In general, are programmers or artists paid better?

Question

I'm in a private game programming school where there also are 3D art classes; sadly, there seems to be a lot more students in those latter classes, something like 50% or 100% more.

So I was wondering: in the real video game industry, which of the artist/modeler or the programmer is more likely to be wanted in a company, so who will be paid more ?

I'm sure there are artists which are obviously paid better than other programmers and I'm sure there are other sorts of jobs in the game industry (sound, management, testers), but I wanted to know if there is a general tendency for one or the other. And sometime I wonder even if an artist can happen to write scripts...

Answer 1

Every year, Game Developer Magazine puts together a report of average salaries and other metrics concerning game development budgets, remuneration, and hiring.

You can buy the full 2005-2010 report, although it is quite expensive, since it's targeted at research institutions. A cheaper option would be to buy the summary in the April 2010 magazine for $4, or the summarized summary on Gamasutra's website, for $0. (However, to compare entry-level versus mean, you'll need to get at least the $4 version.)

• Programming: Programmers are among the highest paid talent in the mainstream game industry, with an average annual salary of $80,320. Experience pays in this technical role, particularly when jobs are more rare--programmers with more than six years of experience earned an incredible 36% more than the average annual salary in 2009.

• Art & Animation: Unlike those in most disciplines, artists saw a slight average salary increase this year to $71,071, up a modest 2% as more artists reported pay increases than those in any other creative field.

Answer 2

Game career guide has a free publication stating average salaries in different divisions of game dev companies. It confirms what's been said: programmers are paid more in general.

Answer 3

It's true, programmers tend to be better paid. (I'm a game artist that worked for 4 game companies) .But I highly disagree with above poster. We're talking about a professional programmer and so, also about a professional artist. Ok, then just drawing well requires a ton of years. I mean, just draw correctly with good anatomy and proportions, solid perspective, good control of lighting, composition, etc. This requires a career, usually(and many extra years on your own, and even so, many don't reach the level). Be it Fine Arts, or what is being done in USA and Canada, special institutes to prepare ppl to do concept art and have the needed base for modeling characters of the high realism you see in any high end game. (millions of polygons for detail is not all, there's needed a lot of knowledge and techniques behind, that all is hyper realistic, does not come free, and only a few artists get it right)

Let alone the fact that the "modelling software" training is huge in years. Master Uv Mapping, high end modeling, texturing, shaders, GUI work, pixel art, etc,etc. (I'm proficient in all this) Animation in its own is a very hard career, and I can tell how few good animators are out there, that can animate really well, at the needed quality.

But it always keeps floating this wrong concept saying that salaries are ok so because programing (extremely hard, too) is harder. I have known of the years and preparation needed of way too many staff mates, and man, compared with my close to 30 years of real preparation, is at least, on pair...

IMHO is just a market reason, a matter of how many are out there, and certain historical reasons.

Edit: And btw, you mention musicians, they are even paid worse than artists. And again, is not a matter of they had less preparation. Again, is market reasons, number of ppl into it, etc. And to your question: "And sometime I wonder even if an artist can happen to write scripts..." I am a game artist, today a corporate designer, and yep, I have coded scripts, VB, html/css, some action script, some python... A practical advice would be: become a programmer, as the market needs more them, as there might be fewer programmers into games (and yes, an incredible amount of knowledge is required).

Answer 4

I agree with most of the above posters, that programmers are paid higher(generally, the quality of work would make a huge difference) But I also find artist have an easier time picking up small jobs outside of work.

Answer 5

Generally a lot more people wants to be graphics artists, so there's a whole lot more competition and the wages (around here) are way below programmer wages, likely for that reason.

Not that any of the two would be more demanding or would take longer to master than the other though, it's just a matter of high/low demand and many graphics artists are so dedicated to their calling that they will enter the industry at very low wages. Programmers (again here) get to cherry pick employers because there aren't enough (regardless of their skill level).

If you're a content creator or animator, scripting will be a natural part of your toolset. Just about any work done with computers require scripting at some level, salary men use VBA in Excel and so on ;)

Answer 6

In general, programming is the higher paid of the two disciplines - starting wages for artists are almost always below those of coders.