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Survey determines average U.S. game developer income
[Flickr user AMagill] The results of Game Developer Research's ninth annual Game Developer Salary Survey recently surfaced, giving us our yearly reminder that we're totally on the wrong side of this industry. According to the survey, the average "American mainstream videogame industry salary" is $75,573. Over here at Joystiq Inc., we're only pulling in $75,571.42. We're thinking about going on strike until parity is achieved. The survey also breaks down average salaries for the different disciplines which compose our beloved industry. The highest-paid gaming professionals are PR and marketing executives, earning $129,167 a year on average. The lowest head on the totem pole is that of the QA tester, whose average annual income is $37,905. We're betting the recent winner of The Tester wishes he had chosen to participate in The Public Relations Professional instead.
Rumor: Japanese game programmers report low salaries
[Chris Gladis] It would be, like, totally glamorous and exciting to be a programmer for a game company in Japan, right? Maybe not so much. According to anonymous responders on Japanese super-forum 2ch (as translated by CNNGo), salaries for game programmers are far below what you'd expect for a tech job in one of the most expensive countries in the world to live in. "¥130,000 [$1,457] for 256 hours of work a month," one poster reports. "¥160,000 [$1,793] and I am ready to die," another laments. "I can't even afford the 'recruit suit' I'll need for interviewing for another job." How do you live in Tokyo on that kind of scratch? "¥180,000 [$2,017] a month, no bonus, and only thanks to the company dorm can I afford to live in Tokyo," one responder explains. It seems that game development is considerably less prestigious than other fields. "I'm 27, live in Tokyo, working for a major company, and make ¥680,000 [$7,622] a month, with a separate yearly bonus," one anonymous poster boasts. "But it isn't in the game industry. Ha!" The moral of this story is this: Don't work for a game company in Japan. [Via Kotaku]
Develop: One third of devs aren't satisfied their wage covers cost of living
Given the current economic climate, most of us go to bed praying we'll have a job in the morning. However, what's a job when you can't live off the wage? Develop's salary survey found that nearly 36 percent of developers aren't satisfied that their income covers their cost of living. Of course, given the immense variety of jobs, locations and lifestyles that people can have, grasping exactly what that statistic represents isn't easy. For example, a Junior QA, scraping by on an average $23,000 annual salary, is likely having a fairly rough time no matter where they live. However, a studio head, making an average of $106,000, could also be struggling -- with a coke, hooker and ego habit. It's all relative. Over 400 industry members from around the world participated in the survey. If you're a member of the industry or want to be, check out the average salaries. Source -- Third of devs unsatisfied by wages [Develop] Source -- Salary Survey: Are you getting enough? [Develop]
Average salaries of video game industry employees compared
[Flickr: Bradipo] Once again, MCV has surveyed its fellow video game professionals about their annual salaries in order to come up with an average wage for each facet of the industry in 2010. The median average for all European and U.S. respondents is £31,509 (call it $51,331 and change), while the mean is £40,467 (roughly $65,925) -- that's a fraction of a percent lower than last year's results. For a full breakdown of how much each individual profession will average this year in salary, check out the list after the jump. It wouldn't be polite to comment on how our wages compare to the reported average Media salary. Nope. We're not gonna do it. We're just going to sit here on our $6,000 Italian leather massage chair, finish writing this post on our $22,000 diamond-bejeweled supercomputer, and then continue sipping on this $14,500 bottle of Scotch. Mmmmm. So crisp.
Tim Cook gets $12.3M for watching Apple while Jobs was out
Apple COO Tim Cook has received $12.3 million in Apple stock for stepping in as CEO during Steve Jobs absence earlier this year. Considering its been a rough couple of years for the economy and many CEOs still got large salaries for doing very little, it's nice to see Cook being rewarded for, you know, actually doing something and producing results. In 2007 and 2008 Cook earned stock awards worth $7 million and $6 million, respectively. This year for Tim closes with a $12.3 million stock award plus a $100,00 salary raise (up to $800,000 from $700,000) and a fat cash bonus of $800,000. Total compensation for 2009? $14 million. Steve Jobs took his usual $1 salary and a $1 bonus. But don't worry, he's doing just fine with his 5.5 million shares of Apple (AAPL) stock, which closed Monday at another all-time high of $211.61 a share (that makes Steve's shares worth a cool $1,163,855,000).
