2003 Game Development Salary Survey

I took part in this survey, even though I am too much of a newbie to be representative, it would be nice to get the European results at least.

it would be interesting to see a year-on-year comparison with the previous year’s results… anyone fancy taking it on?! [/quote:bf6907e586]
I have nothing to do right now. I could knock up something simple just to show the differences between the 2002 and 2003 surveys.

I’ll have it up soon for you. :)

Please bare in mind that there were many differences between the two surveys that made if difficult to judge accurately but here is what I have been able to compare considering the differences. Anyone else very surprised? Surely the group of people surveyed changed dramatically. How else could we have such differing results?

Tony, if you want anything more in depth or accurate you may want to ask someone else. I hope this is okay anyway. :)

Programmer

Up to 2 years
2002 – $49,602
2003 – $59,400

2 to 5 years
2002 – $56,106
2003 – $69,413

6 years plus
2002 – $81,766
2003 – $85,867

Lead Programmer

Up to 2 years
2002 – $64,437
2003 – $69,828

2 to 5 years
2002 – $63,035
2003 – $76,904

6 years plus
2002 – $78,626
2003 – $96,614

Technical Director

Up to 2 years
2002 – $95,680
2003 – $74,182

2 to 5 years
2002 – $73,786
2003 – $97,907

6 years plus
2002 – $104,217
2003 – $110,941

Artist

Up to 2 years
2002 – $53,184
2003 – $40,573

2 to 5 years
2002 – $53,471
2003 – $53,636

6 years plus
2002 – $89,562
2003 – $64,098

Game design

Up to 2 years
2002 – $51,741
2003 – $41,652

2 to 5 years
2002 – $45,700
2003 – $53,031

6 years plus
2002 – $62,727
2003 – $64,248

Producer

Up to 2 years
2002 – $66,935
2003 – $60,591

2 to 5 years
2002 – $55,645
2003 – $78,603

6 years plus
2002 – $96,697
2003 – $78,603

Nice one Ronny!

Anyone see this letter on Gamasutra?

Turns out they will not be releasing a non-US report after all. :(

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/letter_display.php?letter_id=671

the decision to use only the United States salary data wasn’t our goal — we keep trying to collect enough data from outside the US to present a wider scope. Unfortunately, we didn’t get enough responses to break out, for example, entry-level programmers in France. We could aggregate all of the programmers’ salaries in a given country, but that would lump entry-level salaries with salaries earned by seasoned professionals, and we didn’t think that data would be very enlightening for people.

I think the reason alot of European Developers are put off filling it in, is because they think its US centric and not for them.

They should do a European only survey – so that it is clear to Europeans that they do matter. Or shout from the rooftops that they really want non- US people to contribute.

If a European only one is sucessful, merge it into the normal Gamasutra salary survey…or just do regional surveys.

Thanks for that Tony.

I got that info from a friend and when I went to see the letter Gamasutra was temporarily down, as you may have noticed yesterday. All I had to go by was my friend’s word and that quotation. Having read the article now I noticed the rest that I was not aware of.

Personally I think the term ‘non-US’ is an insult as it reinforces people’s beliefs that there is America and then there is the pathetic lands outside of it. There would be a great difference between Indian, Japanese and British developers.

As Ivan said there should be a European survey.

Holy Sheet!

Gama Stripped over a third of the reponses from the survey!

(1,400 non-U.S. respondents versus a *huge* 2,740 US reponses)

I am writing a letter as we speak.

Ok heres the letter I mailed:

I was reading with interest Mark Laiman’s letter (dated 02.12.2004) regarding his disappointment with the the Gamasutra 2003 Salary Survey. In the Editor’s reply it was pointed out that there was not enough replies from the non-U.S. community to provide enough of a detailed breakdown of salaries for all regions outside of the U.S. across the experience spectrum.

I can well imagine this to be the case, I am of the opinion that a lot of developers located outside the U.S. assume that the survey is not intended for them to partake. When the survey arrived minus a third of its total responses (1,400 non-U.S.respondents) it can only help underline the feeling that the survey is meant only for US developers.

My recommendation for any future surveys would be to try to make it clear that the surveys are for all developers worldwide, thereby increasing the likelihood of responses from non-U.S. studios whom in the past would have felt excluded.

Thanks,
[/quote:2561b91b12]

Damn straight.

( tanks 2 Damian for helpin me with me inglish. )

A few months ago (not more than two or three) there was a similar survey in France. For those of you who might be interested, I can send you the relevant document. Of course, for some positions, due to the weak number of answers, figures have to be taken carefully, but for most of “classic” positions, it gives a fair idea of the situation. I don’t know if a similar initiative was undertaken in the UK…

I know that the ‘foreigner’ vote, when spread across Asian\Europe\Canada\ etc, is small but thats why we need more participation from these regions.

Gama should push for that.

Or else I’ll firebomb ’em….or not. Depends how busy I am in work :p

Good stuff, they put up me letter

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/letter_display.php?letter_id=693

This link on the igda quality of life forum might be of interest too. Seems to suggest people (even if mostly non-games industry bods) reckon the surveys are a tad inflated looking. Maybe even within the US not enough people are replying to give a proper representation?

http://www.igda.org/Forums/showthread.php?threadid=8685