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The Video Game Development Industry

P

Playmaker

Golden Member
Does anyone know of any good sites that detail how the video game development industry works? Such as common positions, average pay, market outlook, etc.?

Thanks.
 
Most common position: Pizza delivery
Average pay: $10,000/year
Market outlook: there is no word to describe how poor it is

Give up. Trying is the first step towards failure.
 
Originally posted by: chrisms
Most common position: Pizza delivery
Average pay: $10,000/year
Market outlook: there is no word to describe how poor it is

Give up. Trying is the first step towards failure.
Click to expand...



Hahah shut up. Game development is a dream job. Yes its possible to get in but its hard. Ummmm I have a friend in the industry..it depends on what you want to do. You can goto a school like digipen or fullsail


Pay is high i believe..since if u do get a job like a programmer..you are working long long days.
 
You've read the EA Spouse blog, right?

Expect to get paid reasonable development hours for a 40 hour work week...only be expected to work 100 hour work weeks. Seriously. 100 hours. Yes, game devs frequently sleep in the office during the 'crunch' periods.
 
This was in the news a while back, the industry is not all fun and games. Can it be a great job? Sure, but like anything else it can be tough too.
 
It depends on what you want to do.

I recommend either going to Art School if you want to be an animator, or a University to major in Comp Sci if you want to be a programmer.

Programmers in the game industry avg less than other programmers. Animators actually make more these days. There are ALWAYS jobs because burnout and turnover rates(quiting/being let go) are HIGH.

As for market outlook, the video game industry is typically one of the fastest growing industries in the world year to year.
 
Originally posted by: digitalsm
It depends on what you want to do.

I recommend either going to Art School if you want to be an animator, or a University to major in Comp Sci if you want to be a programmer.

Programmers in the game industry avg less than other programmers. Animators actually make more these days. There are ALWAYS jobs because burnout and turnover rates(quiting/being let go) are HIGH.

As for market outlook, the video game industry is typically one of the fastest growing industries in the world year to year.
Click to expand...

I dunno about them getting paid more. True i am in college so i dont know about salary and all but what i have read is they get paid a lot. I mean they need to know a lot of stuff toher programmers dont need to know and they work long long hours
 
Originally posted by: RadioHead84
Pay is high i believe..since if u do get a job like a programmer..you are working long long days.
Click to expand...
100% wrong on pay -- pay is lower than for development jobs for non-game companies, and hours are much longer with no overtime pay (EA is in trouble for this).

Since everyone wants to "get paid for playing games!" like the TV ads promise, there is always a fresh supply of people willing to work long hours for low wages.

At independent companies, many are barely paying the light bill -- Troika (ex-Black Isle / Fallout folks) just shut down recently, Looking Glass died, on and on.

I'm not trying to stop you, just don't go in thinking it's high pay for easy work.
 
Originally posted by: RadioHead84
Originally posted by: digitalsm
It depends on what you want to do.

I recommend either going to Art School if you want to be an animator, or a University to major in Comp Sci if you want to be a programmer.

Programmers in the game industry avg less than other programmers. Animators actually make more these days. There are ALWAYS jobs because burnout and turnover rates(quiting/being let go) are HIGH.

As for market outlook, the video game industry is typically one of the fastest growing industries in the world year to year.
Click to expand...

I dunno about them getting paid more. True i am in college so i dont know about salary and all but what i have read is they get paid a lot. I mean they need to know a lot of stuff toher programmers dont need to know and they work long long hours
Click to expand...
Keep in mind how competitive the market is; there are 10 people just as good as you willing to replace you in a heartbeat, so you're paid accordingly. It's decent-good money for a 40 hour white-collar sallaried job, but it's really poor pay when you factor in how much extra work actually happens. It's also an industry biased against elders; time you've been with the company is a liability since you would expect raises and promotions and they're not going to give it(see: replacing you). Don't expect to raise a family programming games, if you even make it to 35 in the industry.
 
Originally posted by: RadioHead84
Originally posted by: digitalsm
It depends on what you want to do.

I recommend either going to Art School if you want to be an animator, or a University to major in Comp Sci if you want to be a programmer.

Programmers in the game industry avg less than other programmers. Animators actually make more these days. There are ALWAYS jobs because burnout and turnover rates(quiting/being let go) are HIGH.

As for market outlook, the video game industry is typically one of the fastest growing industries in the world year to year.
Click to expand...

I dunno about them getting paid more. True i am in college so i dont know about salary and all but what i have read is they get paid a lot. I mean they need to know a lot of stuff toher programmers dont need to know and they work long long hours
Click to expand...

The avg starting salary for a programmer is $40k. The avg starting salary for an animator is $50k.

Now I know programmers in other industries dont make as much anymore, but they still avg $45k. There use to be a huge pay disparity between programmers and video game programmers. Its narrows as other programmers have seen they pay come way down.
 
Originally posted by: RadioHead84
Originally posted by: sleepmachine
start out as a game tester? i have alot of friends that did this at Sega and Sony in SF and they loved it.
Click to expand...

