Any way you can manage to break in is "relevant."
Clearly, your friend had managed to get his break through having established a relationship
in which he was found to be creative, trustworthy, hardworking, and sincere. It takes time to develop that kind of relationship. And there are many ways it can come about.

You probably would recommend more of the route of getting a degree while working on a portfolio right?

Please forgive the following: "Well, duh."

Thanks for forgiving me for saying that.
Sounds like you're saying your friend became a game magazine editor without a degree.

I've spoken to someone currently in the industry as a game designer and he told me that he was previously an editor for gaming magazines and sites before he became a game designer. He basically was just doing reviews and articles for these companies when a friend of his got him an internship for game design at a company and in result the company hired him. This was in 1998. I was wondering is this way of entry into game design still relevant in this day and age?

Personal connections are always a way into any industry, its timeconsuming and thus also expensive to figure out what you know and what you're like as a person, having a degree or professional experience means that it probably won't be a complete waste of time to look at your portfolio or call you to an interview, having a current employee (or a former employer, even in an unrelated field) speak highly of you can make a huge difference. (If you're flipping burger at mcdonalds now and aim to work as a game designer it can still pay off to take your current job seriously (If i was hiring and had to choose between two people with similar skills and experience the one who can have his old boss tell me that he is a great employee and a hard worker will have a huge advantage)).


Getting a degree is a good idea for three reasons:

1) You make alot of connections with people in a similar field while you study at a college or university
2) You will learn alot
3) You get a paper that tells employers that A) You have a basic knowledge of X and B) You are able to put in the work required to get a degree.
(a friend or other reference can replace point 3 but won't replace point 1 and 2)

Well I don't know for sure if he had a degree, but from what he said I don't think he did. He didn't mention college at all only high school and working as a reviewer.

So you assumed. You shouldn't assume, it makes an ass out of u and me.

Well I don't know for sure if he had a degree, but from what he said I don't think he did. He didn't mention college at all only high school and working as a reviewer.

How long did your friend spend learning to write reviews and doing reviews before he became an editor? How long did he spend being an editor before he got the internship as a designer? You should also note that he didn't get a job but an internship, which later became a job. That is quite a drop in status.

It is certainly possible for someone from another industry to break into game design but that doesn't mean it is a better way to get into the industry. You still have to get good at whatever it is you do in that other industry (journalism, TV production, film script writing etc) before it will be of any help in getting in. You should also know that the industry is very different now than it was in 1998. I know quite a few game journalists who who moved into game design or production in the late 80s and early 90s; but in those days very few people had relevant degrees (almost all programmers were self taught). The industry has changed a lot since then and it is much harder to impress.