1）Gamasutra与Game Developer杂志最近调查了全球4000多名游戏开发者的收入情况，指出2013年领取薪水的美国游戏开发者平均收入为8万3060美元，同比上年下降了2%（其调查执行于2014年4月，针对的是2013年1月1日至12月31日的开发者收入情况）。

在游戏领域中，商务和管理部门的薪水今年再次超越其他部门，平均收入为10万1572美元，其次是音频专业人士（9万5682美元），第三是程序员（9万3251美元），QA专业人士平均收入最低，仅为5万4833美元。

除此之外，美工和动画人员平均收入为7万4349美元，制作人平均收入8万2286美元，游戏设计师为7万3864美元。

在加拿大领取薪水的游戏开发者2013年总体平均收入为7万1445美元（比上年增长9%），而欧洲游戏开者平均收入则是4万6232美元（与上年持平）。

非工薪族的独立开发者2013年平均收入为1万1812美元（同比上年下降49%），而独立团队中的个人成员平均收入却是5万833美元（同比增长161%）（游戏邦注：这里并不包括那些收入低于1万或超过20万美元的独立开发者）。

由此可见，独立个人开发者收入呈现下降趋势，而独立团队的薪水却呈现乐观景象，报告称独立开发者平均收入在过去几年中波动较大。

2）Gamasutra最近发布的2014年游戏开发者收入调查报告显示，2013年美国男性工薪族游戏开发者平均收入为8万5074美元，而女性开发者平均仅收入7万2882美元（排除学生和教师群体），这意味着美国男性游戏工作者平均每赚1美元时，女性工作者仅能收入86美分。

尽管如此，游戏行业性别收入差距仍然呈现了缩小的趋势，2012年美国男性游戏工作者平均每赚1美元，女性工作者平均收入仅为77美分。

2013年游戏设计部门的性别收入差距最小，美国女性工作者平均收入相当于男性的94%，而音频专业人士的这一差距最大，女性平均所得收入仅为男性的68%。

Pew Research报道曾分析造成性别收入差距的原因之一是，由于多数女性需要照顾家庭生活，所以女性比男性更容易遭遇事业瓶颈，这种现象会对其长期收入造成影响。

哈佛大学人力教授Claudia Goldin则在最近论文中指出，只有在企业没有动力为超时加班的员工支付不成比例的报酬时，性别收入差距才有可能减少甚至消失。

3）App Annie最新报告显示，今年6月份《TwoDots》、《Angry Birds Epic》以及《Bubble Witch Saga 2》等老牌游戏及续作均进入iOS App Store游戏下载榜单前10名，甚至连《水果忍者》和《Fish Out of Water》这两款老游戏也重返该榜单，而《Don’t Tap the White Tile》和《2048》则是唯一出现在前十名榜单的两款新作。

《水果忍者》发布于2010年，《Fish Out of Water》发布于2013年，这两款游戏的排名晋升令开发商Halfbrick上升了43个名次，在6月份成为下载量排名第三的iOS游戏发行商。

《Bubble Witch Saga 2》（今年6月发布）的成功很大程度上要归结于其发行商King的电视广告策略，它在一系列电视频道播放30秒的游戏广告，令该游戏在App Store和Google Play晋升至游戏下载榜单第6名。这款游戏的出色表现还让6月份的King股价从6月份的16.5美元一路上升至日前的20.6美元，King股价本月初甚至还首次超过了22.5美元。

4）Juniper Research最新报告预测，主机和PC游戏收益将从2014年的465亿美元降至410亿美元。

尽管手机游戏正在崛起，主机和PC游戏仍将在未来5年的游戏收益中占比50%以上，而手机游戏收益增长速度却不足以令其整体规模超越传统游戏。

云游戏收益将从2014年的2.81亿美元增长至未来5年的10亿美元以上，这包括基于网络的游戏服务收益（例如索尼Playstation Now服务）。

Juniper认为第九代游戏主机将于2019年诞生，而到2018年手持设备在整个游戏行业销售额将缩水至2%以下，网络游戏流媒体平台（如Twitch）则将继续发展。

5）AdColony最近发布的开发者调查报告显示，视频广告是畅销应用开发者获取新用户的首选方法（游戏邦注：该调查执行于6月2日至6月23日，收到的响应率为49%）。

AdColony发现100%开发者现在都在使用视频广告，使用Facebook广告的开发者比例为92%，命名用插页式广告的占比90%，86%开发者使用条幅广告。由于安装量已经开始成为手机应用获得成功最不重要的KPI之一，展示性广告人气开始下滑。

