New York — Jan. 30

During the past 90 days, more than 3,200 job ads were posted online for video gaming talent, according to Wanted Analytics, a business intelligence firm.

As gaming platforms grow among consumers and companies increase their use of “gamification” strategies, professionals are needed to develop, market and sell video games. Despite a slowing in the last quarter of 2012, the number of gaming job ads grew 30 percent compared to one year ago.

The largest percentage of these jobs was for computer and technical occupations, including software engineers, Web developers and software quality assurance testers. IT related jobs accounted for 46 percent of all hiring for video gaming talent.

Other occupations with high demand for gaming professionals included marketing managers, market research analysts, merchandise displayers and multimedia artists and animators.

The five metropolitan areas with the highest volume of gaming job ads during the past 90 days were Seattle, Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Jose and New York.

Although employers posted the most job ads in the Seattle metro area, the highest year-over-year growth of these locations was in San Francisco. This part of the Silicon Valley experienced a 132 percent increase in demand compared to the same 90-day time period last year, according to Wanted’s data.

Nationwide, these positions are likely to be difficult to recruit. With more than 240 employers currently sourcing for video gaming professionals, there is heavy competition to attract qualified talent.

According to the Hiring Scale, the locations currently experiencing some of the most difficult conditions for recruiting this talent are Huntsville, Ala., and Nashville, Tenn.

Source: Wanted Technologies Corp.