Game Designers Make $67,000 Per Year?
Earning six figures in the gaming industry means wearing a suit. Meh.
Maxim Magazine's online portal features an interesting article about why game developers drive expensive cars. The numbers listed in the article are derived from salary figures gathered by Game Developer Research from those employed in the industry. Like Hollywood, it shouldn't be any surprise that the big bucks stem from the business and marketing aspect. Actual game designers can be found towards the bottom of the money tree.
Based on the article, the place to start in the gaming industry is with Quality Assurance. According to Maxim, many companies hire freelance game testers to hunt down bugs. A larger freelance portfolio could land testers a full-time position with a developer or publishing label, racking in around $32,000 per year. If that's not enough income, the next step up would be the position of an actual game designer job, earning $67,000 per year.
Artists and animators make slightly more money than the actual game designer, taking in $70,000 per year. These two go together like Batman and Robin, with the artists creating worlds and characters from scratch and the animators bringing those concepts to life. Sound designers earn a bit more cash at $80,000 per year, followed by programmers, lead programmers, and technical directors averaging around $90,000 per year.
But out of the whole group, video game producers are the ones who earn six-digit incomes, $129,000 per year according to Maxim. The article said that women populate this game occupation more than any other, comprising over 20-percent of the workforce.
As for the highest paying gigs in the industry-- business and marketing-- these "suits" can earn more than $131,000 per year, another six-figure salary. "Thanks to the rise of massive companies like Activision Blizzard, there's a lot of money to be made, especially those at the top of that food chain risking the most money on millions of game discs," Maxim said.
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and here mother said playing video games everyday is going to get me nowhere. my how times have changed!
Game companies can make more money if they dropped the DRM crap.
So the top salary in this industry is $131,000 per year? This is rather sad.
that is not very much at all.
Yeah right... you forgot the 10-12 hour work days. The reality check is you will be working much more then the 37.5 hours your employment contract actually stipulates.
So the top salary in this industry is $131,000 per year? This is rather sad.
In 2008 the Activision Blizzard ceo Bobby Kotick earned a total of $14,950,102.
If we are going to count marketing then we might as well count the top guys.
I wonder why they didn't mention CEO's?
67000 is too small for programming. It is a very hard and time consuming job. there many easier jobs that pay more and require less schooling.
67000 is too small for programming. It is a very hard and time consuming job. there many easier jobs that pay more and require less schooling.
It's mentioned that programmers make $90,000, not $67,000. That's for the designers.
What sucks in most business corporations are the niggas that program their minds dry or slave away with the polys don't get as much as the fancy pants marketing/business folk. All that is needed for that is charisma and talk. Is it not feasible for the dudes making the games to produce, market, and sell themselves? Do they have no skill outside of Cpp or 3d?
Cut out the fat, reduce prices, and make more for *yourselves*.
What sucks in most business corporations are the niggas that program their minds dry or slave away with the polys don't get as much as the fancy pants marketing/business folk. All that is needed for that is charisma and talk. Is it not feasible for the dudes making the games to produce, market, and sell themselves? Do they have no skill outside of Cpp or 3d?Cut out the fat, reduce prices, and make more for *yourselves*.
Charisma and talk is all that goes into an executive position? Hahahahahaha. Ok, hang on.. HAHAHAHAHA
This is so stupid I can't even begin to put together a reasonable response.
One more time: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.. What are you, 12?
I've been in the Microsoft gaming office in Austin and it seemed pretty laid back, the money is also relative, here in Texas 67k is more than enough to make a decent living.
Designing is just as bad as programming, may even be worst in terms of the hours you spend working.
It is a high stress job, especially since management does not know how to do the job, and thus will put unrealistic deadlines that you keep you working 80-90 hour weeks for a long time.
67k is really not that much in Austin. I make 70k and still have to live in the semi ghetto around Parmer Lane. Rent for a good area and > 1500 sqft. house or duplex was more than 2k/mo. I guess that's what it costs to not have throngs of people walking around at night, keep homeless from knocking on your door because they "ran out of gas", and not have a neighbor that never works but has mysterious visitors at all hours.
If you don't mind living in an apartment with a closet sized bedroom, then it might be OK around 800-900. But there is no room for wife and kids there.
Designing as bad as programming? your kidding me.
Go ask 20 random strangers about thier "ideas for a good game".
They won't shut up.
Now, go ask 20 strangers how to implement a multithreaded rendering algorithm using space partioning by way of a quadtree and see how many answers you get.
Speaking as an actual software engineer, this is the model in most business' as is. I don't agree with it, but that's how society is set up .... pay the most to the people who do the least .. my marketing guys go out to trade shows and hunt down potential customers, then when the customer ask if our product can do x,y, or z, our marketers say "SURE CAN BUDDY!!!!!", then the next day, an email goes out that we need to design, document and develop x,y, and z .. and that they need 2 years worth of work from a 10 man team completed in 4 months .............. welcome to the world of commercial software engineering!
