Game Developer releases salary survey data

Game Developer magazine has released the results of its sixth annual salary survey.

Among the findings, programmers made the most money with an average salary of USD 80,886 across all experience levels. The average programmer salary has now exceeded USD 80,000 for two years in a row.

Programmers, alongside businesspeople, were most likely to hold a master's degree, but that education did not necessarily correlate to an increase in salary.

Artists can expect to earn an average of USD 43,000 a year. The average salary for game designers was USD 61,538, although designers with three or fewer years of experience earned an average of USD 44,574.

Producers earned, on average, USD 77,131 across all experience levels.

Quality assurance/Testers, often seen as the "first step" into the industry, earned an average of USD 37,861. For three or fewer years of experience, however, the average salary fell to USD 26,410.

Roughly one-third of all developers in each discipline studied - visual arts, programmer, game design, audio, production, and Q/A - had three or fewer years of experience.

A sample of 3,130 respondents was taken from more than 5,600 responses from Game Developer magazine subscribers, GDC 2006 attendees, and Gamasutra.com members.