Game Design, Development, and Arts Degrees

Make. Study. Publish. Play.

In RIT Games, cultures, skills, and communities converge. We leverage the past and present while focusing on the future.

Here, you'll go from game-player, to game-maker, to game-changer. Our approach adapts the needs and environment of the industry and society. You'll get a chance to collaborate while learning to lead.

Regardless of discipline and interest, you'll connect to other students in a playful, innovative, outcome-oriented experience.

RIT Games. It's your move graphic

Get Started with RIT Games

There are a million ways to get involved with RIT Games, and many of those pathways interweave, overlap, and compliment each other.

Let’s break it down.

Make

Study

Publish

Play

Woman drawing on a tablet seated at a computer

Make

Making is at the heart of RIT, and whether it's a cutting-edge game using the latest technology or making a difference in players' lives, you'll find the resources you need to realize your vision.

Students experimenting with a VR headset

Build the player experience

Engage players with dynamic interactive assets learned from courses such as 2D animation and Asset Production.

Create the story that drives the game

Craft a quest, a mission, or a narrative with writing-based courses like Game-Based Fiction Workshop, World Building Workshop.

MAGIC Maker Program

Global Game Jam

Study

Hone in on an area (or areas) of interest that gets you excited. Is it game arts? Coding for games? Sound design? Narrative?
Then, explore the theory and skills that will form the foundation of your game-changing professional life.

Undergraduate

All RIT Undergraduate Degree Programs

Immersions and Minors

Graduate Degrees

Research

Active research drives innovation and leads to the future of games.

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Students conversing in front of a large TV

Publish

Great games deserve to be shared. Here, you'll have access to world-class facilities, faculty expertise, and student collaboration to launch your games.

RIT’S MAGIC Center is a nonprofit university-wide research and development laboratory and a for-profit production studio that helps bring digital media creations up to marketplace standards and commercialization. RIT’S MAGIC Spell Studios focuses on nurturing and growing new companies and publishing and distributing their projects.

At MAGIC Center, you’ll have access to world-class facilities to develop your ideas and release the results to the world!

Play

Our passion for making and playing games glues our community together. We collaborate and challenge each other here at RIT (and other schools) to achieve our best.

Esports at RIT offers an unmatched experience in the form of intramural and formal competitions. Not only that, but students run the whole show. We are one of the only collegiate esports clubs in the country to operate modeling not only professional team management, staffed by students, but also in recreating broadcasting, community, development, and production departments within our program.

There is something for everyone!

Games

Students currently compete in 19 games, including: Counter-Strike: GO, Dota 2, Hearthstone, Heroes of the Storm, League of Legends, Overwatch, PUBG, Rocket League, Rainbow Six: Siege, Super Smash Bros. Melee/Ultimate, Smite, StarCraft II, and new teams playing Call of Duty, Fortnite and Pokémon.

Clubs and Academic Student Success Initiatives

Facilities

We have multiple practice facilities and venues for gaming, both on and off campus. Student esport athletes even have an option for dedicated housing that includes games facilities.

250

Esports Players

^$80K

in Prize money and scholarships won by students

7

National Championships

RIT’s Esports Team are national champions in Hearthstone, Dota2, Dropzone, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, CS:GO, and Counter-Strike 2

A Creative and Collaborative Community

We welcome everyone into RIT Games. The more voices and ideas we represent, the more we all flourish, contribute, and make awesome things. In our community, everyone can grow and is encouraged to realize their potential.

However you identify, and whatever background you bring with you, you'll discover an openhearted place here. We focus on building a better future for games, gamers, and everyone else.

Let's Play graphic

Some Companies
That Hire Our Graduates

We couldn't possibly list all 3,400 of our hiring partners. It's a list that keeps on growing. But here's a sample of some of the places around the world where you might find yourself working.

Apple
Microsoft
Blizzard Entertainment
Zynga
Rockstar
SONY
EA Games
Epic Games
WB
Wayfair
Lockheed Martin
Unity

Get Experience in the Games Industry

What sets our games students apart from their competitors isn't just their degree. It's the real-world experience gained from full-time, paid cooperative education, where you'll work on all aspects of a game–from storytelling and world-building to design and development.

100^%

RIT Games students complete at least one co-op

^#6

Among top schools for co-op and internship programs

U.S. News & World Report, 2025