Game Developers Rolling in the Lucre - Kotaku Comments

Game Developers Rolling in the Lucre

JohnnyLA — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 11:12:17 MST

Wait, the average salary is $92,000?

ahem..

HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! (breathe)

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAH!!

Everyone look at the definition of the word "average". That means it takes the aggregate of the total number of people and divides it by the total amount of salary.

People thinking that the average video game employee makes that are deluding themselves.

The top, top people skew the average enormously (those making 500k to 1 million + a year). Also programmers make FAR more than artists do.

Leads make MAYBE around 80-90k and that's with 7+ years.

Artists don't make close to that.

The Gamasutra site and annual salary survey described above should show you some real numbers. And NO bonuses aren't guaranteed at all. I've never make a bonus that was bigger than what I would of have been paid in overtime by hour. Not even close.

People thinking that the industry is a cakewalk with great pay are going to be in for a wide awakening.

I'm currently going on 4 months of 12-14 hour days 7 days a week to get a product out. No overtime (which is not standard yet for the industry) and I've been in the industry for 8 years. I'm doing this because I switched to a different role, proving myself again, and a hint of a bonus. The same would happen for anyone starting in unless they are extremely lucky.

As for the growth, that's great to see. Hope it keeps on going and I can still be in this field until I retire (instead of flaming out in mid-30's which is typical for the industry..but that's another story).

JohnnyLA

Game Developers Rolling in the Lucre

Tybee — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 10:51:18 MST

You had a story about wealth and you wanted to illustrate it with a duck. 95% of us would have thrown Scrooge McDuck up there, but you went the extra mile to find a relevant Daffy pic, and for that I tip my hat to you, sir.

Tybee

Game Developers Rolling in the Lucre

omnibot2000XL — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 22:11:28 MST

$92K hahaha -- they must have averaged in EA execs and their bonus / stock option plans... And anyway, $90K in LA is ~= $45K in Chicago, or $30K in Des Moines.

omnibot2000XL

Game Developers Rolling in the Lucre

baccardi84 — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 21:18:47 MST

There is no way the avg salary is 92K, not even those with 5+ years. Unless the CEO's are making hundreds of millions and that boosts up the "average"

baccardi84

Game Developers Rolling in the Lucre

Ken — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 20:52:54 MST

Fully aware you don't START at 92K. Then again, I have internships which equate to 40K a year, so I can't imagine what a full time position would be.

Ken

Game Developers Rolling in the Lucre

DaveKap — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 20:32:39 MST

Yeesh... $92k? Maybe if the average number of years in the business is 5+ years...

DaveKap

Game Developers Rolling in the Lucre

TRAMS_AM — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 20:09:21 MST

@anthrax_man: Here is an online reprint of a portion of the Game Developer article:
[www.gamasutra.com]

TRAMS_AM

Game Developers Rolling in the Lucre

TRAMS_AM — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 20:02:57 MST

@crecente: And the Game Developer surveys don't include bonuses in their salary figures. Those are listed separately.

TRAMS_AM

Game Developers Rolling in the Lucre

Sabre_Justice: Okay, no more long name. — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 20:02:55 MST

TV sucks, movies suck, video games rule. No wonder people are turning to the third for entertainment.

Between Nintendo's expanding of the target audience, Microsoft's heavy online push and Sony's hardware combination (even though it backfired at first), the games industry is evolving and many of these experiments are paying off.

Sabre_Justice: Okay, no more long name.

Game Developers Rolling in the Lucre

Insomnia Bob — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 20:01:57 MST

@crecente: Hell, whether it's 50K or 100K, it's still a shit ton more than I make. I really need to get off my ass and start working on my HL2 level pack again.

Insomnia Bob

Game Developers Rolling in the Lucre

TRAMS_AM — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 20:01:51 MST

@crecente: I'd understand if it's the average cost to the company, including medical, stock, bonuses, and holiday parties.