.. but hell, where else can you get paid to do what most people can only dream of!! :-)
an email goes out that we need to design, document and develop x,y, and z .. and that they need 2 years worth of work from a 10 man team completed in 4 months
I thought that was just my bad luck
These figures wary wildly from one developer to the next and don't forget many of them hire for a project than do mass layoffs when the game is done. Websites such as joystiq have news articles about this practice all the time.
The app industry is even worse. I dropped ut of a BIS degree beause I discovered I hate coding, but many of the students that finished the degree I was in are working programming jobs for $9-15 an hour, in a room with dozens of other coders.
But I also know prorammers that work for municipalities that make 6 figures.
Getting back to the article, I'm surprised the figures for artists and coders aren't reversed. You can train just about anyone to code, but good artists are just born.
I've been in the Microsoft gaming office in Austin and it seemed pretty laid back, the money is also relative, here in Texas 67k is more than enough to make a decent living.
Here in Calgary, Elberta, Canada, $67,000 will get you into a house instead of a trailer...
Ou programmer guy at work gets paid to fly from Texas to Canada and back to only do a hours work. The mechanics make $70,000-90,000 a year, and yet I, the guy who operates it, somehow makes less than $30,000 per year, for a company were expenses are 50%, and the other expenses go in a single mans pocket.
Oh, the life of a labourer.
=D
This is why smart coders / developers would instead work for the defense industry. There are a dozen or so companies, some of them large conglomerates that develop almost all the software that operates some of the most expensive systems in the world. There is still the insane pressure to produce material for some high priority mission, but at least the pay is good and the job stable.
This is why current games are lacking in GAMEPLAY, designers aren't getting enough time/money to do their job properly.
That is bs. I am 3d Modeler and the average salary for 3d modeler is 36000 to 44000 (assume you are lead modeler) a year.
3D modeler or animator is also on contact base which means the job isn't secure. My classmates usually only receive 3 to 6 months contact. Some has changed 6 jobs in a year.
Where are you getting 37.5 from? A normal work week is 40 hours, not counting breaks.Also, salaried employees rarely have contracts, and none of them state a number of hours per week.
Here in the UK the standard hours of work are 37.5 per week, you contract always states the amount of time you work per week, (the time does not include your lunch breaks because you are not paid for them.
ALL employers now give a contract, it is almost impossible to get employment without one, if you didn't have a contract you might actually have some rights, and no employer wants to risk that.
I don't know about the US but I can guarantee here in the UK all employment is covered by a contract of employment and I presume the same is also in all major US firms also
Here in the UK the standard hours of work are 37.5 per week, you contract always states the amount of time you work per week, (the time does not include your lunch breaks because you are not paid for them.ALL employers now give a contract, it is almost impossible to get employment without one, if you didn't have a contract you might actually have some rights, and no employer wants to risk that.I don't know about the US but I can guarantee here in the UK all employment is covered by a contract of employment and I presume the same is also in all major US firms also
Well here were I work we're still paid by the hour, just everything over the first 8 hours is considered 'unauthorized overtime', and one of our secretaries was just suspended for paying overtime that wasn't unauthorized, and all affected employees just had some negative retro pay (which hurts).
I've found employers like to state you signed to do a lot for ridiculous crap when you joined, but I read every single word and just laugh a little inside, thinking, 'I hate my job I hate my job I hate my job'...
How about the average salary in the marketing department?
I am salaried and work in the software business. I don't ever recall working a 40 hour week. I would love to work in the video game industry, but not for the pay those guys are offering. I've seen programmers in the Charlotte, NC area pull in way more than what this article is siting.
It's mentioned that programmers make $90,000, not $67,000. That's for the designers.
That's probably why the game designs suck so much these days because the designers get the lowest wage.
I wonder what the average salary of the people in the legal departments of these companies is....
If they lived in Norway they would bare afford a Prius with an income of 62.000USD.
32.000USD/year would barely be enough to live in Oslo, Norway.
See they should make a formula Price and Quality ratio. Not Price and popularity ratio like call of duty modern warfare 1 to call of duty modern warfare 2 oops. =).
or even price and monopoly ratio.
Anamaniac:
You're probably considered as an hourly employee, so you most likely havent seen any sort of contract. That really does bite about not having authorized OT though.
Salaried workers (without OT) are the ones who usually have a contract stating somewhere around 40-44 hours per week minimum. Of course this doesnt stop them from demanding 65+ in order for you to keep your job. I know some people stuck in this type of situation. This effectively cuts your wages per hour by 1/4 to 1/2.
The best deal is a salaried (+ OT) position. This guarantees 40 hours of pay even if you didnt have 40 hours of work to do; you would also get OT for any time worked over that as well. Quite a nice approach really.
As for the article:
These prices are relative to be sure. Factors such as company budget, market, locale, years of service, etc come into play.