For the most recently survey results - view the 2020 report here
As Games and Interactive recruiters, we're lucky enough to spend our days talking and networking with a wide range of talented people across the industry, giving us an inside track into what is going on throughout of the sector. Whilst this knowledge is extremely useful, but we wanted to back up our anecdotal findings with hard data-based evidence. So in 2014, we launched our annual Games and Interactive Salary and Satisfaction survey which allowed us to do just that.
Now in its fifth year, our annual Salary and Satisfaction survey has been the biggest yet, with feedback from across the globe. We have got together some of the highlights for you but to delve fully into programmers, artists, countries and much (much) more you can download the full results below.
Download the full survey results HERE!
Average salaries across the UK and Europe
Reassuringly the salary data backs-up what we’ve seen from our own experiences over the past 12 months, and after a slight dip from £39k in 2017 to £38k in 2018, 2019 saw the average UK games and interactive salary begin to rise again, now at around £42k.
We’re seeing very similar average salaries across the globe.
However, when we break the average salaries down by level we find some differences across between the UK and Europe.
The UK salaries progress as you would imagine, but in Europe, the salaries at Senior/Managerial/Director level seems to move around slightly more, potentially down to lower salaries in some of the Eastern European studios.
Average Senior Salary for countries in Europe
This is backed up by the numbers we see when comparing the average salary by country in Europe.
Again, as suspected throughout the UK salaries are highest in London at £51k closely followed by the South East, East Midlands and North West. The lowest regional salaries are currently in the North East.
Average UK Salary per Region
If you’d like an even more granular look at the salaries per country or region, please contact us with your request.
Download the full survey results HERE!
Average salary by country and seniority
We can see from the survey that salaries across all levels of seniority peak in the US, specifically for Lead roles which leap ahead of their counterparts in other parts of the world. Surprisingly in Canadian and Nordic regions Leads appear to earn less in some instances than their colleagues in Senior positions.
Salaries across Games Industry Areas
Best Paid Areas Of Games and Interactive Industries
Mixed Reality, alongside Interactive Installations, AR, VR is the best-paid areas across the sector in both the UK and Europe. Whilst the lowest average earners are those working within PC games in the UK and Console games in Europe. Whilst in the USA and Canada those working within the Console Games area earn the most.
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For more Games and Interactive Salary insights and more Download the Survey Results HERE!
Most Important Aspects of work
Interestingly 'Salary' is not top of the list for of what people working in the Games and Interactive industry want from their work. Those in the UK favor work/life balance as the most important aspect of their work (31%), followed by exciting projects (23%) and company culture (17%).
UK Most Important Aspects of Work
Monetary benefits (3%) and flexible working (8%) were of the lowest importance to those in the UK.
Breaking the importance down by level shows that for junior staff, company culture is most important. Mid-Level Seniors favour work/life balance, for Leads its salary and finally for those in Managerial or Director positions it’s really all about the exciting projects. We hear this from candidate requests and mirrors what we’d expect in terms of personal life stages.
Similarly, in Europe, exciting projects (36%) and work/life balance 27% were top of the importance list, top with salary (14%) coming third. Monetary benefits (3%) and flexible working (6%) are also least important to those in Europe.
EU Most important aspects
Flexible & Remote Working
Despite flexible working being a hot topic, as we’ve seen it’s apparently not a top priority in the Games and Interactive Industry. The most likely reason being that the industry is already offering pretty flexible working hours. The global industry average is 75%, with the highest being in Europe where 80% are offered flexible working, and the lowest being the US where it drops to 61%.
When it comes to remote working however the percentages are much lower than you might expect. 27% in the UK and 35% in Europe and Globally.
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Download the full survey results HERE!
Benefits
In the UK the three key benefits people working in the Games and Interactive Industries desire are Private health care (44.58%), Pension (41.77%) and Performance-based Bonuses (39.76%). In Europe, the joint top is Training (41%) and Performance-based Bonuses (41%), followed by Private health care (37%) and Extra Holiday (32%).
Globally the top 3 benefits people working in Games and interactive desire are Healthcare, Bonuses, and Training.
For detailed benefit data and more Download the Survey Results HERE!
Job Change Data
One of the most striking things the survey threw up was the number of people looking to move jobs in 2019. 84% globally will be considering a move. With 35% in the UK and 44% in Europe saying they will definitely be looking this year.
Top reasons for moving in the UK include Financial remuneration (25%), no longer feeling challenged (12%) and concerns about the company’s future (11%). In Europe top reasons for leaving include Financial remuneration (17%), Chance to relocate (14%), no longer feeling challenged (13%).
For more detailed job change data and more Download the Survey Results HERE!
We are so pleased to be able to share these results with you again and we hope you find them useful, but in all honesty, they only scratch the surface of the data collected. If you have a question related to any of the results here or in the main report, please get in touch!
We are more than happy to pull more specific data should you have the need. Say you need to know what benefits mid-level artists in Germany want… we can tell you! Or if you want to check what reasons junior developers are leaving their jobs in 2019 in Canada… we can tell you that too! Just try us.
We look forward to hearing your thoughts and opinions on the results and keep an eye out for our upcoming blogs which will be delving even deeper into what’s going on in the world of games and interactive!
And don’t forget to join the conversation on Twitter #SkillsearchSurvey19!
Download the full survey results HERE!
©Skillsearch and www.skillsearch.com, 2019. Excerpts and links from this material may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Skillsearch and www.skillsearch.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
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