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

#4

Top 25 Game Design BS Degrees

Animation Career Review, 2024

#4

Top 25 Game Design Master’s Degrees

Animation Career Review, 2024

#5

Best Undergraduate Game Design Programs

U.S. News & World Report, 2024

#6

Top 50 Game Design: Undergraduate Category

The Princeton Review, 2024

#3

Top Gaming Colleges

Global Gaming League Survey

7

National Championships

RIT’s Esports Team are seven-time national champions. 

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

Making is at the heart of RIT, whether it's a cutting-edge game using the latest technology or making a difference in players' lives.

Explore some of the most recent projects created by our students.

MAGIC Portfolio

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.

Exterior of MAGIC Center

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.

Collage of esports participants playing games

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!

esports athlete playing Rocket League

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.

Students in a computer lab

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

Collage of students working on games

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

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    Jean and Bill Stephens hold hands in front of a gallery exhibition of their work.

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    Nestled in the basement of the Student Alumni Union, the WITR radio station space is a treasure trove of music, personalities, and nostalgia. The station and the music have greatly evolved since its first broadcast in 1961, but one thing has remained constant: the tight-knit network of students and alumni.

Stay Connected

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