4 ms·

You have to factor in the 1.5x overtime that's standard on hourly. I went back and did the numbers, it was closer to $6hr but well below minimum wage for a dev

You have to factor in the 1.5x overtime that's standard on hourly. I went back and did the numbers, it was closer to $6hr but well below minimum wage for a dev position. From the little bit of salaries I heard art, design and test had it even worse.

pandaman 6y ago
80 h/week at 1.5x overtime for 40 hours = 100h/week * 50 weeks (less holidays) = 5000 hours a year. At $6/h it makes 30K/y. This looks very low for the US tbqh, even for a non-programmer. When I started at my first job in the US game industry in the late 90s I've made 75K in a small independent studio. I had probably 3 years of experience at that time but no shipped games, I also was a foreigner on a temp visa so I don't think I had significantly more than a fresh grad would have got at the same position. This looks like QA salary from more than 10 years ago but where did you get a salaried QA job?
- falcolas 6y ago
  EA, about 15-20 years ago, was paying $35k for programmers, and working them ~80 hours a week. It was so bad that EA lost a lawsuit that cost them about $90k per impacted employee, since the courts ruled that they were being treated as hourly employees, not salaried. That is to say, due to “passion”, entry level game programmers aren’t making much more than $40k a year. They have no negotiating power going in, since there’s a hundred others who will willingly take their place at the low wages, just to be in the videogame industry.
  - pandaman 6y ago
    Do you mean the ea_spouse lawsuit? I don't know what EA cost had been but seeing that affected people were paid 5-15K I doubt it was 90K on the front end. As for $35K for programmers - maybe in Canada? I don't believe for a second EA could get any significant number $35K programmers in their main studios in the US (CA,TX) or even Florida. And when I worked there 15 years ago they equalized salaries across the internal studios with COL adjustments.

pandaman 6y ago

80 h/week at 1.5x overtime for 40 hours = 100h/week * 50 weeks (less holidays) = 5000 hours a year. At $6/h it makes 30K/y. This looks very low for the US tbqh, even for a non-programmer. When I started at my first job in the US game industry in the late 90s I've made 75K in a small independent studio. I had probably 3 years of experience at that time but no shipped games, I also was a foreigner on a temp visa so I don't think I had significantly more than a fresh grad would have got at the same position. This looks like QA salary from more than 10 years ago but where did you get a salaried QA job?

falcolas 6y ago
EA, about 15-20 years ago, was paying $35k for programmers, and working them ~80 hours a week. It was so bad that EA lost a lawsuit that cost them about $90k per impacted employee, since the courts ruled that they were being treated as hourly employees, not salaried. That is to say, due to “passion”, entry level game programmers aren’t making much more than $40k a year. They have no negotiating power going in, since there’s a hundred others who will willingly take their place at the low wages, just to be in the videogame industry.
- pandaman 6y ago
  Do you mean the ea_spouse lawsuit? I don't know what EA cost had been but seeing that affected people were paid 5-15K I doubt it was 90K on the front end. As for $35K for programmers - maybe in Canada? I don't believe for a second EA could get any significant number $35K programmers in their main studios in the US (CA,TX) or even Florida. And when I worked there 15 years ago they equalized salaries across the internal studios with COL adjustments.