Video Game Designer's Salary Guide

The video game business is a gigantic one, a multi-billion dollar industry that has grown enormously in a small period of time. They are no more seen as entertainment for children; most video game outlets have twenty to thirty year olds browsing through the latest versions of games. The releases of the Nintendo Wii, PS 3 and Xbox 360 recently have made it even more difficult to produce and create games.

So the number of Video game designers required has shot up to meet the growing expectations of GEN X. This has directly caused the salaries of the Video Game Designer's to increase tremendously.

Having a look at the salary trends of a video game designer’s salary, it can be easily understood that the earnings are set to increase, especially those involved directly with video game development. A video game designers profile is segmented into artists, animators, lead artists or animators, game designers, Creative Directors, Lead Designers, Programmers, Lead Programmers, Technical Directors, Audio Designers and a few more that are lesser known.

As with any industry, the earnings are higher when the experience is more. A bird’s eye view of the annual salary has been listed here, with artists drawing around forty thousand to sixty five thousand dollars, animators taking home a package anywhere between $45,000 to $70,000, Lead Artists and Animators getting about $65,000 to $80,000. Game designers both creative and lead, annually earn between $45,000 and $90,000, while programmers get a package of $50,000 to 100,000.

When observing the trends of salary in video game design, it is obvious that earnings for those involved in video game development will continue experiencing a stable increase. Below we have listed what one can expect to get paid in the gaming industry, depending on the years of experience and job description. Taking into detail the artists and animators, the video game industry has a shortage of 3D animators. There are top grads from Ringling and Vancouver designing programs securing job offers in the $50-$60K range. Even programmers with 3D skills get around forty five to fifty five thousand at entry-level positions.

The figures provided above are all estimates, but is an outline of what a Video Game Designer's salary is all about. There are other factors that influence the salary range of a designer, from location and company size, to experience. For instance a Video Game Designer's Salary in New York or California is more compared to one working in the Midwest.

Some Friendly Stats About The Video Game Industry

In 2004 it was reported that $7.3 billion was grossed totaling a 4% increase from the previous year. With 75% of all American households playing video games. 80% of these gamers were under 18 years of age. It just goes to show that it’s a massive industry and if you are smart get into now before its too late. There’s a big opportunity for game designers and that includes video game consoles, pc games and flash games. And flash games are now getting highly popular so you’ve got plenty of opportunities waiting for you.