How Much Do British Devs/Industry Types Make? - Kotaku Comments

How Much Do British Devs/Industry Types Make?

Titos_Kitten — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 21:02:12 MST

There is such a thing as a nice Producer! I'm one! :)
And I worked video game QA too.

Titos_Kitten

How Much Do British Devs/Industry Types Make?

boopadoo — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 18:54:37 MST

@Walkonwater: Thank you for posting first. QA solidarity!

boopadoo

How Much Do British Devs/Industry Types Make?

badmoogle — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 16:52:13 MST

If you belong in the creative department of the industry and you're doing it for money,then you're in the wrong profession.

badmoogle

How Much Do British Devs/Industry Types Make?

Fisketryne — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 16:30:29 MST

@DON! KING!: "So do you think that pure video game "journalists" fit into the industry in a sort of sub catagory as industry commentor and reviewers?"

I guess. Most video game journalists seem to fit into the entertainment side of reporting. Just like there is not much serious and investigative reporting found on movie sites and other journalists covering the entertainment industry.

All in all. I guess video games are finally, or soon at least, mainstream.

Fisketryne

How Much Do British Devs/Industry Types Make?

AndyboyH — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 11:40:14 MST

@TurtleSoup:
Not all of us are bad. Some of us just end up doing all the ropey work that no-one else wants to do/likes to do - the equivalent of the work experience kid. Plus for me at least, and the producer I report to, we're both coders with degrees, so we can solve tech stuff, even if we're not sat in Visual studio, codewarrior or Radix day in day out...

AndyboyH

How Much Do British Devs/Industry Types Make?

Stormwaltz — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 11:11:26 MST

Back in 1999, when I started in the games industry, I was hired for $30K a year. After three and a half years, I was making $35K. I was off the bottom of the IGDA white paper salary scales for designers.

Did I mention this was in the high cost Boston tech corridor?

Stormwaltz

How Much Do British Devs/Industry Types Make?

quen — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 10:56:07 MST

@Arthois: OK cool, sorry. So, you have litres up there? :)

quen

How Much Do British Devs/Industry Types Make?

Digitalguardian — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 09:13:35 MST

Where the bitches at?

Digitalguardian

How Much Do British Devs/Industry Types Make?

amazinglarry — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 09:11:57 MST

Did I miss something with all this "cheeky" talk?

amazinglarry

How Much Do British Devs/Industry Types Make?

DoucheMcBag — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 08:57:02 MST

NIce producer? No such thing!

DoucheMcBag

How Much Do British Devs/Industry Types Make?

TurtleSoup — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 08:56:58 MST

Ah producers... they are like rabbits these days, during the lifespan of a project they come to outnumber the actual development staff... what is it their wonderfully vague title entitles them to do? oh yes to "produce"!?

But seriously good producers are essential of course. Though they usually have a wrong understanding - they aren't there to boss teams around but provide important coordination services to the leads.

When does work out like that what a wonderful thing they are to behold!

TurtleSoup

How Much Do British Devs/Industry Types Make?

ThisCharmingMan — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 08:55:08 MST

Oh my god, that photo is incredible. Good work Luke.

ThisCharmingMan

How Much Do British Devs/Industry Types Make?

KE — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 08:24:25 MST

@cxmnky:

Boys, it was a joke. I would give almost give my own money for good Q/A.

And I am very nice producer, anyway. 'Cause I am a gamer.

Oh my god, I sound like Jade.

*kisskiss*

How Much Do British Devs/Industry Types Make?

PearceShea — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 08:21:11 MST

Now I don't work in the video game industry but I've worked my industry from a lot of different angles and the notion that "we do 80% of the work and those guys do 20%" is very prevalent.

Frankly it's rarely true simply because few employers can justify paying lots of money to people who do very little.

Also, I don't have a problem with someone like a Junior Concept Artist or the like making $37,000 (US) a year. As a starting salary, that's rather good I'd think (or maybe that's because my first real job started at $19,000 before taxes). I guess it all depends on upward mobility and doing what you want to do. I'm willing to make less than a corporate suit because I'm doing what I want to do.

PearceShea

How Much Do British Devs/Industry Types Make?

