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Is there Really no Career Stability in the Video Game Industry?
On the surface, there's no way you'd think that working in the video game industry would be an "risky" career. We're talking about an industry that earns $10.5 billion in revenue every year, and in which the average game designer, artist, or animator makes about $74,000 annually and programmers earn $93,000 [sources: ESRB, Gamasutra]. That's not even counting the benefits you get from a salary: You also get to play video games at work, brag to your colleagues that your job involves playing video games at work, and generally luxuriate in the fact that everyone believes that you get paid to play video games at work. It could be true however it makes you the object of more envy than, for instance your pal Chad who works at the bank.
However. There are plenty of jobs to be had but they aren't as secure you might expect. Let's take a look at a couple of reasons that the game industry is known for its instability and see if working in gaming is as it's made out to be over the long run.
It's important to understand that a stable career in the gaming industry is a feast-or-famine existence for the studio but not necessarily in terms of revenue , but rather in terms of production. The "feast" aspect of the gaming industry includes a notorious "crunch." It's the time when the game is launching very soon (although keep in mind that "soon" may be months away), and the team behind the game is working incredibly long hours to get the job done. The studio may increase its staff - big time - to make sure the deadline is met.
After a studio has launched an application that has been in development for (probably) years and is left with a team of employees who might not be as effective in the early stages of the next game. What can studios do? They should lay these people off. If they're "lucky" they could be hired back in some months to work on the new project [source Schreier]. Don't forget about the "happy" scenario When a game is complete, the company trims its bloated staff after the deadline has passed , and workers are left hoping they'll be hired back in the near future. The alternative is a less favorable scenario: The studio has to let go of any person who is overweight after cancelling the game.
It's not uncommon for smaller studios and big publishers to undergo rounds of layoffs in order to trim down. And the constant employee burnout from the hiring and rehiring - let alone from the deadline crunching - might make the video game industry feel extremely unstable for those looking for employment security. gaming blog Although you may find many jobs in the video gaming industry, it is possible to not be able to keep the same job for long durations of time. But , hey, we've heard you can earn money playing video games. Pretty sweet deal.
Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB). "Video Game Industry Statistics." 2015. (May 25, 2015) http://www.esrb.org/about/video-game-industry-statistics.jsp
Gamasutra. "Gamasutra Salary Survey 2014" 2014. (May 25, 2015) http://www.gamasutra.com/salarysurvey2014.pdf
Graft, Kris. "Mass Effect 3 Wii U Developer Facing the Tough Reality." Gamasutra. Oct. 22, 2012. (May 25, 2015) http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/179589/Hardwon_lessons_for_one_Wii_U_developer#.UIUYJeDzXLY
Miller, Patrick. "Happy Developers Play Better Games: The Quality-Of-Life Survey Results." Gamasutra. March 4, 2013. (May 25, 2015) http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/187463/Happy_devs_make_better_games_The_qualityoflife_survey_results.php
Schreier, Jason. "Why Game Developers Continue to be Dismissed." Kotaku. June 5, 2014. (May 25, 2015) http://kotaku.com/why-game-developers-keep-getting-laid-off-1583192249