| Ranking | School | State |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | University of Southern California | California |
| 2 | New York University | New York |
| 3 | Savannah College of Art and Design | Georgia |
| 4 | DePaul University | Illinois |
| 5 | DigiPen | Washington |
| 6 | Texas A&M University | Texas |
| 7 | University of Texas at Dallas | Texas |
| 8 | The New School | New York |
| 9 | College Temporarily Paused By Publisher | |
| 10 | The Ohio State University | Ohio |
Below are the Top 10 schools and colleges offering Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree programs in game design for 2025. For an explanation of our ranking criteria, click here.
University of Southern California (USC) is home to the School of Cinematic Arts (SCA). Founded in 1929 by directors and screenwriters such as D.W. Griffith and William Churchill De Mille, the SCA houses eight academic divisions, including Interactive Media and Games (IMGD). For students seeking a terminal degree, the IMGD Division has MFA degrees in Interactive Media and Games (IMGD MFA), and Interactive Media-Games and Health (IMGH MFA).
Under the umbrella “USC Games,” curriculums for the programs explore the art, design, engineering, and the production of games. Classes are immersive and hands-on, with opportunities to work on projects with peers across all degrees. In addition, courses for all programs are led by accomplished industry professionals. Depending on the program, students may focus in a specific area of games through a formal specialization, minor, or electives.
Course examples across programs include Interactive Design and Production I-II; Character Development and Storytelling for Games; Game Prototyping; Experimental Game Topics; 3D Graphics and Rendering; Introduction to Scoring Video Games; Augmenting Reality: Worldbuilding for Games and Spaces; Directing for Games and Interactive Media; Experiments in Interactivity; and Cinematic Ethics.
All USC Games students have access to numerous game development labs open from 9 a.m. to 2 a.m. seven days a week; a Mixed-Use Lab featuring systems for VR/AR development, advanced engineering systems, large-scale game testing spaces, and 15 HD monitors with attached gaming consoles; two 100+ person theaters with lobbies that allow students to display their work; and a Console Development Laboratory with PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo development kits.
USC’s Interactive Building houses the IMGD Graduate Student Thesis Lab, conference rooms, a Virtual Production Laboratory, two Usability Labs, and the Vive Lab. Students also have access to USC Game Studios—a two-story building that houses more than 100 VR-ready development systems, audio studios, and usability facilities. USC Game Studios is also the main teaching lab for Advanced Game Projects, which is the cross-disciplinary Capstone course for students in all USC Games programs. During this full academic year course, students will work in teams with faculty, peers, and industry professionals to complete a final market-ready project.
Other facilities include the SCA Motion Capture Stage; the Esports Lab; the Ganek Immersive Media Studio; the Game Innovation Lab; the Creative Media and Behavioral Health Center; and the MFA Thesis Lab.
The programs of USC Games culminate with a final project and possible participation in the USC Games Expo. At the end of each year, this event showcases the best student and recent graduate games. This also includes the Advanced Games Projects Capstone and MFA Thesis Projects.
Graduates of the USC Games programs are prepared to pursue advanced roles in all areas of the games industry. Program alumni have gone on to develop and sell their own games; launch their own independent studios; or land a position at a major game studio such as Riot Games or Epic Games. Graduates have also been hired at places such as Disney, Apple, CBS Interactive, and ESPN.
New York University (NYU) is home to Tisch School of the Arts (NYU Tisch). Founded in 1965 as the School of the Arts, the school was renamed in 1982 after receiving a gift from billionaire brothers and businessmen Laurence A. and Preston Robert Tisch. Today, NYU Tisch provides BA, BFA, MA, MFA, MPS, and PhD degrees in areas such as cinema studies, collaborative arts, film and television, game design, interactive media arts, performance studies, and recorded music.
NYU Tisch also houses the Department of Game Design. Founded in 2008 and known as NYU Game Center, the department hosts workshops, academic seminars, playtests, tournaments, and other events such as NYU Game Center Lecture Series; No Quarter Exhibition (est. 2010); the annual Strategy Guide—Breaking into the Game Industry Workshop; and the professional game conference PRACTICE—Game Design in Detail.
