Survey Details Game Developers' Salaries

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• Yeah, like you pointed out at the end of your post, it isn't something that is exclusive to the game indu... : SockMonkeh
• Not fair? Why don't you work your way into management then. Develop the skills that those other peopl... : MR 9000
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  lol, another typical engineer/scientist/techie... if business is so easy, why didn't you do that instead?... : KePoW
  • >> if business is so easy, why didn't you do that instead Im going with 'self-respect'... j/k... so : johnny rotten
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  I look at it two ways: 1. Management makes the rules. Self explanatory. 2. Like it or not, busin... : DinK
  • I look at management as a resource. : Wilhuf

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  Yes. That's exactly what QA is. : mittense
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    To play the same game, 6 days a week. Doing things like 'file a bug every time you see a missing texture'... : cannelbrae
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      Yes, I know. I was being a sarcastic dick. : mittense
      • And I was trying to explain why you were being a sarcastic dick. I think I failed horribly. ;) : cannelbrae
    • That's just a QA test there, too, a QA lead has a lot more responsibility. : SockMonkeh
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      Yup. I've worked at Activision as QA, and while I did enjoy the job (the environment of working at a game... : thetangent
      • Also, I don't know how it is at other companies, but Activision treats all the members of QA as temps, an... : thetangent
  • Well theres a lot more to QA than that (at least in normal software companies). Its also not untypical ... : kinnoch
• Playing the same broken/unfinished/unfun game all day, and being able to write concise bug reports with c... : Evan_C
• Playing is so different than testing :) : Sturm08
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  Dude, don't for a second think QA is sitting around playing games all day. Unless you count things like s... : Fred Garvin
  • Yeah. Game testers don't play games, they test them. Testing is not the same as playing. : SockMonkeh
• Please don't feed the troll. : Archangel2007
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  It's one thing getting paid to test GTA4, it's another thing to have to play barbie horse adventures 40 h... : shredomatic
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    Actually, I would wager testing GTA4 would be worse than Barbie Horse Adventures. : Derringer
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      As someone who tested a My Little Pony game at one point in my career, I'd take you up on that wager. : deveus1
      • As someone who has tested sports games (checking stats to make sure they are accurate after each build wa... : Derringer
• And this would be why the position of game tester is so very undervalued (both by the public and by the g... : SinistarX
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  It takes a keen eye to spot loose graphics. : Mad Jack McMad
  • and perhaps the low salary keeps that eye closed, at least for a lot of games rushed out the doors. : gohan2518

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• game-developers are suckers. : billy_zelsnack
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  I thought the average was actually high considering what I know of my own and other friends' salaries in ... : mittense
  • A lot of devs in CA. They tend to bring up the average. There is quite a bit of regional variation. : cannelbrae
• I'm not sure the average game makes millions though. You are comparing an average to the exception. : Porkasaurus
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  You don't go into game development to make the big bucks. : SiW73
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    Very true. I fucking love this industry and I love making games, but I have a great deal of difficulty un... : mittense
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      amen, we put up with a metric ton of bs and stress for pennies : timaste
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        And to know that we've brought crazy good times to people across the world. What better joy is there to t : Mad Jack McMad
        • We've also brought crazy to people across the world. Don't underestimate the value of crazy. : cannelbrae
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        As a business Dev who got into computer programming at a very young age I will say this; Programming i... : Tauru
        • Well what are you waiting for, Tauru? : Mad Jack McMad
        • I went to college with a dream to one day get to develop the most kickass business system mankind had eve : SilverSnake
        • Hey, I used to work in SQL Analysis Services every day -- it was teh shit! ;) : smart1
      • Yeah, but you do it for the chicks, right? : crummynz
    • Always blows my mind. I know exactly what you're talking about. : Sturm08
• Not only that, but there is no overtime pay or royalties in this industry on average. : deathofrats
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  So because everyone and their brother (including me) want to make video games for a living, we developers... : JZig
  • Lots of people may want to work in the industry, but its hard to find quality employees. Sort through a s... : kinnoch
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    It's kind of bullshit though. It is HARD to find good people. There may be a ton of people who want in ... : ease one
    • Yes, it's hard to find good people, but you probably won't get a salary anywhere near what you could get ... : SilverSnake
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      While I agree it is a hassle to slog through horrifically bad applicants, you should go over to cgsociety... : gooblerampling
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        There are talented people out there, but where the hell are their resumes? Are they just trying to w... : ease one
        • Hahaha, you are so on the money. Your quote there is something I hear all the time. People don't underst... : FunkytownP
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      Amen! If anyone is l337 and wants a job working in the valley, email me your resume @ smart@zooks.com : smart1
      • And that would be smart@zoosk.com. Doh : smart1
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        The valley like Phoenix? :) : rezombie
        • Silicon Valley...bay area in california :p : kinnoch
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  I advise everyone I know that asks me to stay out of the industry and just enjoy playing games. It really... : gnoleb
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    If you want to make alot of money in the games industry, be the CEO of EA or Sony. Get one of those baji... : iggypopped
    • IGGEH!!! : holinka
• please to be telling me what you do so I can follow. i need a new job anyways : smacknca
• See, we DON'T all drive stripper-powered Ferraris. : MR 9000

