Game Design Programs Ranked for 2027

Pick your level

Every Game Design Programs Ranking

Each ranking covers one kind of program and answers one question. The top three of each are shown here, with the full list on the ranking's own page.

Game Design Rankings by Degree Level

Game Design Rankings by Field

Online and Affordable Game Design Rankings

Which one

Which Game Design Ranking Answers Your Question

If you're choosing a first degree, start with the best game design schools. It includes every bachelor's on the design side and the programming programs too, so it's the widest view. Then narrow it: if you know you want to code, the game development degrees ranking covers just the technical programs. If you want to draw, model and animate, go to the animation schools.

If you can't move or stop working, the online game design degree ranking lists bachelor's programs you can finish fully online. Some programs marketed as online still require campus visits or residencies, so confirm the format with admissions before you apply.

If you already have a bachelor's, the master's in game design ranking covers graduate programs, from MFAs to professional master's degrees, and lists other well-known graduate game programs beside the ranked ones.

If price decides it, the most affordable ranking weighs net price at 60 of the 100 points, with a 40% completion floor, and the public ranking keeps to in-state prices at public colleges.

If you want a shorter credential, the associate degree and certificate rankings cover two-year and shorter programs, and the simulation and VR ranking covers the virtual environments field on its own.

If location matters most, game design schools by state shows every program near you.

The data

Programs in Each Field, by Degree Level

These are all the programs the rankings draw from, by field and by degree level.

Bachelor's degrees are the core of the rankings because they're where most students start and where the federal outcome data is strongest. Associate programs and certificates have their own rankings, scored with price bands set for two-year colleges. Game design alone has 116 programs; the other three fields hold the programs that call themselves game development, game programming, interactive media or animation.

How it's scored

How Every Game Design Ranking Is Scored

Every bachelor's program gets one main score out of 100, the same on every page that uses the main score. The most affordable, associate and certificate rankings use their own published weights instead, shown on each page. Completion is worth 40 points: the share of all students who started at the school who earned a degree within eight years. Net price is worth 40: what aided first-year students actually paid. Size is worth 20: the program's own graduates per year.

Master's programs are scored on graduate tuition (60 points) and size (40), because completion and net price aren't published for graduate students. The rules favor affordable schools that graduate their students, which means public universities rank well and expensive private schools rank lower than their reputations. Every ranking page shows each program's three figures on its card, so you can weigh things your own way. The methodology page has every tier.

Reading a score

What a Program's Score Is Made Of

Take the top program in the best game design schools ranking, University of California-Irvine. Its school-wide completion rate is 86%, which earns 34.4 of the 40 completion points. Its average net price is $14,647, which falls in a band worth 39.7 of 40. And it graduates about 51 students a year from the program, worth 20 of 20. Add them up and you get its score of 94.1.

Every score on the site breaks down the same way, and every ranking page shows the three underlying figures on its program cards. That means you can check any rank yourself, and you can see when two schools landed close together for very different reasons, say one cheap with a low completion rate and one expensive with a high one.

The top 10

What the Top-Ranked Schools Have in Common

Across the ten highest-scoring programs in the best game design schools ranking, the median completion rate is 78% and the median net price is $15,697. Across all 89 schools in that ranking, the figures are 59% and $26,150. 10 of the top ten are public universities.

So the top of the list isn't where the most students finish. It's where a solid completion rate meets a low price. That's deliberate, because the cheapest program you don't finish costs more than a pricier one you do, and a lower price leaves you less debt to carry into a first job. If you disagree with the trade-off, every card shows the completion rate beside the price.

Location

Where Game Design Schools Are, by State

These ten states have the most programs across all four fields. Location decides one thing for certain: your tuition, if you choose a public university, since in-state students pay far less. Each state's page lists its programs with the same scores.

Shorter routes

Associate Degrees and Online Programs

There are 142 associate programs across the four fields, 134 of them at public colleges, most of them community colleges. The 54 with a completion rate and a net price on file are in the associate degree ranking, and 69 colleges' certificates are in the certificate ranking. An associate degree can be a cheap start before transferring into a bachelor's, and the game design certificate guide covers when a short program is enough on its own.

