Joystiq

Activision's Kotick is now among the highest-paid CEOs in the US [Update]

Mike Suszek — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 18:00:00 EST

Activision CEO Bobby Kotick is now among the highest-paid CEOs in the United States, Bloomberg reported. According to a document filed to the SEC, Activision increased Kotick's compensation to $64.9 million in 2012. The majority of Kotick's earnings came from stock awards valued at $55.9 million. By comparison, Kotick earned $8.3 million in 2011, and Blizzard Entertainment President and CEO Michael Morhaime earned just over $9 million in 2012.

As Bloomberg noted, Kotick's $64.9 million earnings stretch out over five years, plus he could still garner $16 million more should he meet the "highest performance targets." Kotick saw his base salary increase to $2.1 million in January this year.

Update: To clarify, since the awards vest over a five-year period, Kotick received $8.33 million in compensation for 2012, not all $64.9 million.

Activision's Kotick is now among the highest-paid CEOs in the US [Update] originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 27 Apr 2013 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Lawsuit outs West and Zampella's salaries, bonuses at Infinity Ward: Projected $13M bonus in 2010

Jessica Conditt — Tue, 22 May 2012 19:55:00 EST

Former Infinity Ward studio heads Jason West and Vince Zampella had projected salaries of $420,000 in 2009, with projected bonuses of more than $3 million each, emails between Activision bosses in 2009 show.

The spreadsheet lists the expected salaries of the top 20 Infinity Ward employees in 2009 and 2010. The 18 remaining employees -- the bulk including software engineers and game designers -- had projected salaries between $71,500 and $173,000. The seven employees under West and Zampella each expected a bonus of $603,000, while staffers seeing the lowest percentage of the bonus pool (1.5 percent) had a projected $278,000.

In 2010, the year Activision fired West and Zampella, they were each expected to earn $437,000, with projected bonuses of $13 million each. The rest of the top 20's projected salaries and bonuses rose accordingly, with salaries between $74,000 and $180,000, and bonuses ranging from $1.4 million to $2.5 million.

"If you recently worked on a hit FPS, read this and see how incredibly underpaid you are," ngmoco general manager Benjamin Cousins tweeted about the documents.

The emails were released into public record in the lawsuit between the Infinity Ward Employee Group and Activision; West and Zampella sued Activision in 2010 claiming they were owed $36 million in royalties associated with Modern Warfare 2, after Activision fired them earlier that year. West and Zampella now claim $1 billion in damages and the case is set for trial May 29.

Lawsuit outs West and Zampella's salaries, bonuses at Infinity Ward: Projected $13M bonus in 2010 originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 22 May 2012 19:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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2011's game industry salary stats push us once more toward business school

Ben Gilbert — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 10:30:00 EST

With this week's annual release of Game Developer Magazine's "Game Industry Salary Survey Results," we're once again reminded that game industry professionals - on average - make kind of a lot of money. How does approximately $81,192 per year sound to you? Sounds pretty damn good to us as well, and that's the average take home for people across a variety of disciplines: business/legal, programming, production, sound/art/video, design, writing, and QA. Despite the survey having existed for 11 years now, it still doesn't include the press (though you can tell from our cushy leather chairs that we're clearly doing all right).

But who is making the biggest bucks, you ask? Unsurprisingly, the "business/legal" category brings home the most dough on average, pulling in approximately $102,160 annually. Similarly unsurprising, QA testers pick up the bottom end of the scale, earning around $47,910 on average. Salaries on both the high and low end dropped a bit compared with last year's survey, but not by much more than the 2.4 percent margin of error.

The survey's data was once again culled from respondents across the game industry in North America, the UK, and the EU, as well as a sizable chunk of indies/independent contractors (though the salary averages are pulled specifically from US-only data). Outliers - folks making dramatically more or less than the average - were removed from results before averaging "to prevent them from unnaturally skewing the averages." That sounds like another good reason not to include game journo salaries!

Continue reading 2011's game industry salary stats push us once more toward business school

2011's game industry salary stats push us once more toward business school originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 03 Apr 2012 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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THQ CEO Farrell takes 50% pay cut, board of directors also takes cuts

JC Fletcher — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 17:48:00 EST

THQ is definitely experiencing some troubles related to its uDraw flop and subsequent layoffs, as evidenced by a new document filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
President and CEO Brian Farrell will take a pay cut for the year starting February 15, which reduces his salary from $718,500 to $359,250. His salary will go back up the next year.

