New Survey Reveals That Many Game Developers Consider Their Career Unsustainable

IGN can exclusively reveal the details from IATSE's 2023 Gameworkers.org Rates and Conditions Survey, where the organization asked hundreds of video game developers about their pay, benefits, and working conditions.

[shinoff2183]

Sure they are. Video games aren't going anywhere. I think their confused with cashier jobs, fast food jobs things of that nature. Convenience stores around my city have started to go self checkout along with grocery stores.

[porkChop]

"Video games aren't going anywhere"

That doesn't mean it's sustainable. Most devs are overworked and underpaid. This has been a problem for a long time. But we're now at the point where these people have to spend years in crunch just to get games out the door. Then if that game fails that single failure can be enough to put that entire studio out of business.

What about that sounds like a sustainable career?

[CrimsonWing69]

Do you know most game developers are contractors and it’s a very competitive job that’s project by project? Or do you think it’s a job where you get hired and the same people work from project to project?

[Hofstaderman]

Most likely also influenced by the advent of AI based development practices.

[Shane Kim]

Most people have jobs, not careers. And this sounds like every other job out there.

[LucasRuinedChildhood]

Have to disagree. Most software development jobs are very laid back compared to game development and if you put in extra work, you're much more likely be rewarded for it.

You even see the same No Life expectation in education - a Software Development course will also require long hours and commitment (they also have high dropout rates) but you will actually have some free time to yourself, you'll likely average higher grades and there's more jobs available.