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15
April 2008
Game
Developer Salary Survey Reveals
Average Income
Editors
at Game
Developer
Magazine
have released the results of its
seventh annual Game Developer
Salary Survey, calculating an
average American game industry
salary in 2007 of $73,600,
slightly up from 2006's figure of
$73,316.
Highlights
of specific findings per category
for the survey, which is the only
major publicly released analysis
of salaries in the worldwide
video game industry, is available
in further detail in the newly
published April 2008 issue of
Game Developer
magazine.
Programming
Programmers
are the highest paid talent next
to high-end businesspeople, with
an average annual salary of
$83,383. They are also among the
highest educated group; 50% hold
bachelor's degrees and about 26%
have some graduate
work.
Art
& Animation:
Artists
Averaging
a $66,594 salary, artists are
also a well trained group, with
66% reporting at least a
bachelor's degree. The percentage
of artists with six or more years
of experience increased to 40%,
up 5% over last year, as industry
workers matured.
Game
Design
Averaging
$63,649, design positions
sprouted an average $2,111 over
last year, with writers new to
the industry up by $6,000 to an
average of $51,731. In addition,
Game Developer surveyed community
managers for the first time, with
an average salary of $50,294 for
the increasingly important job
function.
Production
Of
all the game development
disciplines, production - with a
salary average overall of $78,716
- seems to be one of the most
welcoming to women, with 18% of
the workforce made up of females.
The discipline as a whole saw an
above-average, though somewhat
marginal $1,585 bump from last
year.
Quality
Assurance
Testers
with less than three years
experience make up the largest
percentage of this segment.
Quality assurance is the lowest
paid of the game development
disciplines, averaging $39,063,
and also receives the least in
additional compensation -
although Q/A leads with more than
6 years of experience average a
salary of $70,658.
Audio
Sound
designers as a group earned more
than they did in 2006, up $3,474
on average over last year to
$73,409. Interestingly, 40% of
those in the game audio industry
have been working there for 6
years or more - more than the 36%
for game design, but less than
the 51% for
production.
Business
& Marketing
The
business field as a whole remains
the highest compensated group in
game development - with an
average salary of $101,848 - and
also receives the highest amount
of additional compensation.
However, salaries vary
significantly between individual
job titles in this section, with
experienced executives making the
most of any individual section in
the entire survey - at $132,305
average for more than 6 years
experience.
"Our
Salary Survey continues to
provide canonical information on
the state of game pay," Simon
Carless, publisher of Game
Developer magazine, said. "We
hope the data presented by Game
Developer magazine will serve to
both encourage aspiring
developers, as well as focus the
attention of increasingly
important new industry positions
such as community
managers."
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