By Alex D'alessandro
Gamasutra published the recently annualized “Game Developer Salary Survey” for 2014, and the numbers are looking good. While 2013/2014 saw larger layoffs in the AAA development sector, indie game teams are seeing large increases while solo indies are seeing massive decreases.
With over 4,000 game developers answering the call for monetary transparency, Gamasutra’s developer survey is the largest of its kind, covering both AAA and indie, North America and Europe. Before you go rushing off to learn some programming and level design, there are always some minor discrepancies and Gamasutra has a few methodology notes:
The sample represented in our salary survey can be projected to the overall game developer community with a margin of error, for the U.S., of plus or minus 2.6 percent at the 95 percent confidence level. The margin of error increases for specific subgroups reported within this community. Gamasutra
Also, those who made over $200,000 USD or less than $10,000 USD were not included in their developer survey. Let’s cut right to chase and answer the age old question: “How much money can I make working with video games”. Quality Assurance Testers: $54,833 (average salary) Game Designers: $73,864 Artists and Animators: $74,349 Producers: $82,286 Programmers and Engineers: $93,251 Audio Professionals: $95,682 Business and Management: $101,572
Another factor for how much money you could make in the game industry probably depends on your gender.
“On average, women made 86 cents on every dollar that men made in the U.S. game industry” though the national disparity between men and women is greater at “women make 77 cents on every dollar that men make” according to the Gamasutra findings. INDIE REPORT: Check out the full report from Gamasutra for a more in depth look at the world of gaming salaries.
Gamustra Report Gamatura.com