Activision CEO made nearly $15 million last year
Say what you will about Activision CEO Robert Kotick -- and from what we've seen in previous posts, you will -- the guy knows how to make money. Not just for Activision as a whole (which raked in close to $1 billion in Q2 this year), but for himself as well -- according to a recent Forbes profile on the controversial CEO, Kotick made $14,950,102 in 2008.Kotick caught some flack last week for joking about wanting to increase the price of Activision's releases. Now, it seems we know why -- he's only making $15 million a year. He desperately needs that extra scratch to upgrade his Azimut 62E Luxury Yacht to an Azimut 116 Luxury Yacht. Those meanies at the Santa Monica Yachting Club just won't stop picking on his puny seafaring vessel.[Via GamesIndustry]
Jon Rubinstein's new salary: $850,000 per year, Pre-tax
The Palm Pre might not be a million dollar idea, but it's close. It'll bag Jon Rubinstein, Palm's new CEO, a cool $850,000 in salary each year according to Palm's Form 8-K just released. Pretty weak sauce for corporate CEOs until you factor in his 100% annual bonus eligibility and stock option grant of 430,000 shares vested monthly over the next 4 years. Given that Rubinstein has been credited with saving Palm from itself, we'd say he's worth every penny. Former CEO Ed Colligan, on the other hand, the man who laughed off the iPhone in November 2006 saying, "PC guys are not going to just figure this out. They're not going to just walk in," will receive $1.2 million just for leaving the seat warm upon exit.Read [warning: PDF]
Game industry salaries increased 7% in 2008
Game Developer magazine's 2008 Game Developer Salary Survey features something we wouldn't expect to see: good news. Gamasutra's summary of the survey notes that the average salary for people working in the American game industry (those who still work in the game industry, at least) went up 7% in 2008, from around $74,000 to around $79,000.Business and marketing commanded the highest salary, at an average of $102,143. Programmers had the next-highest average salary of $85,024, followed by producers ($82,905), sound designers ($78,167), artists and animators ($69,532), game designers ($67,379), and QA ($39,571).If you happen to be in one of those upper tiers and you'd like to read the full report, it's available for just $2,995.
More than half of UK devs happy with pay
Develop's survey of 528 UK developers found the average salary on the islands to be £30,442 ($43,087). Although that's a few thousand pounds higher than the average annual salary in the UK, there appear to be significant differences in pay when compared to American counterparts.Not that it seemed to bother the majority of respondents, as 66 percent stated they were satisfied their salary covered the cost of living. Also interesting is that 67 percent stated their employer provided no training -- sink or swim, baby. Of those looking for a job, 26 percent said their motivation came from not being paid enough, while 50 percent said their boss reminded them of David Brent from The Office (not really). [Image]
AMD denies Ruiz raise, says it's just a misunderstanding
Last week, we reported that Hector Ruiz -- CEO of chipmaker AMD -- had received a 7.4-percent raise even though the company has been struggling as of late and its stock has dropped considerably over the past year. Now, according to reports, the rumors of the pay increase have turned out to be the product of a misinterpreted SEC filing -- or so say the public relations people at Advanced Micro Devices. Apparently, the confusion stems from a pay raise that the honcho received in 2006; somehow the change in figures halfway through the year led to a proxy statement of $1,046,358 -- the supposed new salary. The "clarification" still leaves a few questions unanswered, but at least for now we can sleep soundly knowing that Hector Ruiz, the highest paid CEO in the semiconductor industry, will only be earning a paltry $1,124,000 this year.
Jobs total compensation a bit more than $1 per year
Steve Jobs' $1 per year salary is famous, but as everybody already knew that's hardly the whole story. According to Forbes, Jobs was the highest-paid CEO in 2006 in terms of "total compensation," taking home approximately $646 million (which is almost double number two on the list)! This was apparently mostly by way of some of those (in)famous stock options, which is pretty much standard for executives these days.[via MacNN]
