{"id":45990,"date":"2023-04-21T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-04-21T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/simpleprogrammer.com\/?p=45990"},"modified":"2023-04-05T20:14:59","modified_gmt":"2023-04-06T00:14:59","slug":"game-developer-salary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/simpleprogrammer.com\/game-developer-salary\/","title":{"rendered":"The REAL Salary of a Game Developer in 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Making a living creating games. That\u2019s the ultimate dream, right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But it\u2019s also a challenging job that can come with frustrations and long hours worked. And it\u2019s a competitive field, because many young people have the goal of a career in Game Development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Are Game Developers compensated well enough in light of these facts, then?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Is Game Development Career Viable\" width=\"720\" height=\"405\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/7HvEtcXp8fM?start=209&#038;feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The quick answer is: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Game development, on average, does not pay as well as many other Software Engineering jobs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Top-end developers do make over six figures a year, but as a Junior Game Developer, you might have to start at around $60k annualy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Let\u2019s have a detailed look at what salary you can expect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Game Developer salary in numbers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to salary.com, the average base salary of a Game Developer in the US is $73,427 as of 2023. This comes out to an average hourly rate of ~$37.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/simpleprogrammer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Game-Developer-Salary.jpg\" alt=\"The average salary of Game Developers\" class=\"wp-image-45993\" width=\"750\" height=\"281\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Source: salary.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The low end<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">10% of Game Developers are earning the low of $57,000 per year \u2013 or $19\/hour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The high end<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The top 10% of Game Devs take home the high of $131,000 per year \u2013 or $70\/hour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Profit shares and bonuses<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Some game development companies are paying bonuses and profit shares to their developers. These vary widely from $2,000 to $70,000 per year and are dependent on the company\u2019s release schedule, individual performance, and product success. A survey by <em>Game Developer Magazine<\/em> found average additional compensation to come out at $26,872.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">By experience<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>According to the <a href=\"https:\/\/igda.org\/\">International Game Developers Association<\/a> (IGDA), as a first- or second-year Game Developer, you can expect to make a salary of $57,000 on average.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>With over 6 years of experience, on the other hand, you can expect an average annual compensation of $70,000.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">By location<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to salary.com, game developer salaries by US state are as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Arizona: $69,295<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>California: $87,684<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Idaho: $65,326<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Massachusetts: $59,808<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Montana: $62,820<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Nevada: $71,305<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>New York: $82,423<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Oregon: $73,080<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Washington: $77,401<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Comparing game developer salaries with other fields<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Game Developer: $74,000<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Software Engineer: $125,000<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Software Tester: $55,000<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Cloud Engineer: $133,000<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Blockchain Developer: $145,000<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Video Game Artist $69,000<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Making a living creating games. That\u2019s the ultimate dream, right? But it\u2019s also a challenging job that can come with frustrations and long hours worked. And it\u2019s a competitive field, because many young people have the goal of a career in Game Development. Are Game Developers compensated well enough in light of these facts, then?&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":45995,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[162232892],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45990","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-software-developer"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The REAL Salary of a Game Developer in 2023 - Simple Programmer<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/simpleprogrammer.com\/game-developer-salary\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The REAL Salary of a Game Developer in 2023 - Simple Programmer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Making a living creating games. 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