His golden parachute has also been tailored a bit more closely, as the payment he'd receive upon departure from the company (either termination "without cause" or resignation with "good reason") has been cut from three times his highest-ever bonus to just his highest-ever bonus. This is, of course, a small sacrifice compared to the THQ employees whose salaries went from "some" to "none."

The board of directors is also seeing some cuts: all the other directors have "elected" to receive 50% less cash compensation for a year effective today.

THQ CEO Farrell takes 50% pay cut, board of directors also takes cuts originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 01 Feb 2012 17:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Game developer salaries in 2010 tracked, fills us once more with regret

Griffin McElroy — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 23:00:00 EST

The Game Developer Research group, somehow sensing that we were having a pretty good day, decided to release a portion of its 10th annual, always soul-crushing Game Developer Salary Survey. The information, according to Gamasutra, is fairly optimistic: Traditional mainstream developers are pulling down an average salary of $80,817, a 7 percent increase over last year's average. Indie developers saw a year-to-year increase of around $6,000, bringing their average wages up to $26,780.

Many of the average wages earned by individual disciplines remained equivalent to last year's totals, with some exceptions. Programmers saw their average salaries increased $5,000 over 2009, to a total of $85,733. Producers' average salaries increased almost $13,000 year-to-year, for an average of $88,544. Quality assurance testers saw their average wages get fairly prodigiously bumped from $37,905 in 2009 up to $49,009 in 2010.

And, of course, the whammy: Business and legal employees made an average salary of $106,452, with 85 percent of survey respondents reporting they received additional compensation. If you need us, we'll be over in the corner, questioning our every life decision.

Game developer salaries in 2010 tracked, fills us once more with regret originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 27 Apr 2011 23:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nintendo CEO Iwata doesn't earn as much as you'd think

Alexander Sliwinski — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 18:05:00 EST

Filed under: Weird But True, Opinions, New In Pop Culture

We never thought we'd say this about a CEO (it just feels wrong), but Nintendo's Satoru Iwata totally deserves a raise. The CEO's base salary last year was a measly ¥68 million (about $770K), with the executive taking home ¥187 ($2.1 million) after a performance bonus. Nintendo, as a company last year, made roughly $2.45 billion in profit! Nintendo guru Shigeru Miyamoto, along with a group of five other board members, apparently earned just ¥100 million ($1.13 million) total. These guys have to be making more money from stocks or something.

Andriasang reports the salary revelations are thanks to a new Japanese law requiring companies to reveal any board members' earnings over ¥100 million ($1.13 million). For comparison, Square Enix's Yoichi Wada collected ¥240 million ($2.7 million), while Sony's Sir Howard Stringer, heading a company that admittedly extends way beyond games, pulled in a cool ¥816.5 million ($9.2 million). As for some CEO salaries from around the world, according to Forbes (via GI.biz), Activision Blizzard's Bobby Kotick is guesstimated to have made $3.15 million in 2009 and EA's John Riccitiello allegedly took home $9.85 million.

Nintendo CEO Iwata doesn't earn as much as you'd think originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 29 Jun 2010 18:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Survey determines average U.S. game developer income

Griffin McElroy — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 11:30:00 EST

[Flickr user AMagill]

The results of Game Developer Research's ninth annual Game Developer Salary Survey recently surfaced, giving us our yearly reminder that we're totally on the wrong side of this industry. According to the survey, the average "American mainstream videogame industry salary" is $75,573. Over here at Joystiq Inc., we're only pulling in $75,571.42. We're thinking about going on strike until parity is achieved.

The survey also breaks down average salaries for the different disciplines which compose our beloved industry. The highest-paid gaming professionals are PR and marketing executives, earning $129,167 a year on average. The lowest head on the totem pole is that of the QA tester, whose average annual income is $37,905. We're betting the recent winner of The Tester wishes he had chosen to participate in The Public Relations Professional instead.

Survey determines average U.S. game developer income originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 13 Apr 2010 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Rumor: Japanese game programmers report low salaries

JC Fletcher — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 04:30:00 EST

[Chris Gladis]

It would be, like, totally glamorous and exciting to be a programmer for a game company in Japan, right? Maybe not so much. According to anonymous responders on Japanese super-forum 2ch (as translated by CNNGo), salaries for game programmers are far below what you'd expect for a tech job in one of the most expensive countries in the world to live in.

