Average Game Industry Salary Drops

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If you have your heart set on getting into the game development biz, you might want to read this article first. The article lists the average pay for programmers, QA, artists, production and legal staff. It should come as no surprise that people in the legal department are making three times as much as the QA guys.

The editors of Gamasutra sister publication Game Developer magazine have revealed the results of its 2006 Salary Survey, calculating an average American game industry salary of $73,316, slightly down on 2005's figure of $75,039.
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Can't read the article at work...but you can probably see this happening with the entire computer industry down the line. Sad fact of life....
 
I don't see it as too big of a deal, as the economy moves more into computing you will see more and more competition for the same jobs.
 
Good point. Maybe game development studios should stop locating themselves in high-cost-of-living areas?

Those salary figures outside of pricy tech meccas can be comfortable. The companies can probably even work in a tax break from some rust belt state eager to transform its economy.
 
That is still a pretty nice salary. I agree that game companies should try to relocate to states with lower costs of living.
 
A company doesn't have to move. They have to re-examine the methods they use for game development.
 
I'm a field engineer with a major IT provider in Wisconsin and I'm only making 30K/year. Bring-It-On!
 
$75k would be a huge salary here in Wisconsin.

The reason for the drop may be due to more people entering the job pool. With more applicants employers can lower wages, simple supply and demand.
 
The article does mention that the drop can be attributed to an influx of entry level folks this last year, while industry veterans saw significant pay increases.

And yeah, having lived in Silicon Valley from late 1999 through early 2004, I can vouch for dook43's comment. $75K in Silicon valley would have you living in a small apartment and eating Macaroni and Cheese most nights.
 
The median annual household income in 2005 was under $50k for the US.

I'm not sure how much stuff costs in other states but in Alaska, mortgage / rent for a house is easily $20,000 a year for a family of four so you have to make at least $27,500 just to pay rent / mortgage and utilities. Unless you have a spouse that works, you cannot even pay for a place to live. Apartments can be found at around $1,000 a month, but not one a family of four could live in unless kids shared rooms / etc.

$70k a year is a very good wage in 90% of the country.
 
It would also be really nice in Ohio. Columbus has one of the lowest costs of living for a large city/capital.
 
JethroXP said:
The article does mention that the drop can be attributed to an influx of entry level folks this last year, while industry veterans saw significant pay increases.

And yeah, having lived in Silicon Valley from late 1999 through early 2004, I can vouch for dook43's comment. $75K in Silicon valley would have you living in a small apartment and eating Macaroni and Cheese most nights.
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really ? hmm.... im in san jose making under 30K A year and dont live like that..
 
Steve said:
$70k a year is a very good wage in 90% of the country.
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Very true, but it just so happens that Game Developers *mostly* maintain offices in the 10% of the country where $70K/year is just an OK salary. When I lived in Silicon Valley, my wife and I both worked, and we lived in a 900 sqft apartment that cost $2,100 per month in rent, and that was still 31 miles from where I worked because trying to live any closer was just too rediculously expensive. My earlier comment about eating Macaroni and Cheese just about every night, that was from personal experience ;)
 
A guy I know just got hired at EA Mythic in Virginia to work on Warhammer. I really don't think he'll be making $74K. If he is then we need to become "friends". :)
 
JethroXP said:
Very true, but it just so happens that Game Developers *mostly* maintain offices in the 10% of the country where $70K/year is just an OK salary. When I lived in Silicon Valley, my wife and I both worked, and we lived in a 900 sqft apartment that cost $2,100 per month in rent, and that was still 31 miles from where I worked because trying to live any closer was just too rediculously expensive. My earlier comment about eating Macaroni and Cheese just about every night, that was from personal experience ;)
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:)

Heh...yeah, I am amazed how that works. Property there is sooooo expensive it isn't even funny. Just imagine how much all that Nevada desert is going to be worth when the San Andres fault finally gives out and California falls in the ocean :D
 
Steve said:
:)

Heh...yeah, I am amazed how that works. Property there is sooooo expensive it isn't even funny. Just imagine how much all that Nevada desert is going to be worth when the San Andres fault finally gives out and California falls in the ocean :D
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Thats probably why it cost so much. They need to make as much money as they can from that area before it no longer exist. Since the other states should be around much longer they can charge a little less and know they will get their money as the house should still be there when the 30 year loan is paid off. In California its a guessing game if the land will still be there in 30 years.



as for a house for $20,000. Here in NW Indiana you can't buy an acre for under $30,000 most places want around $50,000. 3 bedroom, 2 bath house with 1 car gargage in a subdivision will cost you at least $240,000
 
I officially invite all the game companies to migrate to Texas so they can hire me when I get out of school in a few years. Seriously we have awesome costs of living here in the DFW area. AND NO STATE INCOME TAX YAY!
 
I swear...since this story has popped up, people are acting like its the fall of the game industry and that this type of thing has never happened in any other industry.

I even saw someone say that the majority of game development is in northern California...which is FALSE.

Plus everyone needs to put into realize that not EVERY studio pays the same either and like some mentioned, depending on where you live is going to vary on what you get paid.

Let's put it this way...I work within IGN Entertainment in the GameSpy Middleware SDK group (which is not the same thing as GameSpy Arcade) as a Project Manager. I handle all the testing of games that use our middleware tools for online gaming as well as a number of other tasks...I currently make $42,500 (I started at $40k just over a year and half ago.)

The average starting rate for 3D artists is ~$45,000 (give or take)...and that is in southern california where I've had quite a few friends get jobs.
 
Kristofff said:
I officially invite all the game companies to migrate to Texas so they can hire me when I get out of school in a few years. Seriously we have awesome costs of living here in the DFW area. AND NO STATE INCOME TAX YAY!
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Quite true.

While we don't exactly have a lot of game devs here in the metroplex we do have our fair share of tech companies. Right out of school I'm making about $15k less than the above posted salary at a small telcom company and it is more than enough for me to start looking at buying a house. At this point in time I'm very glad to be an engineer in Texas.
 
Those numbers actually surprised me, since I thought programmers in the games industry worked slavish hours while getting 40K salaries because if they got sick of it, it's not like they're irreplaceable. There are 10000 other doe eyed gamers with a dream of scoring a job in the industry waiting to sink their claws into that person's job.

However, an average of 74K is still a high average, that's a comfortable living in much of the states.

P.S. more companies should relocate to the northeast like Vermont and NH lol.
 
bashPenguin said:
...I thought programmers in the games industry worked slavish hours while getting 40K salaries because if they got sick of it...
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Yea that's a misconception that a lot of people who know nothing about the industry seem to think...and I think it is b/c of companies like EA putting a bad light on the situation b/c of the whole lawsuit thing.

Contrary to what some people think and based on the friends I have from all over the industry of varying positions, they seem to be paid pretty well. Sure there are some crazy crunch periods, but if the employees are compensated well for their time then they don't mind as much.

P.S. more companies should relocate to the northeast like Vermont and NH
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Keep dreaming...:p
 
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