Argyle — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 08:16:47 MST

I'm designer, or I was rather, I've moved on to the wonderful Assistant Art Director role. I'm not in the game industry, I'm in publishing, but the good news for artists is (as long as the salary scale is similar). If you can prove you're half decent / have a shred of talent your salary makes huge jumps with each new title. When i was a designer I made 35k I changed jobs got a new title and I now make 55k.

Starting out as designer is tough no one is really willing to hire you until you have "experience", but you can't get "experience" unless someone hires you. Then they pay you crap if they do hire you until you accumulate real "experience".

Argyle

How Much Do British Devs/Industry Types Make?

Flawless101 — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 08:14:21 MST

Thats not the worst amount of money ever (at the bottom end) People live happily on less, and remember when reviewing the figures from abroad to work out the cost of living for yourselves compared to the UK. Its not always just the exchange rate.

Flawless101

How Much Do British Devs/Industry Types Make?

okenny :) ...building bridges (to hide under) — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 07:59:24 MST

Well... these things seem reasonable when compared to minor league average and the major league average salaries.

okenny :) ...building bridges (to hide under)

How Much Do British Devs/Industry Types Make?

cdammers — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 07:47:50 MST

Physics grads all seem to go into investment banking in Britain. You start on £40k+ basic.

cdammers

How Much Do British Devs/Industry Types Make?

Arthois — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 07:45:51 MST

@quen: I'm a canuck :S

Arthois

How Much Do British Devs/Industry Types Make?

poke50uk — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 07:21:22 MST

btw aldi = small shop, managerial position graduate scheme
and all in £ of course ^^^^^^^^

poke50uk

How Much Do British Devs/Industry Types Make?

poke50uk — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 07:20:33 MST

Me = Phsyics grad.. going into the industry.
wadge = 16K for junior designer.. even though I do art and code.. and its in an expensive area!
People wonder why the Physics people don't go into the games industry ¬_¬ I could start on 24K working for Aldi!! 26K for BAE systems or working at NASA. Its onlt cause its my dream job that Im taking it... but its a riduculas squeese considering that theres my partner that will have to find a new job too in the area and we both have to relocate.. and the student loan hits hard after 15K. Lucky my parents, though arn't rich.. really want to help out with the first months rent and deposit.. where on earth will I find 1.5K when Im already 1.4K into my overdraft ¬_¬

poke50uk

How Much Do British Devs/Industry Types Make?

WalkOnWater — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 06:57:16 MST

@AndyboyH: Certainly not all producers are bad! But in my experience some of them seem to have their heads firmly stuck in their own rear ends. There comes a point in any project (usually towards final) where a producer's input on the development side is at least unnecessary and at most a hindrance. The QA guys, despite their general 'bottom-of-the-ladder' status, will be the ones who have the best idea of how good the game is.
So it's good to know you listen to them!

WalkOnWater

How Much Do British Devs/Industry Types Make?

Sasuntsi|Davit — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 06:41:30 MST

@quen:
Shopkeeper: The UK to US currency rate is 2:1
Homer: That's good
Shopkeeper: But it means that petrol is more expensive
Homer: That's bad
Shopkeeper: However you can take public transport
Homer: That's good
Shopkeeper: But that's also expensive
Homer: Can I go now?

Sasuntsi|Davit

How Much Do British Devs/Industry Types Make?

AndyboyH — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 06:41:10 MST

@Ubisoft Angel:
Well, for myself as a junior producer, I'm not even hitting that magic £18k.

I don't boss around QA, I listen to them and respect their input (I've learnt that lesson the hard way) because otherwise the game gets bad reviews because the reviewer hits Bug #3469, takes away a few percent, and our performance bonus goes down the crapper.

I do localisation, outsourcing and all the other monkey work that no-one else wants to touch, and while I can't say I enjoy being a dogsbody, I'm not arrogant enough to think that I'm better than others.

AndyboyH

How Much Do British Devs/Industry Types Make?

elevenoverzero — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 06:38:39 MST

Wow... For a designer:

£18,000 (the lowest) = $40,000 Australian

I'm a game designer in Australia working on a "next gen" game for $34,000 ($29,000 USD / £15,000)

Massive failure... :-(

elevenoverzero

How Much Do British Devs/Industry Types Make?