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  What do you do at the moment? : cannelbrae
  • ceo of microsoft. : jackalope
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    I run the business intelligence operations for a search engine marketing agency. But before this, at the... : ezanga
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      Honestly, working at a game publisher (or a very large developer) would probably be the closest in terms ... : cannelbrae
      • I appreciate the suggestions. Still would love to do it, but with a wife and 3 kids, living in Chicago (... : ezanga

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• Yeah I hear that, I got another 10 years or so... : menar003
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  same here, but not as a silly doctor. You guys are in school waaaaaaaaaaaaaay too long before you see the... : vertdang
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    "2 years nuclear medicine certification." where do i sign up? : johngloid
    • Springfield Nuclear Reactor. See W. Smithers for an application. : edgewise
    • They have schools all over the place. But I REALLY recommend getting your R.T. (radiologic technologist... : vertdang
• I took one programing in C class, then I switched to Bio. No way I'll sit down and plug code for 12 hour... : IHATEDUST
• Oi. 6 more years to go for me :(. : quadeh

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• Thats because he's living/working in SF. I'm down near San Jose at another tech company and i'm paying 13... : kinnoch
• It's actually more because that money is taxed because only %25 for house/rent ain't bad in CA. He's m... : Porkasaurus

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  bonus info would be interesting to see. salaries are for the most part all within a range, especially by... : iggypopped
  • I don't know about that. I think last survey I read said bonus were about 10k a year on average. : ease one
  • From what I have heard THQ doesn't do a Christmas bonus, but they do give you some extra days off. They ... : ease one

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  QA is very much under-appreciated industry wide. It's sad, because a polished, bug free game is one of th... : Sturm08
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    I'd say it's more a factor of development time pressure rather than the quality of testers that leads to ... : billy_zelsnack
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      Well, there's also the fact that most QA is contract work. They come in for the game, spend half the time... : Sturm08
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        Interplay had full time QA... and oddly enough most of the bugs that games shipped with were known, but i... : Evan_C
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          That metric you cited isn't a function of QA. QA's job is to find the problems, not fix them. I wonder ho... : Delithio
          • Typically production/design and/or the publisher sign off on whether those are fixed or not. QA did their... : Sturm08
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    You are joking right, Valve and Blizzard make the most buggy games/software out there. (steam being near ... : SlingBlaze
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      You have no idea what you're talking about. That's really all there is to say. : mittense
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        Someone must have opened up a portal into bizzaro shack. : Delusional
        • You expected better from news item chatties? "They're like the mutant backwater of shacknews, where objec... : dewdman
      • I wouldn't call either company's games the most buggy, but Valve certainly had its moments. Half-Life wa... : omnova
    • To put it in perspective, WoW had the smoothest launch of any MMO. Given the demand that was so beyond in... : ZombieAcademy
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      This is one of the wrongest posts I have ever read in my life. : SockMonkeh
      • Pretty much. : Sexpansion Pack
    • You are awarded no points, and may god have mercy on your soul : Turd Ferguson
  • Unpolished games don't happen because of under-funded QA. it happens because developers and publishers t... : iggypopped
• I have over seven years of industry QA experience, and I've gotten QA Lead position offers in the $40,000... : RomSteady
• The biggest problem is when we find people good at QA, we hire them over to the dev side. So we always ha... : gnoleb
• QA lacks funding and appreciation in most tech companies. They sure can be a saving grace though :) I... : kinnoch

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• me too! awesome! : kikilupo
• yay for a market is now flooded and driving down the price. : m0rfus
• haha me too but I just passed my 1 year milestone as a junior designer so I'm not too worried... yet : dewdman

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• so you're saying this isn't latestchatty? : buzzbat

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• That QA number likely includes the $8 an hour tester in the hive mind that does the heavy lifting all the... : kornkobcom

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• You flip burgers for a living or something? :( : SilverSnake

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  What state - texas? : Porkasaurus
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    yup : deathofrats
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      You probably aren't underpaid then because the cost of living is lower, lookup some cost of living index ... : Porkasaurus
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        Cost of living difference between most cities is not so much as long as you don't compare the cost of pur... : billy_zelsnack
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          How much do you pay in rent? A studio in Manhattan cost 1650-1850. In So Cal for a 1 bedroom what is it... : ease one
          • I'm in Riverside, about an hour East of LA, and a 1 bedroom in a decent area (decent being not dangerous)... : Ctrl-Phreak
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  http://www.shacknews.com/laryn.x?id=16719289#itemanchor_16719289 But, yeah. The GameDeveloper Salary S... : mittense
  • I've gotten the salary survey from them in the past. They pick a random selection of subscribers in each... : RomSteady
  • I've always thought that California throws all the numbers out of wack. Though, here in Seattle life isn'... : Mad Jack McMad

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• I think they throw out people on the super high end making 400k a year or whatever. : ease one