Fully online programs are a smaller group than many lists suggest. 20 game and animation bachelor's programs can be finished entirely online, and the online ranking ranks the game programs among them. Some programs marketed as online still require campus visits or residencies, so confirm the format with admissions before you apply.

The figures

What Each Figure on the Program Cards Means

Completion is the share of every student who started at the school, full-time, part-time or transfer, who earned a degree or certificate within eight years. It comes from the federal Outcome Measures survey. It's the school's rate, because the government doesn't publish completion by major.

Net price is what first-year, full-time students who received grant aid paid on average after that aid, for tuition, fees, housing and books. At public schools it's the in-state figure. It's an average, so your own figure from the school's net price calculator will be different.

Grads a year is the number of students who finished this specific program, averaged over 2022, 2023 and 2024. It's the one figure on the cards that belongs to the program, not the school.

Program type (game design, game programming, simulation or animation) says which kind of program it is. Similar programs can sit in different fields at different schools, which is why the rankings look across all four.

Updates

How Often the Game Design Rankings Change

The federal government releases new completion, graduation and price data once a year. When it does, every score is updated with the same rules and every page shows the new date. Each online program's format is confirmed again at the same time. A school can move a long way between years if its price or completion rate changes, or if its program grows or shrinks, and nothing else can move it.

Before you apply

Questions to Ask Any Game Design Program

• What did last year's graduating class ship, and can I play it?
• How big are the team projects, and do design, art and programming students work together?
• Which game engines and tools does the program teach, and does it provide licenses?
• Where did the last two graduating classes work six months after graduation?
• What will I pay after aid, with my family's numbers?
• Is a portfolio required to apply to the major, and when?

A program that answers all six clearly is giving you more to go on than any ranking can.

What's next

Choosing a School After the Rankings

A ranking narrows a list. It doesn't choose for you. Once you have a shortlist, look at what each program's students shipped last year, run the net price calculator with your own family's numbers, and read about the jobs the degree leads to. The video game designer career guide is a good place to start.

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

How Many Game Design Programs Are There?

IPEDS lists 354 programs across game design, game programming, simulation and animation at 271 colleges in the 50 states and DC. 116 of them are game design programs specifically.

Which Game Design Programs Ranking Should I Use?

Start from the degree level and the work you want. The best game design schools ranking covers every bachelor's on the design side, game development covers programming, animation covers the art track, the simulation ranking covers VR, and the master's, associate and certificate rankings cover the other levels. The online, most affordable and public rankings filter by format and cost.

How Are the Game Design Programs Ranked?

Bachelor's programs are scored on completion (40 points), net price (40) and size (20). Master's programs are scored on graduate tuition (60) and size (40). The most affordable, associate and certificate rankings use their own published weights, shown on each page.

Does a School Pay to Appear in These Rankings?

No. The rankings are computed from federal data when the site is built, and the rules are the same for every school.

Why Does a School Appear on More Than One Ranking?

A school can offer programs in several fields, and the best game design schools ranking includes every game program at the bachelor's level. Where a school appears twice, its score is the same on both pages.

Are Associate Degree Programs Ranked?

Yes. 54 associate programs in game design, game programming and simulation are ranked on completion (40 points), net price (40) and size (20), with price bands set for two-year colleges. Certificates have their own ranking too.

Sources

1. 1 NCES, IPEDS Completions 2022 to 2024 and Completions by Distance Education 2024 Every program in the ranking, the field code it is filed under, its graduates each year, and whether the school reports it can be completed by distance education. 354 programs in four fields. Accessed October 13, 2026.
2. 2 NCES, IPEDS Outcome Measures 2023 The completion factor: the share of all entering students, full-time, part-time and transfer, who earned an award within eight years. School-wide.
3. 3 NCES, IPEDS Student Financial Aid 2022-23, average net price The cost factor: average net price for first-time, full-time students who received grant aid, in-state for public schools. School-wide.
4. 4 NCES, IPEDS Institutional Characteristics 2023-24, tuition Average graduate tuition, in-state and out-of-state, used for the master's cost factor.
5. 5 NCES, Classification of Instructional Programs 2020 The field codes that define which programs each ranking covers. Accessed October 13, 2026.