Other NYU Game Center highlights include access to the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music; the Game Center Open Library; hands-on experiences in the center’s development studios and play labs; internship opportunities at places such as Blizzard Entertainment, Riot Games, and Disney; and the opportunity to participate in study away programs at NYU’s other campuses in Abu Dhabi and Shanghai, and academic centers in London, Paris, Washington, D.C., Prague, Berlin, Tel Aviv, Buenos Aires, Sydney, Florence, and Madrid.
NYU Game Center students may also participate in The Game Center Incubator. Launched in 2014, the incubator provides expertise, funding, and space for projects with commercial potential. Incubator leaders help select students see projects through to a public launch.
For students seeking an advanced degree, NYU Game Center provides an MFA in Game Design. This two-year program consists of coursework in game history, game design, game studies, game production, game studio, and play labs. Students will also select a number of electives that support their interests and goals.
The first semester of the program is structured to include Game Design 1; Code Lab 0; Games 101; Game Studio 1; and Visual Lab 0. The second semester is more flexible, so students will take just two required courses—Game Studies 1 and Game Studio—along with their chosen electives.
Examples include Intermediate Programming for Games; Prototype Studio; 3D Game Studio-Unity; Shader Lab; Tech Art Studio; Tackling Representation in Games; Horror Games; American Computer Games of the 1980s; UI/UX for Games; Mobile Game Studio; and Survival Skills.
The Game Design MFA program at NYU culminates with a thesis, completed across two courses (12 credit hours). Thesis projects may be completed individually or in teams. Examples of possible projects include a series of small games, a sport, digital games, or card games. MFA projects will be presented at the NYU Game Center Spring Show.
NYU Game Center MFA graduates will enter the job market with a resume, several finished games or related works, and the assistance of NYU’s extensive Wasserman Career Center. As part of Tisch School of the Arts, NYU Game Center graduates also have access to the school’s own Office of Career Development, which helps alumni launch their creative careers.
NYU Game Center alumni are prepared to pursue advanced roles in all areas of games. Program alumni have been hired at places such as Blizzard Entertainment, Riot Games, Disney, Nickelodeon, ESPN, Amazon, Tencent Holdings, Avalanche Studios Group, Take-Two Interactive Software, Arkadium Games, and the International Game Developers Association Japan (IGDA Japan). Some alumni have also gone on to launch their own studios, write books, organize festivals, and win awards.
Located in Savannah’s National Historic Landmark District, Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) provides more degrees and specializations than any other art and design school in the U.S. This fully accredited, nonprofit institution also houses six galleries that focus on fashion, film, educational events, and special collections.
For students interested in studying games, Savannah College of Art and Design provides nearly a dozen options leading to a BA, BFA, MA, MFA, or minor. Students can complete all programs in person at the Atlanta or Savannah campus. With the exception of the BFA, all programs may also be completed online via SCADnow. Courses stream online in real time or students may access the courses on their own schedule.
Specific professional graduate programs include the MFA in Interactive Design and Game Development (IDGD). Students in this program have opportunities to gain hands-on experience through internships with local and national studios. Students will also work individually and in teams to complete projects on campus and in state-of-the-art customized facilities within the SCAD Digital Media Center and Mongomery Hall.
Launched in the Fall of 2009, the SCAD Digital Media Center is a 60,000 square feet facility that houses SCAD Film Studios, an in-house theater, a green screen lab, and a real-world studio environment. The Center sits in the former home of the Atlanta TV Station WXIA. Montgomery Hall has more than 130,000 square feet of space including studio classrooms; 800+ computers; stop-motion sets; a green-screen stage; motion-capture technology; and AR/VR labs.
Other program benefits include quarterly meetings with industry professionals from studios such as Electronic Arts (EA), Zynga, and Activision Blizzard. During these meetings, SCAD game design students have the opportunity to interview and present their portfolios.
All SCAD IDGD MFA students will complete the Evidence-Based Design Interactivity and Gaming course, along with three thesis studio courses including Thesis Studio I - Research and Ideation; Thesis Studio II - Production and Prototyping; and Thesis Studio III - Validation and Documentation. This Thesis Studio is the culminating experience for the program.
