Gamesutra has released its Game Industry Salary Survey for 2014 Tuesday, and the numbers indicate a stable, perhaps even stagnant, industry. Overall game industry salaries within the United States dipped slightly in 2013, with an annual salary of $83,060 on average, down slightly from 2012’s $84,337.
Broken down, the top earners among salaried developers were those in Business & Management, the only category to break six figures in the survey with $101,572. Audio Professionals ranked second at $95,682, while Programers and Engineers rounded out the top three at $93,251. The lowest pay in the industry went to QA Testers, who earned $54,833, almost half what Management made.
The more interesting salary numbers came from the Indie (non-salaried) developers. Indie development has become a hot topic recently, but not everyone can be Dong Nguyen. Among solo developers, average industry income was a paltry $11,812, down nearly half from 2012’s numbers. Small development teams, on the other hand, saw their salaries jump 161% to an average of $50,833. These numbers highlight how volatile indie development can be in the current market.
Despite the overall dip, the survey found that “60 percent said their salary increased between 2012
and 2013, versus 32 percent who said their pay stayed the same, and 9 percent who said it decreased.” The survey also found that overall job satisfaction in the industry was high, and that “there is an undercurrent of enthusiasm that revolves not around salary, but around loving games, and creating games.”
Gamesutra attributes the overall sluggish numbers in the Game Developer Salary Survey by noting that “2013 was a year in which salaried employees adjusted to a release slate made up of even fewer games than the year prior.” They also noted that fewer jobs, in general, were available in the industry.
