10 Biggest Misconceptions You Have About Video Game Developers

Though it certainly differs greatly from country to country, here in the UK, game developers tend to get paid pretty modestly.

In fact, in the AAA space, there’s something of a gulf in pay bands that still needs to be addressed - whilst team leads and some seniors make up to around £80k per year, this is far from the most typical salary in a big studio.

For example, the lower earners (which includes, bafflingly, QA) can earn as little as £14-15k per annum, which is about how much you’d earn stacking shelves in a big supermarket. Graduate or entry-level artists (in UI, character art etc.) can expect salaries of around £18k. And, programmers, who tend to be the most amply compensated, usually start at around £19-21k per year.

The gulf I was referring to is one of progression - with larger studios, the real value is in retention of staff, so your promotions usually come with very modest pay upgrades until you get to a certain level, where that pay starts to jump up considerably.

For me, in my first non-contractual role, I went from £18k to £25k in the space of nearly six years before that company went into liquidation suddenly, and I had to start at a significantly lower pay bracket at a new company once more.

It can be extremely disheartening to feel as though progress is being halted, particularly in a creative and competitive field, which is likely why so many people tend to stay in the same AAA game studio their entire lives.

One thing is absolutely certain - if you’re entering into the game development space, make sure it’s not to make a ton of moolah, unless you’re willing to put in a ton of time to the same AAA studio.