TRAMS_AM

Game Developers Rolling in the Lucre

Brian Crecente — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 19:57:21 MST

@crecente: Make that GD

Brian Crecente

Game Developers Rolling in the Lucre

Brian Crecente — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 19:56:49 MST

@TRAMS_AM: Well the GH charts are self reporting, I suspect this study might be based on more accurate numbers, but I'm checking to be sure.

Brian Crecente

Game Developers Rolling in the Lucre

TRAMS_AM — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 19:52:26 MST

@anthrax_man: Depending on your discipline, but yeah, don't expect that $90K to come in your first few years (or even decade).

I wonder if that $90K figure includes benefits, stock options, and profit sharing.

Check out the salary surveys in Game Developer, they seem to be more accurate.
[www.gamasutra.com]

TRAMS_AM

Game Developers Rolling in the Lucre

Chilly Hollow — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 19:40:48 MST

The video game industry is starting to have an impact on the economy and on the entertainment habits of at least some of the population, young men. I hope this means they clean up their act a little. EA's reprehensible treatment of their employees and Bethesda's selling Oblivion without patching the infamous animation bug that strikes after 200-400 hours of gameplay which means its most devoted fans cannot finish the game are just two issues which aren't going to go over well with the general public, particularly with the high cost of many consoles and games, the expensive video cards and upgrades needed if one is a PC gamer. All this means the game industry is posed to give itself a huge black eye if it doesn't grow up fast and treat employees and customers well.

Chilly Hollow

Game Developers Rolling in the Lucre

thewisestfool — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 19:00:11 MST

Wait, you get paid for making games? Sweet!

thewisestfool

Game Developers Rolling in the Lucre

anthrax_man — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 18:51:01 MST

thats my future job...but i don't expect anything like 90k a year more like 30-40k, i just want to make games

anthrax_man

Game Developers Rolling in the Lucre

captronj — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 18:39:38 MST

@NeoAkira: it doesn't necessarily work that way, but it does mean our inflation will be a problem at some point if we don't stop it. The only thing that saves us is our crazy amount of spending (go consumer whorism!) and our (mostly because of the military) advancements to technology.
But along with inflation we get to have a super duper weak US dollar...boo! But we may get some kind of upside (if we ever fix our spending and trade deficit) when people invest in the US because it is so cheap due to the weakened dollar.
OK. Econ rant over. Go Video game industry!

captronj

Game Developers Rolling in the Lucre

weasl — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 18:34:44 MST

ROFL at the average salary being 92k a year.

weasl

Game Developers Rolling in the Lucre

Grumpz® — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 18:24:28 MST

"I'm rich! I'm a happy miser!"

Grumpz®

Game Developers Rolling in the Lucre

Netnavi — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 18:21:46 MST

"I'm Rich ! I'm Rich!"

Well yeah if you charge everyone 10 dollars more for everything then on top of that you nickel and dime them for DL content. No wonder that videogames are the new market for growth. Meanwhile you got Nintendo that did the exact opposite and they still make growth because of it. Growth all around. MS and Sony with 4 and 600 dollar consoles with 60 dollar games to boot. And Nintendo scooping up everyone else with smaller wallets. It's like Hungry Hungry Hippos out there! It's all being eaten up and noone is left out.

Growth? Duh!

Off topic: How's that Duck Amock game for DS.

Netnavi

Game Developers Rolling in the Lucre

perrinbar — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 18:17:52 MST

Hassan chop!!

perrinbar

Game Developers Rolling in the Lucre

Insomnia Bob — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 18:13:55 MST

Of course, that could just mean that the American economy is doing very badly as a whole, and it just hasn't hit the gaming sector yet.

Insomnia Bob

Game Developers Rolling in the Lucre

SolDieR — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 18:13:25 MST

Its been awhile since I've seen that Bugs Bunny.

SolDieR

Game Developers Rolling in the Lucre

Ken — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 18:10:03 MST

Good to hear that average salary marker. Means my degree in engineering would pay off if I skipped into the gaming field.

Ken

Game Developers Rolling in the Lucre

NeoAkira — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 18:09:56 MST

I wouldn't expect our economy to grow that much anyways since we import so much more than we export.

NeoAkira