Reizo Ryuu
Gold Member
The games industry is not "lacking talent", the hundreds of people working on a single game are all very skilled, it's just that sometimes money is more important than passion; the games industry simply doesn't pay at the level other industries will.
A friend of mine is a game designer and a very good programmer, but he opted to work in the software industry instead, simply because they pay way better and have much better benefits. So considering he wanted to start a family (which he has now) and live a comfortable life with job security, it just didn't make sense for him to work for a games studio.
Almost every aspect of making a game simply pays better somewhere else:
A writer, better pay/benefits and "prestige" working on tv/film
A composer, better pay/benefits and "prestige" working on tv/film
A programmer, much better pay/benefits and security working on software
A 3D artist, somewhat better pay/benefits in VFX industry, but certainly much more "prestige" ( can convert to technical/cad drawing, for much better pay etc., but far more boring tbh)
A 2D artist, somewhat better pay/benefits in VFX, much better pay at AD agencies and also more "prestige"
An animator (2D/3D), just much better across the board everywhere else
(artists get the short end of the stick in games studios)
A game designer, can convert to interaction/UX design for software or real life installations for better pay/security.
Well why not just increase the salaries? Some would say that it's because "gamers" being cheap and essentially wanting the best of the best for free (or as little as possible), which is why prices stayed the same for ~30 years, ignoring inflation and rising costs of production.
Others would say it's because of how much of the world still views videogames as "toys" and tv/film as "mature", so it becomes difficult to raise funds for "toys" which have no "mainstream appeal"
Again others would say it's because of mismanagement, causing chunks of the budgets to be tied up in nonsense.
It's probably a combination of many things.
In the end game studios kinda have to play it safe, especially public ones with shareholders expecting nothing but large ROI year after year; the studio doesn't perform well and it's gone.
Even large movie studios with seemingly bottomless pits of money are extremely risk averse and will focus test their content to death to ensure maximum profits.
A friend of mine is a game designer and a very good programmer, but he opted to work in the software industry instead, simply because they pay way better and have much better benefits. So considering he wanted to start a family (which he has now) and live a comfortable life with job security, it just didn't make sense for him to work for a games studio.
Almost every aspect of making a game simply pays better somewhere else:
A writer, better pay/benefits and "prestige" working on tv/film
A composer, better pay/benefits and "prestige" working on tv/film
A programmer, much better pay/benefits and security working on software
A 3D artist, somewhat better pay/benefits in VFX industry, but certainly much more "prestige" ( can convert to technical/cad drawing, for much better pay etc., but far more boring tbh)
A 2D artist, somewhat better pay/benefits in VFX, much better pay at AD agencies and also more "prestige"
An animator (2D/3D), just much better across the board everywhere else
(artists get the short end of the stick in games studios)
A game designer, can convert to interaction/UX design for software or real life installations for better pay/security.
Well why not just increase the salaries? Some would say that it's because "gamers" being cheap and essentially wanting the best of the best for free (or as little as possible), which is why prices stayed the same for ~30 years, ignoring inflation and rising costs of production.
Others would say it's because of how much of the world still views videogames as "toys" and tv/film as "mature", so it becomes difficult to raise funds for "toys" which have no "mainstream appeal"
Again others would say it's because of mismanagement, causing chunks of the budgets to be tied up in nonsense.
It's probably a combination of many things.
In the end game studios kinda have to play it safe, especially public ones with shareholders expecting nothing but large ROI year after year; the studio doesn't perform well and it's gone.
Even large movie studios with seemingly bottomless pits of money are extremely risk averse and will focus test their content to death to ensure maximum profits.