2008 Game Developer Magazine Salary Survey Results

Tumerboy

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=23264

Averages:

Programmers: $85,024
Artists: $69,532
Game Designers: $67,379
Producers: $82,905
Quality Assurance: $39,571
Audio: $78,167
Business & Marketing: $102,143

Richard Kain

It always amazes me how much business and marketing make.

[Deleted User]

Well, who else would get the money? The people that actually make stuff?

sir-knight

... here I am making 42... man I'd be happy with 55 tops o_o

katzeimsack

it'S amazing how much people in the us get.. an average german artist gets about 40k $ ..

JohnnyRaptor

shit i need a raise!

MagicSugar

I think the mag gives a decent breakdown and analysis per survey but to the potential new workers out there, what may not be evident right away if they're just blinded by unqualified averages is how much time and work (and luck) one needs to get the high number salaries. Just because you grad from Calarts or Sheridan doesn't necessarily mean you'll get paid more versus a high school dropout who's just as talented and work ready as you.

Be prepared to put in time, in years, and put up with corporate bullshit before you can expect high salaries or high severance packages.

Steve Schulze

Ah the annual salary survey. Some day I'd like to be average.

Drywall

Their average is my "holy crap no way."

Jeremy Lindstrom

I can make more at Starbucks, yay me.. I'd be happy with half of what artists make.. I need to find me somewhere else to work. Just a sucky job front out there at the moment, where 10 bucks an hour doing something I enjoy is better then 20 somewhere where I hate it.

rawkstar

well you rarely have a business "team", most of the business people are the senior people who pretty much manage all of the company's finances, whereas with other disciplines there's a much wider range. Hence design and art are on the low end of things. These averages just reflect what reasonably experienced people (3-5 years) should be making.

Darth Tomi

Must be nice.

Mark Dygert

katzeimsack wrote: »

it'S amazing how much people in the us get.. an average german artist gets about 40k $ ..

It's all kind of relative to the cost of living. It works better if you look at the lifestyle that salary affords you, in that area.

In the US you could make 40k and own a few acres, or you could be making 80k and live in a tiny apt with a roommate.

Murdoc

Still feel grossly under paids, lol.

John Warner

haha interesting that everyone on here is getting paid substantially less.

I wonder how accurate these numbers are.

skankerzero

I'd be interested in seeing the averages localized per region, or at least put these averages in a set region so we can use a cost of living calculator to define our own region.

Snowfly

Augh time to be depressed all over again. Yay South East Asian salary...5 years experience, senior experience on my resume, and I make enough to live like a king in a third world country.

So how many of you guys actually respond to this survey? Maybe their readership tends to be the more senior guys anyway?

Mark Dygert

Ha, good point Snowfly. Since in most places the less work you do the more money you make, those with the time to take it...

NyneDown

Daaamn...those QA guys are making out like bandits! :-P

aesir

Yea, they need to show a graph for LA where my not very large 2 bedroom apt is 1800 a month. And I have a good deal...


As far as QA, they're only polling for salaried people. A lot of QA is hourly.

Joshua Stubbles

Regional breakdown would be best, I agree. Averages without showing what area it's from makes the overall amount seem grossly disproportionate, as Vig stated. What's a lot in one area is tiny in another.

Karmageddon

I'm here to lower the average D=

Ryan Hawkins

Ill scan the region break down in later or if anyone else has the magazine can do it, The have 3 pages dedicated to graphs and charts and region break downs. I just have to find my magazine to scan them in for you guys.

Geezus

we had a good "lol" at that article/survey at work

Pseudo

The numbers seem right on for the LA area. Like Rawkstar said, most people I know working in LA with 3-5 years of experience are on par with the survey results.

I'm curious to see the numbers by region if you get a chance to scan that in Aftermath.