Gladman — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 06:35:57 MST

"Up to and beyond 250,000 a year"
Now that just doesn't make sense does it.

Gladman

How Much Do British Devs/Industry Types Make?

quen — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 06:31:32 MST

@duophonix: If s/he's in the US they probably don't know what a litre is either :) OK that may be unfair...

(A litre is about 1/4 of a US gallon, according to Google, so that's about $8/US gallon. Of course you can solve that problem by not driving - however public transport is also expensive.)

quen

How Much Do British Devs/Industry Types Make?

Koztah — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 06:30:42 MST

@cxmnky:
That's what happens when game studios are run or owned by people firmly grounded in traditional corporate structure.

Valve, on the other hand, mostly eschews this kind of hierarchy and look at their track record. Much more impressive than most, I would say.

Koztah

How Much Do British Devs/Industry Types Make?

quen — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 06:29:05 MST

@Arthois: Yeah, but if you lived in Britain and had to pay British housing costs (and bills and everything else) your £18k wouldn't be worth that much more than the $18k you get now!

Except in importing things from the US, when the £ is awesome. :)

(I'm just describing the situation, not whining personally, as I earn in that 'senior programmer' range so have oodles of spare cash frankly... I am in fact a senior programmer, but not in games.)

quen

How Much Do British Devs/Industry Types Make?

DUOPHONIX.com — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 06:28:59 MST

@Arthois:

dont forget though, how expensive EVERYTHING is in the UK. its like £1 a Litre of gas, thats like $2 for you

and dont get me started on games consoles and games!

DUOPHONIX.com

How Much Do British Devs/Industry Types Make?

DoucheMcBag — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 06:28:31 MST

@Ubisoft Angel:

Oh, that would explain why Ubisoft games are so buggy.

DoucheMcBag

How Much Do British Devs/Industry Types Make?

wrothgarr — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 06:26:45 MST

I'm a British Game Artist, and I currently make £15,000, after only just getting a raise from £12,000 :(

I'm 23 next month.

wrothgarr

How Much Do British Devs/Industry Types Make?

Accordion — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 06:23:25 MST

@Fisketryne:

I believe EDGE is on the right track. though insightful articles are still rare, they seem to focus on game culture rather than games themselves.

Accordion

How Much Do British Devs/Industry Types Make?

Arthois — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 06:22:19 MST

@cxmnky: Aye Aye

I make 18k$. I wish I made 18k in GBPs.

Arthois

How Much Do British Devs/Industry Types Make?

cxmnky — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 06:20:32 MST

@Ubisoft Angel:
That's the type of attitude that makes so many people in the industry hate producers...they think the projects will all fail without their contribution, which, with the exception of one or two key positions, isn't much. I've worked on projects with 6-8 producers at one time, and 4-5 of them could have been hit by a bus with little impact to the project...things might have even run more smoothly withtout the junior producers going around ordering people around while not knowing what actually needed doing. Get rid of QA, however, and you can imagine how big a stinking piece of #&$% the game would have been. With few exceptions, producers are the most overrated, arrogant bunch I've ever known, and their contribution to their respective titles usually isn't as great as they think it is considering how bloated the industry is with "producers"...

cxmnky

How Much Do British Devs/Industry Types Make?

DUOPHONIX.com — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 06:19:08 MST

@duophonix: oh and thats in GBP

DUOPHONIX.com

How Much Do British Devs/Industry Types Make?

DUOPHONIX.com — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 06:17:11 MST

as a 3D modeler/animator i earn about 15k from wages, but doing freelance bumps it up loads

im 19

DUOPHONIX.com

How Much Do British Devs/Industry Types Make?

Android18a — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 06:11:39 MST

Hell I earn £13k a year at 24 years old after working for, what, six years?. I'd be grateful for £18k! =|

Android18a

How Much Do British Devs/Industry Types Make?

ElComandante — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 06:01:00 MST

It is sad that the maximum salary which an artist, designer or programmer can get is the minimum for a Marketing director.

The industry should go on Strike.

