Game Designers Make $67,000 Per Year?

[palladin9479]

This is why smart coders / developers would instead work for the defense industry. There are a dozen or so companies, some of them large conglomerates that develop almost all the software that operates some of the most expensive systems in the world. There is still the insane pressure to produce material for some high priority mission, but at least the pay is good and the job stable.

 

[Dekasav]

This is why current games are lacking in GAMEPLAY, designers aren't getting enough time/money to do their job properly.

 

[Guest]

That is bs. I am 3d Modeler and the average salary for 3d modeler is 36000 to 44000 (assume you are lead modeler) a year.

3D modeler or animator is also on contact base which means the job isn't secure. My classmates usually only receive 3 to 6 months contact. Some has changed 6 jobs in a year.

 

[princeofdreams]

[citation][nom]hurfburf[/nom]Where are you getting 37.5 from? A normal work week is 40 hours, not counting breaks.Also, salaried employees rarely have contracts, and none of them state a number of hours per week.[/citation]

Here in the UK the standard hours of work are 37.5 per week, you contract always states the amount of time you work per week, (the time does not include your lunch breaks because you are not paid for them.

ALL employers now give a contract, it is almost impossible to get employment without one, if you didn't have a contract you might actually have some rights, and no employer wants to risk that.

I don't know about the US but I can guarantee here in the UK all employment is covered by a contract of employment and I presume the same is also in all major US firms also

 

[anamaniac]

[citation][nom]Princeofdreams[/nom]Here in the UK the standard hours of work are 37.5 per week, you contract always states the amount of time you work per week, (the time does not include your lunch breaks because you are not paid for them.ALL employers now give a contract, it is almost impossible to get employment without one, if you didn't have a contract you might actually have some rights, and no employer wants to risk that.I don't know about the US but I can guarantee here in the UK all employment is covered by a contract of employment and I presume the same is also in all major US firms also[/citation]
Well here were I work we're still paid by the hour, just everything over the first 8 hours is considered 'unauthorized overtime', and one of our secretaries was just suspended for paying overtime that wasn't unauthorized, and all affected employees just had some negative retro pay (which hurts).

I've found employers like to state you signed to do a lot for ridiculous crap when you joined, but I read every single word and just laugh a little inside, thinking, 'I hate my job I hate my job I hate my job'...

How about the average salary in the marketing department?

 

[Brent_NC]

I am salaried and work in the software business. I don't ever recall working a 40 hour week. I would love to work in the video game industry, but not for the pay those guys are offering. I've seen programmers in the Charlotte, NC area pull in way more than what this article is siting.

 

[Zingam]

[citation][nom]eddieroolz[/nom]It's mentioned that programmers make $90,000, not $67,000. That's for the designers.[/citation]

That's probably why the game designs suck so much these days because the designers get the lowest wage. And I think the game designer should be the single most important person on the project he should be a designer and the producer at the same time.

 

[poseidon2112]

I wonder what the average salary of the people in the legal departments of these companies is....

 

[PaTrond]

If they lived in Norway they would bare afford a Prius with an income of 62.000USD.
32.000USD/year would barely be enough to live in Oslo, Norway.

 

[mrboycom]

See they should make a formula Price and Quality ratio. Not Price and popularity ratio like call of duty modern warfare 1 to call of duty modern warfare 2 oops. =).

 

[mrboycom]

or even price and monopoly ratio.

 

[ssddx]

Anamaniac:

You're probably considered as an hourly employee, so you most likely havent seen any sort of contract. That really does bite about not having authorized OT though.

Salaried workers (without OT) are the ones who usually have a contract stating somewhere around 40-44 hours per week minimum. Of course this doesnt stop them from demanding 65+ in order for you to keep your job. I know some people stuck in this type of situation. This effectively cuts your wages per hour by 1/4 to 1/2.

The best deal is a salaried (+ OT) position. This guarantees 40 hours of pay even if you didnt have 40 hours of work to do; you would also get OT for any time worked over that as well. Quite a nice approach really.

As for the article:

These prices are relative to be sure. Factors such as company budget, market, locale, years of service, etc come into play.

 

[Spanky Deluxe]

[citation][nom]zingam[/nom]That's probably why the game designs suck so much these days because the designers get the lowest wage. And I think the game designer should be the single most important person on the project he should be a designer and the producer at the same time.[/citation]

To be honest, the salary differences are more likely due to the 'market values' of individuals. A game designer is pretty limited in career options whereas a programmer will usually come with a slew of qualifications and have the ability to go into any career that uses programmers. I.e. if a programmer wanted to, they could jump into a job in finance and earn a hell of a lot more. These programmers will likely not be people with a mid-grade computer science degree or a home programer without any qualifications, they're more likely to be PhD graduates.

 

[chomlee]

Those salaries are pretty much on par with standard engineering salaries which require 4 year degrees (I dont know if the software industry engineers do). The variation from marketing and management is also the same.

I think that is one of the reasons why this country is messed up. So much more money goes to the middlemen (marketing/management) and not into the actual creation of products. We are a society of passing around money and goods and making huge profits off of it.

It also stunts the growth of attracting kids into engineering. When they are deciding on what career to choose, they look at engineering and see someone sitting in an office on a computer all day, and then look at what marketing guys do and see them going to trade shows, playing golf with customers. Hmmmm which one do you think they chose.

My brother is in sales and he does things like go to Nascar races, special events, etc. One year he quit and took a desk job.... well, he quit that after a year because he said it was too boring. If you ask me, he didnt like the fact that he had to do actual work for a change.

 

[randomizer]

[citation][nom]zingam[/nom]That's probably why the game designs suck so much these days because the designers get the lowest wage. And I think the game designer should be the single most important person on the project he should be a designer and the producer at the same time.[/citation]
Why pay someone to come up with an outrageous idea for a game that the programmers can't feasibly implement within the development period specified by management? Programmers are the ones left "footing the bill" that the designers leave behind.

 

[redgarl]

Why did I made a bachelor in electrical engineering? Seriously, my only option was going in the military and I am not earning 67K$ a year. It will take some time before I get this paycheck too... at least 2 or 3 years...

Life sux!

 

[cknobman]

It would be interesting to know just how much these game designers and programmers actually work.

Im a mid level .net developer building mostly small console apps, windows services, and websites for a large corporation and I make 95K/yr. I think in my 3 years with this company I many have worked a total of 3-4 weeks where I put in more than 40 hours.

 

[hennnry]

By the "science" of macro economy, things have always worked this way: the poeple who actually do the job get paid the least.

I finally made my six figures in programming, but not because I programmed my ass off, but because I finally moved up from programming into management. So there is a future, although it takes years and years to get there.

 

[banthracis]

[citation][nom]redgarl[/nom]Why did I made a bachelor in electrical engineering? Seriously, my only option was going in the military and I am not earning 67K$ a year. It will take some time before I get this paycheck too... at least 2 or 3 years...Life sux![/citation]

Actually, Electrical engineering pays really well. 2 of my college housemates were electrical engineers. 1 works for Lockheed Martin, the other for Intel right now.

Their starting salaries out of college were $80k a year. They stayed an extra 1 year to grab a masters, but w/o one starting would have been about $72k. That's slightly above average for their graduating class. (Cornell Class of 08)

 

[sliem]

Game tester... that's an easy/fun job to start career with modest income.