该调查还显示，不足25%的开发者认为条幅广告是获取用户的有效方式，有96%开发者认为用户质量是评估一项广告措施是否有效的首要考虑因素。免费应用网络和优惠活动已经成为目前下滑最快的广告形式，目前使用这些手段的热销游戏广告人员已不足50%。

随着行业的全球化发展，广告预算也开始节节攀升。约88%开发者认为今年自己的用户获取活动规模变得更大和更为全球化。

43%开发者打算在2015年继续使用视频广告获取用户。

6）据gamasutra报道，亚马逊游戏工作室本周宣布正与移动工作室JotGen和Hibernum Creations合作，将在7月24日亚马逊Fire智能手机发布之前，推出两款首航合作游戏。

这两者分别是免费连线消除游戏《Saber’s Edge》和售价2美元的平台游戏《To-Fu Fury》（含IAP功能，以便展示Fire智能手机的“动态视角”功能）。

Fire智能手机的动态视角系统支持开发者设计能够进行脸部追踪和响应玩家目光所在的游戏。目前还不清楚亚马逊游戏工作室在这两款游戏的开发过程中究竟发挥了多大作用，因为HotGen和Hibernum这两家合作伙伴都已具备令人瞩目的开发经验，前者已向iOS App Store发布了多款《To-Fu》系列游戏，后者曾与迪士尼、EA和育碧等大牌公司合作，推出了《Calling All Mixels》、《Disney Infinity: Action! 》和《Pearl’s Peril》等多款手机游戏作品。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转载，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

1）Game Developer Salary Survey 2014: The results are in!

By Kris Graft

Gamasutra recently polled over 4,000 game developers worldwide, asking them the question: How much money did you make?

We did this as part of the annual Game Developer Salary Survey — the most extensive survey of its kind in the game industry. This year, the survey was run by Gamasutra in lieu of our beloved sibling magazine, Game Developer.

You can download the meaty eight-page report in PDF form right here. Gamasutra will be releasing Salary Survey highlights throughout the week on our special Salary Survey page.

So, onto the topline stats:

Salaried game developers

In 2013, salaried game developers in the U.S. made an average of $83,060 last year, down 2 percent from the year prior.

Business and management salaries topped all other disciplines once again this year, averaging $101,572, followed by audio professionals ($95,682) and programmers ($93,251). Quality assurance professionals earned the lowest average salary at $54,833.

Here are the rest of the disciplines we covered (U.S.):

Business and management: $101,572

Audio professionals: $95,682

Programmers: $93,251

Artists and animators: $74,349

Producers: $82,286

Game designers: $73,864

Quality Assurance: $54,833

In Canada, salaried game developers, including all disciplines, made an average annual salary of USD $71,445 (up 9 percent year-on-year) in 2013, whereas Europe-based game developers made USD $46,232 (flat).

The indie report

Non-salaried solo independent game developers made an average of $11,812 (down 49 percent year-on-year) last year, while individual members of an indie team made an average of $50,833 (up 161 percent). (These averages do not take into account indies who made less than $10,000, or over $200,000.)

The drop in solo salaries seems alarming, while the rise in indie team salaries seems promising — but be careful in making assumptions about this data. We’ve found that average indie salaries are prone to big fluctuations over the years.
Check out the full report!

Conducted in May 2014 for the period between January 1, 2013 and December 31, 2013, Gamasutra gathered well over 4,000 unique responses worldwide, with help from market research company Audience Insights.（source：gamasutra）

2）Gender wage gap: How the game industry compares to the U.S. average

By Kris Graft

The gender pay gap is once again a hot topic in the world of U.S. politics, and in the world of video game development, the issue has reared its head.

According to Gamasutra’s Game Developer Salary Survey 2014 [PDF], men working U.S.-based salaried jobs in the game industry made $85,074 on average in 2013, whereas women made an average of $72,882 (excluding students and educators).

That means on average, women made 86 cents on every dollar that men made in the U.S. game industry.

While it’s still an issue that needs to be fixed, the game industry gender wage gap is smaller than the national average: In the U.S. overall, women make 77 cents on every dollar that men make, according figures from a 2012 Census Bureau survey.

The chart below shows the pay gap in various game industry positions. In 2013, game design had the smallest gap, with women making 94 percent of what men do on average in the U.S. Audio professionals had the largest, with women making 68 percent of men on average.

