Master of Entertainment Arts and Engineering

Master'sMEAEGame DevelopmentDedicated degree

Overview

A two-year cohort master's program (fall and spring semesters) in which students apply to one of five tracks and take shared academic and studio courses. Students build team game projects, culminating in a master's game project to be published.

Official program title: Master of Entertainment Arts and Engineering
Exact award: Master of Entertainment Arts and Engineering
Source: games.utah.edu · verified October 12, 2026
Degree level: Master's
Discipline: Game Development Game Design
Degree type: Dedicated degree
School and department: University of Utah — Division of Games
Source: games.utah.edu · verified October 12, 2026
Location: Salt Lake City, UT
Tracks and concentrations: Game Arts; Game Design; Game Engineering; Game Production; Technical Art
Source: games.utah.edu · verified October 12, 2026

Why this program is listed

Dedicated master's degree in Entertainment Arts and Engineering with Game Arts, Game Design, Game Engineering, Game Production and Technical Art tracks.

Source: games.utah.edu · verified October 12, 2026

We list dedicated game degrees and officially named game concentrations at institutionally accredited US schools. Eligibility rules

Format, length and attendance

Delivery, campus attendance, schedule and study intensity are separate facts, each shown only as the school states it. Online coursework does not by itself mean there is no residency, exhibition, internship or proctored exam.

Delivery: On campusClasses meet on campus.
Source: games.utah.edu · verified October 12, 2026
Campus attendance: Regular campus attendanceClasses meet on campus (campus and hybrid programs).
Study intensity: Full-time
Source: games.utah.edu · verified October 12, 2026
Duration: two years (fall and spring semesters only)
Source: games.utah.edu · verified October 12, 2026
Credits: 10 credits per semester over four semesters
Source: games.utah.edu · verified October 12, 2026
Start terms: Fall
Source: games.utah.edu · verified October 12, 2026

Curriculum

What the school publishes about the program's game design, programming, art and production content. Tools and engines are listed only when the school names them — a program not listed as teaching Unity or Unreal may still use them, but we have not verified it.

All students take Theories of Games and Play, Rapid Prototyping, Game Studio and Advanced Game Studio I and II, plus track-specific courses.

Game design topics

Theories of Games and Play: required course analyzing games alongside contemporary research and theory.
Source: games.utah.edu · verified October 12, 2026

Production and team projects

Rapid Prototyping: small teams develop video game prototypes in short development cycles.
Source: games.utah.edu · verified October 12, 2026
Game Studio: multidisciplinary groups build a video game following an industrial model.
Source: games.utah.edu · verified October 12, 2026

Capstone

Advanced Game Studio I and II: large-team master's game project, which students are expected to publish.
Source: games.utah.edu · verified October 12, 2026

Other published details

A dual MBA/MEAE degree with the David Eccles School of Business is available to Game Engineering and Game Production track applicants (three-year plan).
Source: games.utah.edu · verified October 12, 2026

Tracks, concentrations and specializations

Game Arts; Game Design; Game Engineering; Game Production; Technical Art
Source: games.utah.edu · verified October 12, 2026

Hardware and software requirements

No hardware or software requirement published on the pages we checked.

Admissions and portfolio

Required, optional and not-required items are shown exactly as the school states them. Anything not listed is not verified — not “not required”.

Portfolio

Portfolio required for some pathways

Art portfolio (10-15 original samples) for Game Art track; design portfolio for Game Design track; art portfolio plus code samples for Technical Art track; code sample (not portfolio) for Game Engineering; Production track portfolio materials optional.

