[UK] Salary transparency project reveals games industry wage discrepancy

An innovative spreadsheet set up to encourage more pay transparency in the UK games industry has revealed the average salaries for people working across different roles and sectors, GamesIndustry.biz reports.

The effort was led by Sally Blake from indie studio Silent Games, in addition to CreativeUK programme manager Chris Filip.

By the first week of July, the spreadsheet had reportedly amassed almost 1,300 entries from professionals in the industry. It has used the data to calculate the average annual pay for almost 50 different roles at seven different skill levels: intern, junior, intermediate, senior, leader, director and executive.

By July 4, the sheet said that the average salary for a game designer at junior level is £26,000, £44,000 at senior level and £87,000 at director level.

According to the data, the lowest paid role across the board is QA, paying junior staff an average of £21,000, senior staff £27,000, and leaders £35,000. Positions in audio design, 3D art and journalism also showed lower average salaries.

The highest paid roles were shown to be in online programming, which pays an average of £30,000 for interns, £70,000 for seniors and around £90,000 for leadership roles. Other high-paid roles included business development, data analysis and production.

"We made the new salary spreadsheet with the intention of making it accessible and clear for people to discover the salary differences across areas such as discipline, location, and experience levels," Ms Blake told GamesIndustry.biz, acknowledging a previous project led by Weather Factory's Lottie Bevan. "Salary transparency is something the industry is slowly becoming more accustomed to, and hopefully resources such as this help provide a very basic benchmark or discussion point for workers.

"While it isn't a solution to long-term salary discrepancies or solving problems that come alongside, we hope this community-led initiative serves as a helpful tool that can help promote healthy discussions around salaries. There have already been many contributions to the spreadsheet, as well as suggestions for improvements moving forward which we are grateful for."

The team is continuing to take submissions for the sheet via Google form and the averages will change based on new additions to the data.

Source: GamesIndustry.biz

(Links and quotes via original reporting)

An innovative spreadsheet set up to encourage more pay transparency in the UK games industry has revealed the average salaries for people working across different roles and sectors, GamesIndustry.biz reports.

The effort was led by Sally Blake from indie studio Silent Games, in addition to CreativeUK programme manager Chris Filip.

By the first week of July, the spreadsheet had reportedly amassed almost 1,300 entries from professionals in the industry. It has used the data to calculate the average annual pay for almost 50 different roles at seven different skill levels: intern, junior, intermediate, senior, leader, director and executive.

By July 4, the sheet said that the average salary for a game designer at junior level is £26,000, £44,000 at senior level and £87,000 at director level.

According to the data, the lowest paid role across the board is QA, paying junior staff an average of £21,000, senior staff £27,000, and leaders £35,000. Positions in audio design, 3D art and journalism also showed lower average salaries.

The highest paid roles were shown to be in online programming, which pays an average of £30,000 for interns, £70,000 for seniors and around £90,000 for leadership roles. Other high-paid roles included business development, data analysis and production.

"We made the new salary spreadsheet with the intention of making it accessible and clear for people to discover the salary differences across areas such as discipline, location, and experience levels," Ms Blake told GamesIndustry.biz, acknowledging a previous project led by Weather Factory's Lottie Bevan. "Salary transparency is something the industry is slowly becoming more accustomed to, and hopefully resources such as this help provide a very basic benchmark or discussion point for workers.

"While it isn't a solution to long-term salary discrepancies or solving problems that come alongside, we hope this community-led initiative serves as a helpful tool that can help promote healthy discussions around salaries. There have already been many contributions to the spreadsheet, as well as suggestions for improvements moving forward which we are grateful for."

The team is continuing to take submissions for the sheet via Google form and the averages will change based on new additions to the data.

Source: GamesIndustry.biz

(Links and quotes via original reporting)