I could Google this but off the top of my head the UK minimum wage is £7.5 for tose over 21.
So about the same once you factor in higher prices etc.
Minimum wage is depressing.
What’s even more depressing is that in some countries it’s practically a fortune.
sadface (I just got laid off. Minimum and other wages hold a special interest for me right now)
True, not enough to pay for one worker in the US.
Many indies are outside the US.
Some may have higher minimums for sure.
Not exactly a good comparison, but I ran a coffee/chocolate shop once, and paying wages really ate into the profits, even for something as profitable as coffee (milk and coffee 20 p. Cups a bit extra. Running costs of machine etc and we were still netting a pound a coffee easily. Now factor in how many you can make in an hr at full tilt with a good batista - i.e. Me at the time - and you could bring in a fair bit of cash…and then there were wages, electricity etc )
I had a stake invested in the business (it was my brother’s place) and for sure he and I both earned far less than minimum wage.
Not an exact comparison, but my longwinded point is that the per hour metric isn’t that useful when you’re talking about running your own business.
Startups suffer in any sector and I read somewhere that 90% fold in 6 months.
For the record, I can’t even mod for shit, so I have the utmost respect for developers.
It’s a simple metric, with all that entails. The really interesting number is how by much you can pad your savings after taxes and both business and living expenses, but that is a pain in the ass to collect data for, as it varies by too many variables.
So, we have to talk in one simple metric or another.
Realistically, most games will “fail” commercially. It’s all about what you’ve invested and can deem a success. I think the bigger issue is that a lot of indies don’t go into it with their eyes wide open to the costs and the relative chance of success or failure of what they’re producing. Some want a get rich quick scheme and even with a quality game that is not assured. Sometimes people just aren’t interested in what you’ve made regardless of the quality of it.
That’s why this hobby has always been driven by hobbyists first and corporate interests second. You really have to love what you’re doing to get into game making because it’s probably not going to pay what you’d get at a programming or commercial art job, but it may be immensely more satisfying to you creatively.
Though the other side of that raw enthusiasm is that it contributes to a culture of worker exploitation simply because it’s so easy to find starry-eyed youths willing to do the job for lowball pay (or nothing, sometimes) and tolerate poor working conditions because they’re so excited about the medium.
Yep! That sucks too!
It’s just the nature of the beast. Filmmaking has unions for that kind of thing, because the enthusiasm is similar IMO. Gaming refuses to do that.
There was serious movement in that direction at this year’s GDC. Fingers crossed maybe in a few more…
In a capitalist system “working” is the worst way to make money. Managing other people money or having people working for you is a much better way to make money.
Working increase your wealth lineary, and you are limited by the number of hours you can work each day. If you are a “happy idea” worker, you are limited by these sparks of genius. Very bad economics.
Don’t be the guy creating technology, science, products, tomatoes. Be the guy lending money to this guy.
Some of these guys selling videogames they made should instead be creating engines licenses or working on other areas.
That’s a bit of a simplistic version that assumes that the guy lending the money will always be repaid, or the guy building the tools will always have a market for those tools.
I’d like to see it. I think they need it.
For a similar comparison, when I was writing about games professionally, I felt like I was getting proper payment for my skill at doing it (and I wasn’t the most skilled in any way…I did my best) but I was lucky because I was part of the freelance group for Computer Games Strategy Plus/Computer Games Magazine with @tomchick and well, they paid well for quality content for the mags. When that went away, I hit the reality of writing about games… no one really wants to pay you what you’re worth and that’s because there’s always someone willing to take next to nothing or nothing at all to do it. Crispy Gamer was a nice haven for me for awhile, but the money dried up there too.
Nowadays? Does anyone make any money writing about games unless they have their own site like Tom? I really don’t know if they do? Maybe the last of the magazine guys like Retro Gamer and Edge… but they’re all in the UK. What’s the rate at Eurogamer for freelancers? Gamespot? Kotaku? Is there one? Gaming attracts a lot of passionate people and gaming also doesn’t have to pay them much because they’ll often stick around for peanuts.
True that. Anyway if you objetive is to make money, and only make money, there are ways to make a lot of it, and poor lousy ways.
Theres a lot of friction between science / techology / art and capitalism.
I used to want to get into development or writing about games and it became rapidly clear as I observed both fields that that was probably a bad idea.
I think people do still get paid for freelance games writing but the number of outlets has dropped dramatically and I can’t imagine rates are good. At this point I think there’s better money in doing videos for YouTube.
You made the right choice.
I think you’re also right that being some sort of video creator is a better way to make actual money, but again, with the sheer volume of streamers/creators, you better have some amazing hook to bring people in.
Last year close to one game per hour came out on Steam. It’s nuts.
My question: do most of the games on Steam deserve to make more than $30,000?
Very much my thought.
I don’t think data about the average game really means much. The right question to ask: “Do well-made games generally do well?”
Unfortunately, no, which is where the call for better curation and discovery comes in.
Too many games, too little time. Market is oversaturated, every other game these days wants to be GAAS and trap its players for years. I know several friends who bought and played singleplayer games, but since PUBG came out they completely ignore them and just rack thousands of hours on PUBG instead.
Many game developers will go out of business and have to do something else. Market self corrects.
Kinda reminds me of the comics glut. Or the sports cards glut.
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