Format: Digital only via the application portal: PDF, JPG, text file, website or cloud storage link

Official portfolio instructions

Source: games.utah.edu · verified October 12, 2026

Minimum GPA: RequiredMinimum 3 — Undergraduate GPA of 3.0
Source: games.utah.edu · verified October 12, 2026
Statement / essay: RequiredStatement of purpose, approximately 2-3 pages double spaced
Source: games.utah.edu · verified October 12, 2026
Recommendation letters: Required3 letters — Three letters of recommendation, at least one from an academic source
Source: games.utah.edu · verified October 12, 2026
Résumé / CV: RequiredResume, 1-2 pages
Source: games.utah.edu · verified October 12, 2026
Coding sample: Required for some applicantsGame Engineering track: code sample in a compiled language (preference C++, C#, Java), up to about 1,000 lines; Technical Art track: code samples with art portfolio.
Source: games.utah.edu · verified October 12, 2026
Transcripts: RequiredUnofficial transcripts uploaded; official transcripts sent to Graduate Admissions
Source: games.utah.edu · verified October 12, 2026
Other requirement: Required for some applicantsGame Production track: statement of purpose covering skills such as project documentation, completed team-based game projects and communication samples.
Source: games.utah.edu · verified October 12, 2026

Tests

GRE General Test: OptionalGRE optional for all tracks
Source: games.utah.edu · verified October 12, 2026
TOEFL iBT: Required for some applicants — minimum 100Program requires internet-based score above 100 (Graduate School minimum 80)
Source: games.utah.edu · verified October 12, 2026
IELTS Academic: Required for some applicants — minimum 7UKVI IELTS not accepted
Source: games.utah.edu · verified October 12, 2026
Duolingo English Test: Required for some applicants — minimum 130
Source: games.utah.edu · verified October 12, 2026

We do not publish acceptance rates or estimate admission chances. How to prepare a game design portfolio

Start dates and deadlines

Dates are shown with the intake the school printed. A past date is marked passed and is never carried into a new cycle.

Application deadline
December 15 (year not printed; page states applications for Fall 2027 are open) · for Fall 2027
The school does not print a year with this date.
Source: games.utah.edu · verified October 12, 2026
Year not printed

Tuition and costs

Each amount keeps its student category, academic year and basis. Per-credit, per-term and whole-program figures are not comparable with each other, and tuition is not the full cost of attendance.

Tuition for this program: not verified. We publish this only when the institution states it on an official page.

Understanding tuition and equipment costs

Scholarships, assistantships and funding

Awards published by the school for this program or for students at this level. “Guaranteed” only when the school says every eligible student receives it. Loans must be repaid and are not scholarships. Scholarships guide

Division of Games Student Scholarship Institutional scholarshipCompetitive
Five scholarships of $2,500
Eligibility: Division of Games students; supports basic-needs costs.
Source: games.utah.edu · verified October 12, 2026

School-wide awards are listed because they apply at this degree level; eligibility conditions apply.

Accreditation and authorization

Institutional accreditation covers the school. Programmatic accreditation is shown only when it is named for this program — it is never transferred from another department or degree.

Institutional accreditation

Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU) — accreditedSource: ope.ed.gov · verified October 12, 2026

Programmatic accreditation

None verified for this program. Game design degrees do not require one specific specialized accreditation.

International applicants

Not verified for this program.

Sources and verification

Every fact on this page comes from the official pages below. Last checked October 12, 2026.

games.utah.edu/about-utah-games/ — Official program page, verified October 12, 2026
games.utah.edu/current-students/meae/ — Official program page, verified October 12, 2026
games.utah.edu/eae-facilities/ — Official program page, verified October 12, 2026
games.utah.edu/international-student-application-information/ — Official program page, verified October 12, 2026
games.utah.edu/prospective-students/master-of-entertainment-arts-and-engineering/ — Official program page, verified October 12, 2026
games.utah.edu/prospective-students/master-of-entertainment-arts-and-engineering/admissions-informat — Official admissions page, verified October 12, 2026
games.utah.edu/prospective-students/master-of-entertainment-arts-and-engineering/mba-meae-degree-inf — Official program page, verified October 12, 2026
games.utah.edu/scholarships/ — Official program page, verified October 12, 2026
games.utah.edu/tuition-information/ — Official tuition and fees page, verified October 12, 2026
DAPIP — NWCCU institutional accreditation record (data files downloaded 2026-10-12) — U.S. Department of Education dataset (IPEDS / DAPIP), verified October 12, 2026

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