ElComandante

How Much Do British Devs/Industry Types Make?

Kenofthedead — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 05:58:06 MST

Game Politics and Game Developer have some quite solid and proper journalism to their names.

Kenofthedead

How Much Do British Devs/Industry Types Make?

Sasuntsi|Davit — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 05:57:41 MST

The idea that all QA guys and gals do is play AAA games, in the state you see in the shops is so lame now it's not funny.

Even an awesome game like Super Mario Galaxy must have been a chore to test in it's early concept/alpha stage.

Sasuntsi|Davit

How Much Do British Devs/Industry Types Make?

Arthois — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 05:55:27 MST

@Ubisoft Angel: As a Q/A for Ubisoft I say, well what about you make a working game first?

Arthois

How Much Do British Devs/Industry Types Make?

maxp — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 05:54:20 MST

You would be gutted to be on 20k as a 'regular' programmer

maxp

How Much Do British Devs/Industry Types Make?

GOD — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 05:51:23 MST

@Fisketryne: True mate. So do you think that pure video game "journalists" fit into the industry in a sort of sub catagory as industry commentor and reviewers?

GOD

How Much Do British Devs/Industry Types Make?

ccyoyoboy — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 05:47:28 MST

If you read the link you will see that at lease according to the article artists are earning more than journos (15 to 30k)

Just thought i would mention that :)

ccyoyoboy

How Much Do British Devs/Industry Types Make?

Fisketryne — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 05:44:11 MST

@Spiderbait: Being a mainstream journalist (and games reviewer on the side) I would say that journalists clearly are not a part of the games industry. If they were, they would not be journalists.

That you would even stop to consider it is quite scary, and maybe a warning that people do not see parts of the media as independent. Frankly, I cannot remember if I've ever seen a single piece of solid, investigative journalism on the games industry from the likes of IGN or any other games site the last few years. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but most "journalism" done in the field consist of previews, rephrasing press-releases and the reporting of lawsuits or bickering.

Fisketryne

How Much Do British Devs/Industry Types Make?

GOD — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 05:40:45 MST

---"Who loves ya baby?"

GOD

How Much Do British Devs/Industry Types Make?

GOD — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 05:36:00 MST

HA HA HA!!! It's Kojak! ^

GOD

How Much Do British Devs/Industry Types Make?

RetroBob — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 05:33:30 MST

Journalists have historically been paid fuck all because there's people queuing up to "play games for a living". Franky I wouldn't get out of bed for their basic. Same for some of the other roles!

RetroBob

How Much Do British Devs/Industry Types Make?

Spiderbait — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 05:25:19 MST

Do game journalists count as part of the industry? They are pretty much just surveyors that translate industry chatter for the rest of us.

I'm not trying to rustle any feathers with this comment by the way so don't take it as an insult, take it more as a harmless question.

Spiderbait

How Much Do British Devs/Industry Types Make?

Rieth — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 05:17:10 MST

@Ubisoft Angel: I dont believe you can call QA work "playing." There are always enough bugs to make it feel like work.

Rieth

How Much Do British Devs/Industry Types Make?

Kenofthedead — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 05:11:59 MST

Though as an artist, we get to put sugar in stuck up producer's petrol tanks, as we don't have much to lose.

At least when we are being nice.

Kenofthedead

How Much Do British Devs/Industry Types Make?

KE — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 05:11:32 MST

We actually pay the Q/A guys? They should pay us for playing all day long!

How Much Do British Devs/Industry Types Make?

Irenicus-the one and only — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 05:10:47 MST

Awsome picture lol

Irenicus-the one and only

How Much Do British Devs/Industry Types Make?

Kenofthedead — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 05:10:35 MST

It's the pay scale for artists that made me look elsewhere for jobs.

Kenofthedead

How Much Do British Devs/Industry Types Make?

KE — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 05:10:19 MST

Yepp, since becoming junior producer life is only sunshine and lollipops. And you as a bonus i can boss around these whiny artists.

How Much Do British Devs/Industry Types Make?

WalkOnWater — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 05:10:07 MST

I love how they don't bother to put QA/tester salaries, which would be so low in comparison it's not even worth it. :(

WalkOnWater