Programmers: $93,2511 Artists and animators: $74,349 Game Designers: $73,8642 Producers: $82,286 Quality Assurance: $54,833 Audio: $95,682 Business & management: $101,5723 <----------WTF? Note to shelf: become a gaming exec so I can decide how the game is going to be but not do any actual work at all, then get paid. Overall I think the wages are not that good, I know plenty of programmers in other industries that make considerably more, like $120,000 and up, and for work that IMHO is much easier than what some of these guys are doing. Then again if the business "management" (hahaha oh man they call it that!) makes that my guess is that there isn't much left for the rest of the guys. Another interesting bit is how much indie devs are making. You probably though they are rolling the kronas like notch, but you would be wrong, dead-wrong: the average indie makes $11,812 a year Sauce: http://www.gamasutra.com/salarysurvey2014.pdf
Welcome to modern business, where knowing how to set up meetings makes you more valuable than anyone who does any real work. I'm surprised it's that low, they only make $6,000 more than audio guys, who actually have a good bearing on the final product. The worst part is that notch and other top tier indie devs are pulling that average up. That means there are probably indie guys making $7 or $8 grand
Buisiness and management must be that high because it includes bosses, like Gabe Newell for instance, that make big salaries and boosts the average.
Gaben practically owns valve, he used his windowsNT moolah to bankroll HL1 and the company is still private
Not that good? Shit, I work my arse off and don't get as much as the programmers (I think you added an extra 1 on their salary by the way). If the conversion figures are right then programmers are pulling in 9 million yen a year. I'd be very happy with 9 million a year but then again I can't say I'd like to work their crazy 24 hour shifts that I hear about near the deadline of a game.
If this is what they're paying people, where does their huge budget go? Many games now have budgets similar to Hollywood films. If that's what they pay their employees, where does all of the money go? I realize that there are a lot of people working on a game, but it still doesn't seem to add up.
I sat through the AC4 credits for something like 20 minutes. Do you know how many people that turns out to be? I always take these salary polls with a grain of salt. They are supposed to remove the outliers (Notch on one end, my indie game "salary" on the other), so they should be somewhat reliable, but they do appear high this year for some reason. "Low" pay and ridiculously long hours are why I never went into the industry and instead only do the indie thing on the side. Also, the "Business and Management" category includes just about everything else that doesn't necessarily contribute to the development of the game, particularly marketing and legal (which is why the group is paid higher).
Well there are a ton of people involved, but then I would like what celebs like kevin spacey are charging to be in the next COD Then there are music licenses, and the brutal amounts of cash some companies spend in ads to market the game.
I don't know any QA that gets paid $50k+ that isn't a salaried lead. Most QA I know of are hourly/contract and get paid closer to $25k... before they have to pay out a bunch in taxes because they are contract.
Besides QA, this seems to fall in line with what EA employees report to glassdoor: http://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/Electronic-Arts-Salaries-E1628.htm
