Game Devs Will Earn $51k This Year (On Average)

[CrystalShadow]

Sounds about right.

Keep in mind historically game development has 'below average' wages. In fact, for programmers, 70% of industry average wages is a typically noted figure.

So what this means to those who proclaim these people overpaid, is that that's an unrealistic position.
If you moved to another industry, you could probably get better wages, and most likely better working conditions too.

But... Then you wouldn't be making games anymore, but probably working on something far less interesting.

(You might ask what an artist could be doing that pays a lot more? Well, working in advertising, for one. But who wants to spend their time creating images of products some company is trying to sell?)

Anyway... Such is life. Too many people trying to get too few jobs.

 

[Therumancer]

information varies, as a counterpoint here is another article from last year, that was also covered on The Escapist:

http://www.maxim.com/amg/gaming/articles/90016/why-many-game-developers-drive-ferraris.html

Their source is supposed to be from the game makers themselves, by the group Game Developers Research, which incidently sells reports on what the industry is making off their sites:

http://gamedeveloperresearch.com/2010-salary-survey.htm

I'd also point out that some of the legal action involved Activision has been about hundreds of millions of dollars in undelievered bonuses. Something I might add which leads one to believe that these large bonuses are not viewed as being "too good to be true" within the industry:

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2010/04/infinity-ward-staff-sues-activision-for-500-million.ars

Of course it's a back and forth thing, after all with people like me commenting on the price of games and pointing fingers at the demands of game developers as the culprit, it's not surprising we're seeing the industry involved in it's own propaganda. Very much akin to the claims that somehow piracy is stealing food from the tables of game developers, when that's generally inaccurate as it's costing producers money if anything.

As John points out in his article, nobody really knows the answers, and none of these companies are exactly going to open up their books to the public.

In the end my basic attitude is that we've been seeing large teams involved in game development for a long time now. When it's claimed by companies like "Square Enix" that it's too expensive for them to create a game like "Final Fantasy VII" with it's detailed city enviroments given current technology (this was said in defense of "Final Fantasy XIII"), I really think the issue has to do with what these people are demanding for money rather than any real technical limitations. After all, if the tech was that limited it wouldn't be an upgrade from the old stuff, and we never would have went to "next gen" with the current stuff.

In short, I don't think this research is accurate.

 

[Popido]

Where is Notch on this list?

Hmm... Not that great, huh.. I wasnt expecting that much money sinking on to the paperworks.

 

[Bretty]

I just got a Lead programmer (exactly the same skill sets as here) a job for almost 40% more a year.

This is sad. But we are still a niche as far as I am concerned.

My respect to those who work in the gaming industry, but there are not many who will do so once a family starts becoming an option. Salary is too low, hours too long and there is a lot of job risk. Also, a lot of companies look at ex gaming candidates differently to ex business ones.

 

[Hiphophippo]

I've got a couple of good friends, one of whom even posts on this forum that work in the industry. These numbers run pretty well in line with what they make.

 

[Angron]

In all seriousness, I can't help but feel that these salaries seem a bit on the low side of things with as big an industry as this is. Then again, the videogame industry is also a very highly competitive space, and every single person working at a company knows that there are twenty thousand kids graduating college every year that would love to take their place.

You pretty much just hit the nail on the head there, salaries should be higher, but they have no need to raise them as the job to qualified people ratio is very 1 sided

would have been nice to see it broken down alittle more, im training to be a game animator so that would have been nice to see

 

[(LK)]

Most statisticians wouldn't place serious credibility on a sample of less than 10,000 people when they intended to extrapolate to a population, especially if the source is a survey. 300 is going to be very poorly representative, especially given self-selection bias.

 

[Baresark]

A lesson in basic economics. Since EVERYONE has some kind of programming experience these days, and a lot of people go on to produce things from indie titles to phone apps, software programmers are basically a dime a dozen these days. The most popular entertainment industry is of course loaded with options and lots of competition. Meaning, salaries aren't that great.

It sucks, but that is reality.

 

[Emz]

If I wanted to pursue a career as a game programmer I think I'd rather try my hand founding an indie game studio than trying to get jobs in the industry.

I agree and this is exactly what I am personally doing with a couple of friends and my boyfriend.

 

[Wave Tan]

Where's the salary for a game writer? You know, the one that comes up with the story and dialogue. That's what I want to do, as I have no skill with any other department listed there.

It's pretty simple, really. Zero. Most studios use writers that are capable of multiple disciplines in addition to the writing or just contract writers on a very temporary basis.

 

[Exort]

A lesson in basic economics. Since EVERYONE has some kind of programming experience these days, and a lot of people go on to produce things from indie titles to phone apps, software programmers are basically a dime a dozen these days. The most popular entertainment industry is of course loaded with options and lots of competition. Meaning, salaries aren't that great.

It sucks, but that is reality.

Game developer salary is quite low considering if these people were in other software development they would be pay much more (Programing part).
The average salary for mid level software engineer is $73,695.
Anyways it is not the first time we heard that game developers are unpaid compare to other job with their degree.

 

[Sieg The Bum]

Not bad but I'm making more than all of these guys straight out of college with an engineering degree.

Not with a B.S. Are you talking Phd?
Which field are you going into that would get more than 72k?

Not a Phd, but a masters so that does have a little influence but not a whole lot. I'm in automotive engineering, specifically I will be doing model based design and control integration in hybrids.

I always thought controls was more M.E. (That's what I am) but it sounds like a good job field.

More power to you but that job market seems a little hostile.

 

[CopperBoom]

You think those is low?
I work in Embedded QA for design... I wish I was making 50k a year.

 

[Exort]

Not bad but I'm making more than all of these guys straight out of college with an engineering degree.

Not with a B.S. Are you talking Phd?
Which field are you going into that would get more than 72k?

A mid level software engineer earn about 73.7k.
compare to mid level game software developer's 43.4k.

 

[HeartAttackBob]

Wow... Those numbers are a bit lower than I was expecting, assuming they are reasonably representative. I guess I'm glad I'm going the ivory tower academic route. Professors don't get paid much more, but we have better job security and a lot better holidays. =)

 

[tautologico]

A lesson in basic economics. Since EVERYONE has some kind of programming experience these days, and a lot of people go on to produce things from indie titles to phone apps, software programmers are basically a dime a dozen these days. The most popular entertainment industry is of course loaded with options and lots of competition. Meaning, salaries aren't that great.

It sucks, but that is reality.

A lot of people can do some kind of programming, yes. Only a few do it really well, though (as in any other field). Game programmers tend to be quite good, in general.

A really good programmer, exactly the kind of programmer you can easily find working on games, would earn much more in some other software industry, working less. It's not that programmers in general are cheap, but game programmers are because of supply and demand. There are just too many people wanting to be a game programmer, so in general salaries will tend to be lower.

 

[Exort]

Wow... Those numbers are a bit lower than I was expecting, assuming they are reasonably representative. I guess I'm glad I'm going the ivory tower academic route. Professors don't get paid much more, but we have better job security and a lot better holidays. =)

yea way better holidays, and holiday are paided...
Every 7 years you get a year off (for "research") and let's not forget summer/winter break.