Game Business & Publishing Major
Gaming is global, and its future requires business leaders who understand the industry. Champlain College is a hub for gaming - study Game Business & Publishing and learn alongside your future peers.
Prepare for success in a multibillion-dollar global industry.
Develop into a business leader who understands the global potential of gaming. Focus your study in business development, communications, analytics, and more. And study abroad with help from the Freeman Foundation Grant.
Collaborate with interdisciplinary majors in our Game Studio Experience, while developing all the skills you need in strategy, research, and leadership. You’ll learn all the foundations of great business practices with a focus on the specific opportunities, markets, and challenges of the game industry. By graduation, you’ll be ready to bring any game, feature, or strategy to market.
If you love video games and want to focus on promotion and marketing within the growing game industry, Game Business and Publishing is the major for you.
What Is Game Business & Publishing?
The game industry has grown from neighborhood arcades into a global industry worth over $100 billion. With all of that growth and monetary opportunity, studios need competent, business-minded professionals who know how to successfully market a game release, connect with the target audience, and use their research to employ successful business tactics during game production and publishing. Employees in this field ensure that all of the work game developers put into a game is seen by a large audience, and ultimately makes enough money to succeed and fuel growth.
Why Study it at Champlain?
You’ll get the full picture of the game market and process through Champlain College’s Game Studio Experience, where students in each game major collaborate in a complete ecosystem that simulates the industry. Your experience here sets you up to transition seamlessly into your career.
In our Upside-Down Curriculum, you’ll start taking classes in your major on day one – classes taught by industry experts with years of experience in the game industry. That means four years of practical courses and learning through firsthand experience. You’ll graduate with a background to rival many candidates who are already working in the field.
The game industry is massive and complex, which means there are plenty of different career options and opportunities just within the business side of game production. Our program includes three concentrations to narrow your field of study and help you to close in on your chosen career path. They are:
- Business Strategy: This concentration focuses on strategic thinking and proficiency in business fundamentals. Flex your creative management muscles and explore fields such as domestic and global business strategy, business finance, and game marketing.
- Content & Community: By pursuing this concentration, you’ll harness knowledge from communication, broadcasting, public relations, and marketing courses to establish a solid skill-set in messaging and content promotion.
- Research & Analytics: While pursuing this concentration, you will dive into the world of user research testing and how it is used to not only improve individual games themselves, but also advance the company as a whole.
Different by Design
Start Here
Champlain College is a hub for the entire gaming industry, with multiple majors and programs focused around gaming and game development. Champlain Club eSports is Champlain’s biggest student-led group. And Princeton Review ranks Champlain among the nation’s top schools for game design.
Game-focused Business Classes
Instead of applying broad business experience to a specific industry after you graduate, this program allows you to develop your business acumen within the context of game markets and production cycles.
Professional Framework
We follow the International Game Developers Association framework and are the most experienced, four-year, interdisciplinary game program in the country, following a cutting edge, digital business model.
The Game Studio Experience
The Game Studio style of learning ensures that students know how to work well in teams just like the ones in professional studios. This cooperative experience sets Champlain graduates above others when competing for jobs.
Facts & Stats
The amount of money the gaming industry makes per year in revenue—more than the NFL, NBA, MLB, and the NHL, combined according to an article in TechJury.
The number of students in the Game Business & Publishing major who will complete an advanced internship as part of their required curriculum.
The year our first Game Business & Publishing students will graduate and join the workforce.
What Sets Us Apart
The Game Studio Experience
The unique Game Studio Experience at Champlain College gives you start-to-finish game-building experience in a professional environment. You’ll collaborate with your peers in each of our game majors to create playable games in a studio that parallels the processes of the industry.
Annual Game Studio Senior Show
You will have the opportunity to present the game you create with your Game Studio team—as well as your own demo reel—to recruiters from all over the United States and Canada. Recruiters often come to the Senior Show to scout new talent, from companies like: Insomniac, Activision, Ubisoft and more!
Game Developers Conference
Champlain College sends a cohort to the world’s largest game developers conference each year in San Francisco for professional development and networking. The Career Coach facilitates exclusive networking meetings for Champlain students with top recruiters from some of the largest game developers.
Game Business & Publishing Student Work
Sample Courses in the Game Business & Publishing Major
Game Publishers are grounded with extensive knowledge in game development, marketing, and analytics. Motivated to investigate, critique, and promote games on their way to the public, Game Publishers are the business people of our Game Studio. Below, see how the Upside-Down Curriculum puts you in your major, right away.
Concentrations
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Business Strategy Concentration
Dive into the business side of game development with the Game Business & Publishing major. Prepare for your specific chosen career with our concentrations.