Did they get anywhere?
Click to expand...
well they were never going to get into game development/programming with communcation and accounting degrees, but two of them ended up writing strategy guides for Prima and some other friends ended up doing artwork for various game companies. at the very least it's a way to get your foot in the door.
 
Originally posted by: ViRGE
Originally posted by: RadioHead84
Originally posted by: digitalsm
It depends on what you want to do.

I recommend either going to Art School if you want to be an animator, or a University to major in Comp Sci if you want to be a programmer.

Programmers in the game industry avg less than other programmers. Animators actually make more these days. There are ALWAYS jobs because burnout and turnover rates(quiting/being let go) are HIGH.

As for market outlook, the video game industry is typically one of the fastest growing industries in the world year to year.
Click to expand...

I dunno about them getting paid more. True i am in college so i dont know about salary and all but what i have read is they get paid a lot. I mean they need to know a lot of stuff toher programmers dont need to know and they work long long hours
Click to expand...
Keep in mind how competitive the market it; there are 10 people just as good as you willing to replace you in a heartbeat, so you're paid accordingly. It's good money for a 40 hour white-collar sallaried job, but it's really poor pay when you factor in how much extra work actually happens. It's also an industry biased against elders; time you've been with the company is a liability since you would expect raises and promotions and they're not going to give it(see: replacing you).
Click to expand...

Anytime a project is finished people get let go.... Extremely high turnover.
 
Originally posted by: digitalsm
Originally posted by: ViRGE
Originally posted by: RadioHead84
Originally posted by: digitalsm
It depends on what you want to do.

I recommend either going to Art School if you want to be an animator, or a University to major in Comp Sci if you want to be a programmer.

Programmers in the game industry avg less than other programmers. Animators actually make more these days. There are ALWAYS jobs because burnout and turnover rates(quiting/being let go) are HIGH.

As for market outlook, the video game industry is typically one of the fastest growing industries in the world year to year.
Click to expand...

I dunno about them getting paid more. True i am in college so i dont know about salary and all but what i have read is they get paid a lot. I mean they need to know a lot of stuff toher programmers dont need to know and they work long long hours
Click to expand...
Keep in mind how competitive the market it; there are 10 people just as good as you willing to replace you in a heartbeat, so you're paid accordingly. It's good money for a 40 hour white-collar sallaried job, but it's really poor pay when you factor in how much extra work actually happens. It's also an industry biased against elders; time you've been with the company is a liability since you would expect raises and promotions and they're not going to give it(see: replacing you).
Click to expand...

Anytime a project is finished people get let go.... Extremely high turnover.
Click to expand...

That sounds true. But then again if you work hard and make yourself wanted..no problem
 
Originally posted by: RadioHead84
Originally posted by: digitalsm
Originally posted by: ViRGE
Originally posted by: RadioHead84
Originally posted by: digitalsm
It depends on what you want to do.

I recommend either going to Art School if you want to be an animator, or a University to major in Comp Sci if you want to be a programmer.

Programmers in the game industry avg less than other programmers. Animators actually make more these days. There are ALWAYS jobs because burnout and turnover rates(quiting/being let go) are HIGH.

As for market outlook, the video game industry is typically one of the fastest growing industries in the world year to year.
Click to expand...

I dunno about them getting paid more. True i am in college so i dont know about salary and all but what i have read is they get paid a lot. I mean they need to know a lot of stuff toher programmers dont need to know and they work long long hours
Click to expand...
Keep in mind how competitive the market it; there are 10 people just as good as you willing to replace you in a heartbeat, so you're paid accordingly. It's good money for a 40 hour white-collar sallaried job, but it's really poor pay when you factor in how much extra work actually happens. It's also an industry biased against elders; time you've been with the company is a liability since you would expect raises and promotions and they're not going to give it(see: replacing you).
Click to expand...

Anytime a project is finished people get let go.... Extremely high turnover.
Click to expand...

That sounds true. But then again if you work hard and make yourself wanted..no problem
Click to expand...
I still don't think you're getting it. You can always be replaced under the EA style of management, there's no reason why you'd be wanted over someone else, especially since they'd never notice your work, the system discourages it. The truely exceptional people are the ones that don't even apply for jobs at game companies, they're the people that the uber indie developers(id, Epic, etc) flock to in the first place.
 
Thanks for the replies. I'm actually not interested in the industry myself, it's more for educational/curiousity purposes. Thanks for the great links.

If anyone in here does in fact work in the industry, do you know where the major game dev companies pull most of their execs from? Is it generally finance/accounting or do programmers/artists actually work their way up? I would assume that's the case at the smaller developers.
 
'Smaller developers' don't have finance/accounting departments - or it's a single person.

Larger developers (EA Games) hire the suits in from outside the company.
 
the industry is brutal right now. there's just one business model for a game to get built and the small developers get the shaft.

i mean, you can live well but you really have to work hard for a long time to get somewhere.
 
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