Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
Why does Everyone think Development Teams are rich?
Alienstudios
Member Posts: 49
Everywhere I look I see people saying things like they get payed like $50 a hour.
this clears up somethings - http://www.animationarena.com/video-game-salary.html
it's a survey of what people in the game insdustry get payed, While they're working.
Becuase most are freelance and get hired when a company wants to make a game and then fired
afterwards.so they relly get payed about tops 50,000 a year unless their lucky. Also a lot of indie
companies pay less. Also game developement teams work alot of overtime becuase to the
companies it doesn't matter how long you work. Also a lot of game develpoment jobs are going to places
like china and india where they would work for 10,000 a year and think it's great. A person might work on one good
game in their life and then get stuck with some crappy job because the industry changes so much.
Comments
According to the article you linked to that is the salary for someone with little to know experience, on the other hand those with 6 years experience (which isn't that much) was between 66-88 thousand, so like everything else it depends in large part on time on the job.
It's easier to hate on someone when you think that they're rich and detached, instead of thinking about how hard they had to work, and how long they've had to do what they do to get to where they are.
I've been in the industry for six years and I'm just about to pass 40k as a game artist and world builder. It's a dog eat dog world out there and the job market is extremely competitive. Only problem is, when you finally get to your hallowed office, you find out that everone who plays your games hates you because you are "rich and detached".
how old is that article? also salary figures change drimatically dependant on location..
They don't know how much they make so when the know they do make some profit they assume they make a lot. Blowing things out of proportions is what gamers do best.
What is 'rich' anyway? In America the gap between the truly wealthy and anyone else is wider than ever. Of course, I know people who think earning 75k/year is wealthy.
Hard to say. I suppose if you are starving then the man with day old pizza is king.
define rich....cuz my opinion of rich is being able to own/drive a new vehicle...
I think this is the most wise post in this thread so far.
As a railroad track worker you'll get about $38 000 a year. Or you can get $34 970 (starting salary) as NYPD officer. And that's a way more dangerous and stressful work. And, well, there are still a lot of places in the world where people get paid like $1 a day. So yes, game devs get paid well and have a nice job overall.
I guess level and complexity of education required is a factor too, not sure how to compare it to those examples you gave. As most of jobs is a matter of supply and demand, and finally profitability of the company.
It's difficult to imagine what else they might be spending tens of millions of dollars on.
We casually toss around the words "million", "billion", and "trillion" like they're nothing but they're an absurd amount of money.
ab-freaking-surd.
Check this out..to put these numbers in a concept we might be able to put appreciation into
One million seconds is 11 days, 13 hours, 46 minutes, 40 seconds.
One billion seconds is 31 years, 251 days, 7 hours 46 minutes, 40 seconds.
One trillion seconds is 31,688 Years, 269 Days, 1 Hour, 46 Minutes, 40 Seconds.
* * *
US national debt is 14.351 trillion.. That many seconds would fill roughly 454,754 years.
OK, I concede I got really carried away. I apologize.
Spec'ing properly is a gateway drug.
12 Million People have been meter spammed in heroics.
That's the difference between "skilled" and "unskilled" labor. Now I understand there are certainly skill sets involved with both of the professions you listed, but you don't need 4 years+ of higher education to be a railroad track worker, you need a strong back. I believe that police are under paid for what they do, but I've also seen more than few corrupt officers that end up making considerably more than their base pay through various legitimate and illegitimate "perks".
Not many people can do what game developers do, at least proportionally to the population. Also, a lot of people that CAN do game development decide to go with jobs in business software for far higher pay. That creates a limited pool of talent for game development, which drives pay up, and competition amongst those with the necessary skills, which actually drives pay down. For what they do and the amount of time most serious developers put in, the majority of them are probably underpaid.
Can u paste a link, or actually find someone who has ever said that^^..?
Perhaps you don't know the difference between lead develop0er, and basic Dev team members..?
"No they are not charity. That is where the whales come in. (I play for free. Whales pays.) Devs get a business. That is how it works."
-Nariusseldon
Yes please... I dont recall anyone ever claiming that Dev team members were rich... Ive seen it said about companies that they were rich greedy bastards.. but That is a different story.. and not one that I agree with in every case.
It does seem to me that the companies are paying some of their people waaay too much... but thats the marketing department.. or the CEOs.. and they should probably not have hired so many graphics designers so early in the process that they have to ship a crap game that looks good but has no gameplay. And they problably shouldnt have had their marketing department hyping the game 3 years leading up to a premature launch.. But all in all it has little to do with the actual salary of the individual.. more do do with should they have hired this smuck /unecessary labour or not.
I mean.. I dont get why they dont get that its easier to make a game look pretty with updates post launch that it is to reinvent failed mechanichs and gameplay that was ruined due to too little time in development.. But as with movies and TV most companies take the expensive but simpler route of making it look good rather than focus on story and substance.
Story and substance gives far more back than graphics and special effects ever could. I saw avatar... terrible story.. good CGI.. I saw it once so far.. I may watch it again sometime... but I've watched far cheaper movies again and again and again because the story and concept and substance was sublime.
As an inspired game designer, starting out at 35k-46k a year seems great for me. I think the term rich is subjective. To me being rich is to not to worry about bills if you manage your money. But one thing that isn't said in this thread is that these are salary positions.
During milestone weeks you may work 60+ hours and weekends. Investors pay development teams two different ways. One being a lump sum and is split over time or paid every milestone completion. Another thing is that when the ship date is close, more than likely depending on the capacity of the development team you may have to live there for several weeks to get it shipped.
Another thing I'd like to get pointed out is that sometimes mmos have bad launches because they didn't hit milestone marks or didn't have enough funding. Essentially their scope of the game was too colossal.
I admit I've always thought development companies were rich, but the salary of their employees honestly never crossed my mind. Are we just looking at the two entities as though they were one, because....the company's bank account and the employee's bank account are not the same. I've worked for a few companies that I WISHED I shared an account with though, that's for sure. lol
Besides....what difference does it make if the development team is "rich" or not, and who determines the definition of "rich?"
President of The Marvelously Meowhead Fan Club
I'd like to see afew examples where people are saying that the DEV team is rich and not implying that the Company is rich.
Most of the times I have seen people complain have been people implying that the company itself is rich (or has alot of money that they COULD have put behind the game.)
I don't think anyone has came out and said game developers are rich or get rich. Most people know thats not true. But still even at $50k a year that is between $10-$20k higher then the average yearly pay of 40% of the US.
Wrong forum?
Nobody here thinks that developers are rich, nor does anyone really care whether they are rich or not.
Hype train -> Reality
If I had a way to like your post, I would. It's simple math, of course, but it shows another great perspective because $14,000 is an amount of money the average Joe can truly grasp. Also I spent 63 seconds typing this. $882k.
Spec'ing properly is a gateway drug.
12 Million People have been meter spammed in heroics.