作者：James Batchelor

最近对于游戏开发的年薪调查显示，过去几年的薪资下滑情况得到逆转，即现在开发的平均年薪达到了33800英镑。

也许这一数值并未高于2013年的34183英镑，但比起去年的31882，今年的薪资的确增长了不少。并且需要注意的是这一数值是源于所有平均中值，即为了避免最高薪资和最低薪资扭曲了整体结果。

跟往常一样，我们并未计算那些低于14000英镑以及高于10万英镑的薪资，从而确保我们的结果能够反应出产业中大多数人的正常薪资。如果我们将这些最高和最低的薪资也计算在内的话，最终结果可能会掉到33000英镑。

而如果我们将所有开发者的薪资都算在内的话，真正的开发者平均薪资将达到38023英镑，即过去四年中的最高值。如果再加上所有相关收入的话甚至能达到38571英镑。

这一结果非常振奋人心，并且也标志着在过去几年里，或者至少是现在，开发者的艰难岁月结束了。

我们邀请了来自世界各地386名开发者接受了采访，其中超过一半的受访者（54%）是来自一些较大型的游戏工作室。20%的开发者效力于拥有10名以下工作人员的小型工作室。他们中的大多数人都是自学成才，或者是凭借自身的经验，只有38%的人拥有与游戏相关的资格证，如游戏设计学位之类。

16%的受访者是女性开发者，这一数值相比去年的11%有所增加，并且男性和女性之间的薪酬差距也不断缩减。那些女性受访者的中值平均工资额为32000英镑—-比男性受访者的33618英镑少了1700英镑。

奇怪的是，当我们着眼于真正的平均薪资时，这一差距的两端反而颠倒了过来，即女性的薪资达到了42382英镑，而男性的平均薪资则为36930。对此最有可能的原因便是更多女性开发者身处高层，执行和管理等职位。

我们还发现英国开发者的中值平均薪资低于全球的中值平均数值，即为2万英镑。而如果我们着眼于真正的平均薪资，它便为33932英镑，即比全球开发者的真正平均薪资低4000英镑。

而美国开发者的中值平均薪资则远远高于全球开发者平均薪资，即我们所采访的所有美国本土开发者的中值平均薪资为5万英镑。其真正平均薪资更高，为54558英镑。再一次地，出现这样的数值也是源于我们的调查对象中拥有更多高层人士。

全球开发者平均薪资增加的部分原因是2015年开发者获得了提薪。我们66%的受访者表示在过去一年里他们的薪资比前年增加了60%以上。

并且开发者们对此的期待也会延续着，即有65%的开发者表示他们有信心能在2016年末获得更高的薪酬。

Screen Shot 2016-01-29 at 10.24.29(from develop-online)

变革的时代

在我们的受访者中，有1/4的人表示打算在今年换工作，并且有45%的人表示希望在今后五年里搬到其它地方。

这便意味着30%的人对当前的雇主感到满意并且没有离开的打算。

“新挑战”和“薪酬”是人们考虑换工作最常见的原因，即在我们的受访者中有26%和24%的人是因为这两个元素决定换工作，其中有超过一半的受访者（53%）表示考虑搬到海外去。

似乎现在的游戏产业已经变成一个越来越让人舒服的工作领域，即疯狂加班和糟糕的工作条件等问题已经得到了最大的缓解。大多数开发者（78%）都表示拥有相对正常的工作时间（游戏邦注：即大概每周工作31至50个小时），42%的人一周最少工作41个小时，只有4%的人表示一周工作超过60个小时。

有将近一半（42%）的受访者表示自己经常会加班，并且其中有78%的人表示自己并未因为加班而获得额外的报酬。

但是这并未剥夺了开发者们对于自己的工作的喜爱。

仍有80%的受访者表示在今后5年里愿意继续待在游戏产业中，其中38%的人表示他们“一定”会待在这里，而42%的人表示他们“非常有可能”继续待在这里。最后，有82%的受访者表示他们对自己2016年的工作充满信心。

Screen Shot 2016-01-29 at 10.24.19(from develop-online)

（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转发，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

Develop Salary Survey: Average dev wage rises to ￡33,800

By James Batchelor

Things are looking up for games developers – and by ‘things’, we mean their pay packets.

Results from Develop’s latest annual salary survey shows that the decline of the past few years has been reversed, with the average developer earning ￡33,800.

It may not be as high as 2013’s average of ￡34,183 but it’s a significant rise from last year’s result – and our all-time low – of ￡31,882. It should be noted these are the median averages in order to ensure high earners and low-income indies did not distort the overall results.

As always, we have also disregarded any results below ￡14,000, as well as studio head and exec salaries above ￡100,000, to ensure our results are reflective of the majority of industry salaries. If we added those in, the median actually drops slightly to ￡33,000.

If we look at the mean average salary – again, with our aforementioned exemptions – the figure rises significantly to ￡38,023; the highest result in the last four years. Adding in all entries, it comes in even higher at ￡38,571.

The results are encouraging and could be a sign that the last few years of developer hardship are, for now at least, over.

We had more 386 developers from around the world complete our survey, and more than half of them – 54 per cent – are employed by larger, more established studios. 20 per cent work at micro studios with a staff headcount of 10 or less. The majority are also self-taught, or have learned through placements and experience, with only 38 per cent claiming to have games-related qualifications, such as a games design degree.

16 per cent of respondents were female developers, a promising rise from the 11 per cent that participated last year, and the pay gap between genders appears to be closing. The median average salary earned by female respondents was ￡32,000 – less than ￡1,700 behind the male result of ￡33,618.

Oddly, the gap reverses when we look at the mean average salary, with women well ahead at ￡42,382. The male mean average salary came in at ￡36,930. The most likely explanation for this is we are finally seeing more female developers in senior, exec and management positions.

Taking a look a little closer to home, the median average salary for UK developers is actually slightly behind the global figure at ￡30,000. If we look at the mean, it rises to ￡33,932 – just over ￡4,000 behind the worldwide average.

The US, however, is significantly above the global average salary, with the median result from all Stateside respondents coming in at ￡50,000. The mean rises even higher to ￡54,558. Again, this could be a result of more senior staff responding to our survey.

The higher global average is partially the result of the number of developers that received a pay rise in 2015. 66 per cent of participants reported that their salary rose over the past 12 months, up from the 60 per cent we reported last year.

This is expected to continue, with 65 per cent of staff confident that they will receive a pay rise by the end of 2016.

CHANGING TIMES

One in four of our respondents plan to change jobs this year, with a further 45 per cent stating that they hope to move elsewhere within the next five years.

That means just under a third – 30 per cent – are more than content with their current employer and have no intention of leaving.

‘New challenge’ and ‘financial renumeration’ were the most common reasons for considering a job change, at 26 and 24 per cent, respectively, while more than half of respondents – 53 per cent – said they would consider moving overseas.

The games industry appears to be an increasingly comfortable place to work, with tales of crunch and rough working conditions at a minimum. The vast majority of developers (78 per cent) work relatively normal hours – between 31 and 50 per week – with 42 per cent working a minimum of 41 hours. Only 4 per cent work more than 60 hours.

That said, nearly half – 42 per cent – say they are expected to work overtime regularly, with an alarming 78 per cent reporting they are not paid for these extra hours.

But this hasn’t sullied developers’ love for what they do.

80 per cent of respondents plan to stay in the games industry for the next five years, with 38 per cent saying they would ‘definitely’ stay, and 42 per cent saying it was ‘very likely’. Finally, 82 per cent said they were confident about their career in 2016.

(source:develop-online)