Graduates of the Game Design and Development programs at Savannah College of Art and Design are prepared to pursue careers in all areas of game design and development, augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR), animation, film and video, software development, education, research, advertising, and more.
Program alumni are routinely hired places such as Electronic Arts (EA), Apple, Epic Games, Activision Blizzard, Riot Games, Gearbox Software, Microsoft, Adobe, YouTube, Meta, Zynga, Sucker Punch Productions, Firaxis Games, and Bethesda.
The School of Design at DePaul University (DePaul) is home to the Game Design MFA. Students in this terminal degree program have access to all of the resources and facilities in DePaul’s Jarvis College of Computing and Digital Media (CDM). This includes Across the state-of-the-art DePaul Cinespace Studios.
This 60,000 square feet production facility houses six professional soundstages; animation studios and labs; Arri and RED cameras; green screen cycloramas; stop motion and motion capture stages; post-production video editing and color correction facilities; mixing studios; a scenic shop; and production offices.
Other facilities include the game development studio DePaul Originals; the Deep Games Laboratory; the DePaul Esports Gaming Center; the DePaul Fundamental Research in Academic Gaming (DeFRAG), which hosts week-long game jams, multiplay nights, and video game Jeopardy; the Idea Realization Lab (IRL and IRL2); the interdisciplinary design PUSH Studio; the School of Design Talks Series; the Jarvis Speaker Series; mentored independent studies (MFA); and funded research assistantships (MFA).
PUSH Studio partners with industry professionals and social organizations. The Talks and Speaker Series’ have welcomed guests such as Bungie Founder Alex Seropian; Antionette Caroll—Founder and CEO of the Creative Reaction Lab; Co-CEO of Iron Galaxy Chelsea Blasko; Dale Dougherty—Founder and CEO of Make Media; Young Horses Games; and Scott Starrett—Brand Advisor to the Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez campaign.
Other program features include participation in exhibitions; internships with local and national studios; and the biennial Japan Study Abroad Program. This two-week trip to Tokyo, Kyoto, and Nagoya includes visits to game and animation studios; temples, cultural centers, and historic sites; and galleries and museums. In Nagoya, students will collaborate with Japanese game and animation students at Trident College of Computing. This two-day game/animation jam is the culminating experience for the trip.
The Game Design MFA is a flexible program that consists of courses such as Creative Computation; Art Games Bootcamp; Game Design Proseminar; Incubation Studio; Games With a Purpose Bootcamp; Game Design Workshop; and Game Development Practicum (internship, art game installation, development of a wearable device).
The Game Design MFA program at DePaul University culminates with the MFA Thesis, Showcase, and Defense. Graduates are prepared to pursue leadership roles in areas such as game design, game development, game programming, research, teaching, and software development. DePaul Games alumni have been hired at places such as Disney Consumer Products and Interactive Media, Phosphor Games, NetherRealm Studios, Owlchemy Labs, Wargaming, and Firaxis.
Some graduates have also gone on to launch their own studios, such as Young Horses—creators of Octodad. Developed at DePaul, this adventure game is an Independent Games Festival Student Showcase Winner and a Game Developer (formerly Gamasutra) Top 10 Indie.
DigiPen is a Houdini Certified School that launched the world’s first bachelor’s degree in Video Game Technology and Development. Since then, DigiPen has won 57 Independent Games Festival (IGF) awards. This is more than any other school in the world. DigiPen students have also won more than 300 awards for game projects and academic papers.
Today, DigiPen’s Game Program has expanded to include six options. This includes a Digital Arts MFA, which provides the opportunity to work in multidisciplinary teams in a studio environment to create software, several original video games, a final project, and a market-ready portfolio.
The Digital Art MFA at DigiPen also allows students to customize a specialization from courses across all DigiPen programs. To specialize in games, MFA students can select courses such as Game Design, Development and Production; Character Rigging; Scripting for Games; Hair and Clothing Simulation; Lighting and Rendering; Organic and Hard Surface Modeling; Advanced Character Creation; and Storyboarding.
