Some interesting statistics from UBM TechWeb Game Network’s Game Developer magazine suggest that though the games industry is getting far more profitable for indies, it’s still a risky career decision.
The 11th annual Game Industry Salary Survey for salaries through 2011 found that individual indies make an average of just $US23,549, which is more than double 2010’s $11,379, but still not exactly a Scrooge McDuck situation. Indie teams made an average of $38,239, up $11,459 from 2010.
This is far, far less than the average USA salary across the games industry in 2011, which was $81,192. Breaking things down further; Business/ Legal were the highest earners, with an average salary of $102,160.
This was followed by:
Programmers – $92,962
Producers – $85,687
Audio – $83,182
Artists and Animators – $75,780
Designers/writers – $73,386
QA testers – $47,910
This was a pretty comprehensive report with 4,132 responses from developers worldwide. Not all who participated in the survey provided enough compensation information to be included in the final report, but it’s a good snapshot of the industry nonetheless.
Of course a lot of indies are startup or hobbiest companies and therefore lower wages are to be expected as they establish themselves, but it’s a good wake up call that not everyone who thinks they have a great idea will make it in this industry of ours.
Neither do most indie artists or musicians. It's tough to get started in the entertainment industry these days. Still, nice to see some heard numbers on it.
Yeah, agree with you completely. It's just unfortunate to see 🙁