Research beyond the realm of video games has examined possible causes for the gender wage gap. One of the prevailing theories, reported by Pew Research, is that women are more likely to experience career interruption than men, as a higher percentage of women take time off to care for family. Such career interruptions could have an impact on longer-term earnings.

More flexibility in working conditions and hours could hold the key to further closing the wage gap, and perhaps have a greater effect than employee revolt or anti-discrimination laws, experts say.

Harvard University labor professor Claudia Goldin said in a recent paper [PDF], “The gender gap in pay would be considerably reduced and might vanish altogether if firms did not have an incentive to disproportionately reward individuals who labored long hours and worked particular hours.”

The government this year has made the gender wage gap a sticking point for U.S. politics. In April, President Obama backed directives meant to help close the wage gap by signing legislation that would make it easier for workers to sue companies for disparate pay.

Check out the full report!

Conducted in May 2014 for the period between January 1, 2013 and December 31, 2013, Gamasutra gathered well over 4,000 unique responses worldwide, with help from market research company Audience Insights.

You can download the full PDF here, and check out Salary Survey highlights all this week at our special Salary Survey page on Gamasutra.（source：gamasutra）

3）Fruit Ninja and other familiar game brands are bubbling up again on the mobile download charts

Jeffrey Grubb

While iOS and Android still host a number of unexpected breakout hits, a number of recognizable games and sequels are moving up the charts.

Games like TwoDots, Angry Birds Epic, and Bubble Witch Saga 2 were all in the top-10 most-downloaded games on the iOS App Store in June, according to a report from industry-tracking firm App Annie. Even developer Halfbrick’s Fruit Ninja and Fish Out of Water, two games that dominated mobile charts in years past, are back in the top 10 on iOS. This is evidence that established mobile developers are adapting for the ever-changing mobile landscape, and it reveals that surprising hits like 2048 and Don’t Tap The White Tile won’t necessarily crowd out games from developers like King, Rovio, and others.

“TwoDots led the wave of new entrants that swept through the top-10 iOS games by monthly downloads in June,” reads the App Annie report. “Don’t Tap the White Tile and 2048 were the only two apps that stayed in the top 10 from May.”

TwoDots is the sequel to the incredibly popular Dots from developer Betaworks One, and its fans returned for a second round with the game. That brand recognition didn’t just help TwoDots. Rovio’s Angry Birds are back near the top of the charts with the free-to-play Angry Birds Epic action role-playing game on iOS and Android.

Angry Birds Epic debuted on June 12, and it immediately slingshotted into the top-5 games for the combined iOS and Google Play downloads chart worldwide. While Angry Birds games typically do well, some of Rovio’s other recent attempts (like kart racer Angry Birds Go) fizzled out quickly. Epic’s strong first month suggests its success may have a longer tail.

The most surprising return to form for the month of June was definitely Halfbrick and its Fruit Ninja and Fish Out of Water.

“Halfbrick leapt 43 spots and ended June 2014 as the No. 3 iOS game publisher by downloads due to the strong performance in the second half of month,” reads the report. “The Australian game studio sliced the prices for their paid games to free for a limited time, which resulted in substantial growth across their app portfolio. A couple of Halfbrick games rode the free wave all the way into the Top 10 iOS games by monthly downloads the fan­-favorite Fruit
Ninja and Fish Out of Water.”

Fruit Ninja debuted way back in 2010 and Fish Out of Water is from 2013. Now that both games are back near the top of the downloads chart, that should help with their visibility on the App Store. The studio may see a boost in its sales now that the games have better discoverability.

Finally, Candy Crush Saga publisher King definitely has that new hit it was looking for. Bubble Witch Saga 2 blew up on both iOS and Android in June. A lot of that success is likely attributable to King’s strategy of downplaying mobile ad spending in favor of television advertisements. The developer is running 30-second spots for Bubble Witch Saga 2 on a number of cable and network channels, and it has Bubble Witch Saga 2 as the No. 6 most downloaded game across both the App Store and Google Play.

The performance of Bubble Witch Saga 2 has King trading up from around $16.50 in June all the way up to $20.60 today. King’s stock price even surpassed $22.50 earlier this month for the first time since its initial public offering.（source：venturebeat）

4）Console and PC game markets doomed to shrink, analyst firm predicts

Dean Takahashi

So much for the enthusiasm around next-generation game machines.