Graduates of the DigiPen Digital Art MFA program are prepared to pursue advanced roles in all areas of games and animation. To date, DigiPen alumni have been credited on over 2,000 commercial video games and they have been hired at more than 1,500 companies.
Examples include Electronic Arts (EA), Insomniac Games, Sony Interactive Entertainment, Ubisoft Shanghai, Epic Games, Microsoft, Google, Activision Blizzard, Intel, Booz Allen Hamilton, Nintendo, DreamWorks Interactive, Amazon, Walt Disney Imagineering, SpaceX, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, Zynga, ArenaNet, Take-Two Interactive, and Bungie.
Texas A&M University (TAMU) is home to the College of Performance, Visualization and Fine Arts (PVFA), which houses the Visualization MFA program. This is one of the few programs of its kind in the state of Texas. With a focus on technological innovations and applications, the interdisciplinary MFA has specializations in Gaming; Visual Effects; Interactive Art; Visual Storytelling; Computer Animation; User Experience Design; Virtual/Augmented Reality (VR/AR); and Data Visualization.
Students in all specializations will complete 23 credit hours of Professional Study coursework and the following courses: Form/Installation/Environment; The Digital Image; Contemporary Art Studio/Seminar; Design Communication; Contemporary Art Seminar I-II; Writing for Publication in the Arts; and Graduate Studio. Free and prescribed electives allow students to enhance the degree.
Examples include Advanced Game Design; 3D Modeling and Animation; Data Visualization; Generative Art and Design; Interactive Virtual Environments; Motion Capture Animation; Computational Design; Physically-Based Modeling; Digital Compositing; Rendering and Shading; Advanced Animation; Principles and Practices in Digital Twin Technology; Multimedia Web Design; and Experimental Visual Techniques.
The Visualization MFA at TAMU culminates with the exhibition and defense of the student’s body of work completed over a three-year course of study. The exhibition requirement includes at least one competitive external venue approved by the students advisory committee and a local exhibition, coordinated with a final examination.
Graduates of the Visualization programs at Texas A&M University are prepared to pursue advanced roles in game design and development, UI/UX, animation, VR/AR, filmmaking, technical art, visualization, graphic design, visual effects, simulation, architecture, special effects, education, advertising, web design, marketing, amusement/theme parks, and research.
TAMU Visualization alumni known as "Vizzers" have worked on more than 400 films across 20+ production studios. Both Game Design and Vizzers have been hired at companies and studios such as Disney Animation Studios, Sony Pictures Imageworks, Industrial Light and Magic (ILM), Microsoft, Blizzard Entertainment, LucasFilm Animation, Electronic Arts (EA), Pixar, DreamWorks, Reel FX, Presagis, Bouncing Pixel, and Aspyr Media.
University of Texas at Dallas (UT Dallas) is home to the Harry W. Bass Jr. School of Arts, Humanities, and Technology (The Bass School or Bass). Established in 1975, Bass is a Houdini Certified School that serves more than 1,960 students enrolled in over 45 majors, minors, and certificate programs. Among the school’s programs is a Game Development MFA.
Students in this terminal degree program have access to state-of-the-art facilities such as the 155,000 square feet Edith O’Donnell Arts and Technology Building and the Game Lab; Render Farm; CG Animation Lab; experimenta.l.; Games Research Lab; Motion Capture Studio; Games and Media Library; Narrative Systems Research Lab; Surround Studio; The Studio for Mediating Play; Animation Lab; 3D Studio; Mixed Media Lab; MoGraph Lab; Escape Pod Studio; VAST Lab; and the 3D Studio.
The Game Development MFA at UT Dallas is a 54 credit hour program that consists of courses such as Anatomy of a Game; Game Production Practices; Experimental Games Studio; and Game Design and Development. Prescribed and free electives total 27 credits, allowing students to create a focus area.
Elective examples include Building Virtual Worlds; Socially Conscious Games; Interactive Narrative; Game Production Studio; Play and Culture; Special Topics in Game Development; Educational Games Studio; and Games, Education, and Simulation.
