onsite have increased choice in respect to the opportunities available. The good news is that clients are generally still paying relocation to make big moves as painless as possible but when it comes to looking at opportunities mobility equals employability.

• Contract/Freelance

Games has been an outlier for some years in the broader context of technology in that it’s been a predominantly permanent first industry. In the wider Tech world employees at the peak of the career frequently move in to contracting where they pick up gigs on average for 6 months and then extend from there. Due to the perceived risk (what if you don’t get 12 months work) these individuals get paid very well – usually better than their perm counterparts. The whole way the game industry works lends itself to contracting and we’re starting to see a trend towards contract (Currently 10% of our roles are contract compared to 5% this time last year) and we’re seeing a broader spread of clients asking the question. Interestingly the candidate market isn’t as ready as perhaps expected to embrace contract – many still can’t see past the risk, understandably so , and this will likely be evident until the amount of contracts available give people the confidence to move seamlessly from one gig to another. To be clear I’m talking Day Rate Contracting – the growth of which will mostly sign the death knell for the Fixed Term Contract which will be more and more viewed as a lesser option to day rate contracts by candidates

Overall if you’re leaning in towards contact AND on site working you’ll be tracking both trends and the future looks pretty attractive.

Richard Fisher is CEO of Skillsearch, the leading Global Games, XR and Immersive Technology Recruiter