10 Amazing Perks Of Being A Game Developer Nobody Talks About
1. An Allowance Of Cheap Games
But all the other things count for nothing in the grand scheme of things - passion? Pfft. Camaraderie? Psssst. Healthcare? Don’t make me guffaw.
What really counts is that we get cheap games, and cheap games, we most definitely get!
When I was working at big studios, I got an allowance of games - you get a copy of whatever you worked on*, free, and all other games from that studio at cost price. The only downside? Only a couple of copies of each title, tops, just in case some genius decides to sell a bunch on eBay (which is strictly forbidden by threat of employment termination, by the way).
Policies vary from studio to studio, of course, but most have an incentive package for full-time staff to help them get their game on. Which, I think we’ll all agree, is the best and most important perk of working in the games industry.
*Sounds great, but you’ve been working on/making those games for the past year or three. A bit like working as a chocolate eater eating nothing but chocolate for a week, then at the end of it your prize is a huge bar of chocolate.
...I actually want chocolate, now.