Every time this topic comes up I point to the fact that the television industry makes gigantic volumes of content, reasonably on-schedule and on-budget. Movies have somewhat different math, but there's a huge economic segment
routinely producing creative content with a high proportion of salary expenses, much of which is unionized.
It seems crazy to discuss gamer salaries without discussing how normally dysfunctional game studios are, with crunch time all year round, intense burnout of young employees, terrible working conditions, and rarely hitting schedule or budget constraints. In other words, there's a huge opportunity cost in reforming the process by which studios make games, and all they need to do is look at TV to see how to do it. Hell, just hiring some television producers would probably bring a level of sanity as-yet-unseen.
Part of what drives high salaries in gaming is the terrible working conditions. You could pay less just by saying "we work 9 to 5 and value quality of life."
It seems crazy to discuss gamer salaries without discussing how normally dysfunctional game studios are, with crunch time all year round, intense burnout of young employees, terrible working conditions, and rarely hitting schedule or budget constraints. In other words, there's a huge opportunity cost in reforming the process by which studios make games, and all they need to do is look at TV to see how to do it. Hell, just hiring some television producers would probably bring a level of sanity as-yet-unseen.
Part of what drives high salaries in gaming is the terrible working conditions. You could pay less just by saying "we work 9 to 5 and value quality of life."