Most game dev experience is fungible. Building a game for mobile has different constraints than building for console, which has different constraints than building for PC, but the fundamentals and principles remain the same. If an applicant already has experience working on and shipping mobile games and content, there shouldn't be any issues transitioning to PC or console development unless the candidate is an engineer developing close to the hardware and the console dev is looking for console-specific experience.

We really don't put a lot of stock in candidates knowing how to use proprietary development tools because we know that big publishers all have different sets of tools. Instead, we look for the ability to learn new sets of tools so that any new hire will be able to learn our set of tools quickly. The easiest way a candidate can show us that they have this skill is by showing us they have already learned to use a lot of different tools - unreal, unity, creation kit, source, blender, milkshape, rpg maker, twine, and so on and so forth.

I'll also point out that there are always external factors that affect the hiring process. Today is different than three years ago, which was very different than pre-COVID. Right now many studios are only hiring very select roles and there's a huge amount of competition for those roles because lots of studios and publishers are having layoffs. Many studios look for different skillsets in their hires even if they use the same title.

If you have experience working in the industry and are still having trouble, consider other factors - perhaps your resume/CV needs optimization. Maybe you need better interviewing skills. Take an honest and critical look at your approach and see if you can find any unforced errors that you can correct. Early in my career I had similar issues - I found it difficult to get callbacks even though I had a few years experience working in the game industry on both PC and console. It was only after I took a hard look at my own resume and interviewing skills that I realized I could do better. If you aren't sure how to do that, you can always ask in our discord for a resume review or suggestions on interview practice.

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