Console and PC game revenues are expected to decline 11 percent from $46.5 billion in 2014 to $41 billion by 2019, according to a report from analyst firm Juniper Research. That’s a steep decline in the current generation of consoles that just got started in 2012 and 2013.

Juniper also said that, despite the rise of mobile games, console and PC games will still account for more than 50 percent of revenues for the game business over the next five years. The gloomy message is that mobile game revenues will not rise fast enough to become bigger than traditional games.

But Juniper said that the level of console and PC game sales in the industry will remain relatively healthy. Game companies, however, shouldn’t believe any hype about endless growth. The report notes an uplift in revenues as Xbox One and PS4 launched in November, 2013 but warns that the corresponding current rise in console software sales is going to be a short-term one.

One bright spot: Cloud games will grow from $281 million in revenues in 2014 to more than $1 billion over five years. That includes revenues from web-based game services such as Sony’s PlayStation Now service.

Juniper said it believes the ninth generation of game consoles will arrive around 2019, assuming the console lifecycle doesn’t change too much. On the PC, multiplayer online battle arena games such as League of Legends will be among the most popular genres. Handheld devices will struggle, shrinking to under 2 percent of the total game industry sales by 2018. And online game streaming platforms such as Twitch will continue to grow, Juniper said.（source：venturebeat）

5）Mobile marketers are turning to video ads to acquire new users (exclusive)

Dean Takahashi

Video ads are now the No. 1 way to acquire new people for top-grossing app developers, according to a developer survey by AdColony.

That’s no surprise, considering AdColony is a provider of video ads. But even considering the source of information, the survey says a lot about the current state of getting mobile users. Bryan Buskas, the senior vice president of sales and performance advertising at AdColony, discloses the survey results at a 1:30 p.m. Pacific session today at the Casual Connect game conference in San Francisco.

AdColony found that 100 percent of developers now use video ads, compared to 92 percent for Facebook ads, 90 percent for interstitials, and 86 percent for banner ads. Display ads are starting to decline in popularity as the volume of installs has become one of the least-important key performance indicators (KPIs) for successful mobile apps.

Indeed, AdColony is not the only one to discover the effectiveness of video ads. VentureBeat broke the news last week that Facebook will soon be rolling out “sequential” targeted video ads in its mobile apps, as advertisers continue clamor for this medium.

Also, AdColony — and mobile video — figure large in VentureBeat’s recent report on the most effective methods for mobile app monetization.

The AdColony survey shows that fewer than 25 percent of developers consider banner ads to be effective at acquiring users. User quality is now the No. 1 factor in evaluating a campaign’s performance, according to 96 percent of developers. Free app networks and offer walls are now the fastest-declining ad formats; they now see use from less than 50 percent of the top-grossing game advertisers.

Ad budgets are growing as the business becomes more global About 88 percent of developers agree that their user acquisition campaigns are larger and more global so far this year.

For 2015, 43 percent of developers are most excited about using video ads for user acquisition. The survey was conducted from June 2 to June 23, and it had a 49 percent response rate.（source：venturebeat）

6）Surprise — Amazon Game Studios is making Amazon Fire phone games

By Alex Wawro

Amazon Game Studios continues to be the leading developer of Amazon platform-exclusive titles, announcing this week that it is partnering with two mobile studios — HotGen and Hibernum Creations — to release a pair of launch games for Amazon’s Fire smartphone ahead of its July 24th debut.

Both games — the free-to-play match-3 game Saber’s Edge and the $2 platformer To-Fu Fury — offer in-app purchases and seem designed to showcase the Fire’s “Dynamic Perspective” feature.

The phone’s Dynamic Perspective system uses the Fire’s four front-facing cameras to do facial tracking and allows developers to design games that can react to where a player is looking or where the phone is in relation to their face.

It’s unclear how deeply Amazon Game Studios was involved in the actual development of these games, as both partner studios have established mobile development track records — HotGen has put out multiple To-Fu games on the iOS App Store, while Hibernum has worked with companies like Disney, EA, and Ubisoft to create mobile titles like Calling All Mixels, Disney Infinity: Action! and Pearl’s Peril.

Given that we already know Amazon Game Studios is working on Sev Zero and other games for the Amazon Fire TV microconsole, it seems likely that the studio — which has been staffing up all year — is digging in to focus primarily on developing showcase games for Amazon hardware.

Earlier this year, Killer Instinct creator Double Helix Games was acquired by Amazon, and shortly thereafter it was announced that designers Kim Swift and Clint Hocking were joining Amazon Game Studios.（source：gamasutra）