The final project for the Game Development MFA at UT Dallas consists of 15 credit hours completed over two consecutive long semesters. Courses include Master’s Thesis (ATCM 6399); Master’s Project I (ATCM 6698); and Master’s Project II (ATCM 6699). Students will present final projects in an exhibition, conference presentation, or defense. Graduates are prepared to pursue advanced roles in the games industry.
For students seeking a broad program with a flexible curriculum, Bass houses an Arts, Technology, and Emerging Communication (ATEC) program leading to an MFA. Students in this 54 credit hour program may study games through elective requirements. Course examples for the program include Socially Conscious Games; Creativity as Social Practice; Modeling and Simulation; Experimental Interactive Media; Computational Design; Emerging Media Studio; Information Architecture and Design; Visualization Research; and Critical Making.
The ATEC MFA culminates with a final project consisting of three courses completed over two consecutive long semesters. Courses include Master's Thesis; Master's Project I; and Master's Project II. Graduates are prepared to pursue advance roles in the game design industry. Program alumni have been hired at places such as Pixar, Apple, DreamWorks, Google, Disney, Toyota, and Capital One. Graduates have also gone on to launch their own studios or freelance businesses.
The New School houses Parsons School of Design (Parsons). Serving more than 5,700 students, Parsons is The New School’s largest school. For game designers seeking an advanced degree, Parsons provides a Design and Technology (DT) program leading to an MFA (DT MFA). This interdisciplinary, STEM-designated degree is studio-based, with coursework that explores game design, new media art, interaction design, physical computing, critical design, wearable technology, and data visualization.
In addition to seminars, labs, and access to elective options across Parsons and The New School, MFA students will complete Collaboration Studio and Thesis Studio courses. In Collaboration Studio courses, students will work with partner companies on real-world projects. Examples of past partners include NASA, Intel, Mozilla, Samsung, The Met, Samsung, One Plus, Ralph Lauren, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and Red Bull. Projects explore areas such as game design, film and video, audiovisual performance, and web and mobile apps.
Other program features include industry internships; collaborations between artists and designers across The New School; networking opportunities and sponsored projects with external partners; study abroad experiences in places such as Florence, Paris, and London; the Cloud Salon Series (CSS); and access to state-of-the-art facilities and labs.
The CSS is a webinar series consisting of fine artists, designers, technologists, and other industry professionals. Past speakers have included Yuri Suzuki, New Red Order, Lauren Lee McCarthy, Zach Lieberman, and Audrey Bennett.
Graduates of the Design and Technology MFA program at The New School are prepared to pursue leadership roles across the game design, entertainment, advertising, and web design industries, among others. New School alumni have been hired at major companies and studios across the U.S. and abroad.
The Ohio State University (OSU) is home to the College of Arts and Sciences. Within the college is the Department of Design, which houses a fully-funded, three-year MFA program with tracks in Art and Technology; Digital Animation and Interactive Media (DAIM); and Design Research and Development (DRD). Elective credits allow students in the DAIM and DRD tracks to study games.
The Art and Technology track is an interdisciplinary area that explores experimentation and new forms. Course examples include Special Topics in Art Games; Computer Animation; Sound and Image-Aspects of Art and Technology; New Media Robotics; 3D Modeling; and Digital Imaging. Courses for all tracks take place at the ACCAD.
Across all options, possible elective options include Game Design I-II; Video Games and Society; Games Virtual Modeling; Screenwriting, Art, and Technology; Computational Thinking in Context-Game Development or Image; Computer Vision for Human-Computer Interaction (HCI); Video Game Music; Artificial Intelligence (AI); Philosophy and Videogames; Computer Game Art and Design; Animation; and Esports and Game Studies.
The culminating experience for the OSU MFA program is the Thesis Project. Graduates are prepared to pursue leadership roles in game design and development, entertainment, the broad technology industry, fine art, and the broad engineering industry, among others.
OSU alumni have been hired at places such as Pixar, Apple, Epic, Dell, HP, Boeing, Google, Nvidia, Microsoft, Nike, Cisco Systems, Intel, Piperworks Studios, IMG Sports Marketing, Creative Artworks, and Inked Brands.
