The answer is as simple as supply and demand. If there are 200,000 devs who want to work in game dev and 4,000 roles then wages will be depressed by over-suppl

The answer is as simple as supply and demand. If there are 200,000 devs who want to work in game dev and 4,000 roles then wages will be depressed by over-supply. This is observable in all sorts of industries, often bordering on exploitation of people who desperately want to work in a specific area and are willing to work on low/no wages to get experience. You'll also see companies over-paying when key skills are hard to source as the natural complement.