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Content & Community Concentration
Dive into the business side of game development with the Game Business & Publishing major. Prepare for your specific chosen career with our concentrations.
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Research & Analytics Concentration
Learn how to conduct research and analyze the game market. Use this data to ensure the most successful possible release for your game based on the information you collect.
You might also be interested in these…
Based on your interest in the Game Business & Publishing major, we thought you also might like to check out these other academic programs and opportunities.
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Majors
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Business Administration Major
So you mean business? Good, so do we. Start gaining real business experience at great Vermont entrepreneurial companies like Burton Snowboards as early as your first year.
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Game Production Management Major
This one-of-a-kind program prepares you to guide the teams creating tomorrow’s games. Immerse yourself in collaborative, hands-on projects in the Game Production Management major at Champlain College.
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Marketing Communication Major
Businesses run on stories and data. Tune in to emerging marketing strategies and graduate ready for your career, with impressive industry-standard certifications.
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Creative Media Major
Develop your self-expression in our Creative Media major, and learn the business side of interdisciplinary production, digital creation, and entrepreneurship.
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Minors
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Entrepreneurship Minor
Learn how to turn ideas into profitable businesses or non-profit with an Entrepreneurship minor.
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Areas of Study
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Game Design & Development
Turn concepts into digital reality. Explore our seven gaming majors to determine which path matches your interests.
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Business & Data Analytics
Drive change at the intersection of information and impact with one of these majors.
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Individualized Studies & Undeclared
Learn what you love, and love what you learn with one of these professional pathways.
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Game Business & Publishing Admissions Requirements
For this major, we are looking for students with a head for business and an entrepreneurial mindset. Champlain’s Game Business & Publishing degree program is perfect for students who love being immersed in games and enjoy working with people. You’ll collaborate with peers, intern with innovative companies, and gain valuable expertise in best practices for business.
We look for strong writing and communication skills and a balanced academic background from applicants. There is no portfolio requirement for this major.
Suggested Areas of Study
Academic preparation includes successful completion of a college preparatory curriculum, including:
- 4 years of reading/writing English
- 3 years of History/Social Sciences
- 3 years of Mathematics (at least through Algebra II. Many students take Pre-Calculus, Calculus, or AP Calculus as juniors or seniors)
- 3 years of Natural Sciences, including two courses with lab components
- 2 years of a foreign language
- A full course load of challenging academic subjects senior year
Applying
If one of the elements of your academic profile is not as strong as your overall application we recommend a Personal Interview to demonstrate the personal qualities we look for in admitted students. We are seeking individuals who are highly motivated to achieve their professional and personal goals.
You can apply to Champlain College using the Common Application or the Champlain College Application. Both are free. Regardless of which you choose, all applications are considered equally.
Sign Up To Get a Poster + Helpful Info
We’ll send you info about our game majors plus a poster designed by our students when you fill out this form!
Career Success
The first graduating class for the Game Business & Publishing major will be 2026 with 100% of students completing an advanced internship as part of their required curriculum.
Your Career Outlook
By the time you graduate, you will…
- Effectively communicate in all forms and effectively convey ideas, information, and intentions in a manner that is appropriate to the topic, situation, and audience.
- Evaluate the intersections, influences, and social contexts of both game communities and the larger world.
- Identify, formulate, and communicate skillful inquiry—critically and thoroughly examine your own assumptions and those of others.
- Separate complex issues into component parts and synthesize a range of ideas, disciplines, and experiences.
- Understand the natural, physical, social, cultural, economic, or political systems and contexts surrounding entertainment globally in order to make informed, responsible, and sustainable decisions.
You’ll Find a Career In…
- Esports Brand Manager
- User Experience Analyst
- Branded Content Coordinator
- Partnership Coordinator
- UX Researcher
- Quality Assurance Testing
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Pre-College Summer Program: Champlain Game AcademyThe Champlain Game Academy offers an intensive residential pre-college program for high school students entering grades 10-12 and recent high school graduates. Like the Game Studio, our program emphasizes teamwork and creative collaboration across all the game development disciplines. In order to understand how a professional game development team works, students will be introduced to all aspects of game development.
Learn More on the Pre-College Summer Program Website
Latest News from The View
More Inside Game Business & Publishing Major
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Overview
Gaming is global, and its future requires business leaders who understand the industry. Champlain College is a hub for gaming - study Game Business & Publishing and learn alongside your future peers.
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Curriculum
Your career in Game Business & Publishing starts on day one with Champlain’s Upside-Down Curriculum. Discover the difference and jumpstart your career.
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Faculty
Learn the business side of game development from industry experts with years of experience through the Game Business & Publishing major.