Salaries in the games industry are great, epic in fact, when considered against the average pay in the UK as a whole but this in of itself can create a whole host of issue.
We are largely seeing the effects of this now, whilst layoffs are often not directly a result of paying large salaries, they are often a factor in why the layoffs must be made.
With this in mind I want to discuss Salaries, both globally and nationally.
In the UK we pay fantastic salaries when compared to roles outside the industry. When compared with Western Europe we can sometimes come up a little short but with more favourable taxes the divide is far smaller than most would anticipate. Eastern Europe still fair well but UK salaries still tend to be higher in places and dramatically higher for certain roles.
Globally salaries vary hugely, from the eye watering numbers in the US to the more mediocre salaries in the east.
The UK sits right in the middle of the global salary ranking (based on nothing but anecdotal findings).
With this in mind though, let’s talk about the divide in the UK itself.
London salaries have always dwarfed salaries almost everywhere else in the UK and to some degree for good reason. The advent of remote working changed this though, through studio expansion and location becoming somewhat less relevant to your pay package, we saw a general rise from studios across the country to ensure they were remaining competitive and could still actively acquire high quality talent.
So in a post pandemic world how is this affecting us?
Well, we have seen studios lay off large volumes of staff who have, for the last 3-5 years, been experiencing both increases in salary and access to a market completely led by the candidates themselves.
This is no longer the case and a betting man would think, just as the jobs have become more scarce that the consistent rise in salaries is also likely to have a serious pause.
This in turn will affect how studios will hire going forward. They now lead the market again and as such can define brackets and benefits more strictly.
This will affect everyone but more so those who have been fortunate enough to find themselves in an above average pay bracket.
Using CA (creative assembly) as an example, a developer from CA is often on higher than average money, but now due to their lay offs their staff find themselves in need of a job and many studios this side of the pond cannot afford them, nor will rise to the levels needed to acquire them.
As a consequence of a candidate lead market though, many of those laid off (broadly, not just from CA) have expectations for their previous salaries to be met or even bettered.
Whilst this thought pattern wormed exceedingly well over the last few years, the contrast between the start of 2023 and 2024 is more than stark and as such this approach must change from staunch to flexible.
Studios are no longer beholden to candidate demands and as such the power has firmly left the candidate.
This isn’t something I anticipate will last much longer than a couple of years, but in this interim period, candidates really need to reflect on what’s key to them moving forward.
Studio health, finances, working culture and stability all need to be at the forefront of the conversation whilst salary needs to become something that most, if not all, become more flexible around.
These trying times will end and the industry will recover as it has done in the past, but for now at least, we all need to be as focused as possible on creating a fun, stable and financially sound industry.