"¥130,000 [$1,457] for 256 hours of work a month," one poster reports. "¥160,000 [$1,793] and I am ready to die," another laments. "I can't even afford the 'recruit suit' I'll need for interviewing for another job." How do you live in Tokyo on that kind of scratch? "¥180,000 [$2,017] a month, no bonus, and only thanks to the company dorm can I afford to live in Tokyo," one responder explains.

It seems that game development is considerably less prestigious than other fields. "I'm 27, live in Tokyo, working for a major company, and make ¥680,000 [$7,622] a month, with a separate yearly bonus," one anonymous poster boasts. "But it isn't in the game industry. Ha!" The moral of this story is this: Don't work for a game company in Japan.

[Via Kotaku]

Rumor: Japanese game programmers report low salaries originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 02 Mar 2010 04:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Develop: One third of devs aren't satisfied their wage covers cost of living

Alexander Sliwinski — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 22:30:00 EST

Given the current economic climate, most of us go to bed praying we'll have a job in the morning. However, what's a job when you can't live off the wage? Develop's salary survey found that nearly 36 percent of developers aren't satisfied that their income covers their cost of living.

Of course, given the immense variety of jobs, locations and lifestyles that people can have, grasping exactly what that statistic represents isn't easy. For example, a Junior QA, scraping by on an average $23,000 annual salary, is likely having a fairly rough time no matter where they live. However, a studio head, making an average of $106,000, could also be struggling -- with a coke, hooker and ego habit. It's all relative.

Over 400 industry members from around the world participated in the survey. If you're a member of the industry or want to be, check out the average salaries.

Source -- Third of devs unsatisfied by wages [Develop]
Source -- Salary Survey: Are you getting enough? [Develop]

Develop: One third of devs aren't satisfied their wage covers cost of living originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 24 Feb 2010 22:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Average salaries of video game industry employees compared

Griffin McElroy — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST

[Flickr: Bradipo]

Once again, MCV has surveyed its fellow video game professionals about their annual salaries in order to come up with an average wage for each facet of the industry in 2010. The median average for all European and U.S. respondents is £31,509 (call it $51,331 and change), while the mean is £40,467 (roughly $65,925) -- that's a fraction of a percent lower than last year's results. For a full breakdown of how much each individual profession will average this year in salary, check out the list after the jump.

It wouldn't be polite to comment on how our wages compare to the reported average Media salary. Nope. We're not gonna do it. We're just going to sit here on our $6,000 Italian leather massage chair, finish writing this post on our $22,000 diamond-bejeweled supercomputer, and then continue sipping on this $14,500 bottle of Scotch. Mmmmm. So crisp.

Continue reading Average salaries of video game industry employees compared

Average salaries of video game industry employees compared originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 21 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Activision CEO made nearly $15 million last year

Griffin McElroy — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 22:00:00 EST

Say what you will about Activision CEO Robert Kotick -- and from what we've seen in previous posts, you will -- the guy knows how to make money. Not just for Activision as a whole (which raked in close to $1 billion in Q2 this year), but for himself as well -- according to a recent Forbes profile on the controversial CEO, Kotick made $14,950,102 in 2008.

Kotick caught some flack last week for joking about wanting to increase the price of Activision's releases. Now, it seems we know why -- he's only making $15 million a year. He desperately needs that extra scratch to upgrade his Azimut 62E Luxury Yacht to an Azimut 116 Luxury Yacht. Those meanies at the Santa Monica Yachting Club just won't stop picking on his puny seafaring vessel.

[Via GamesIndustry]

Activision CEO made nearly $15 million last year originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 10 Aug 2009 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Game industry salaries increased 7% in 2008

JC Fletcher — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 12:30:00 EST

Game Developer magazine's 2008 Game Developer Salary Survey features something we wouldn't expect to see: good news. Gamasutra's summary of the survey notes that the average salary for people working in the American game industry (those who still work in the game industry, at least) went up 7% in 2008, from around $74,000 to around $79,000.

Business and marketing commanded the highest salary, at an average of $102,143. Programmers had the next-highest average salary of $85,024, followed by producers ($82,905), sound designers ($78,167), artists and animators ($69,532), game designers ($67,379), and QA ($39,571).

If you happen to be in one of those upper tiers and you'd like to read the full report, it's available for just $2,995.

Game industry salaries increased 7% in 2008 originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 30 Apr 2009 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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More than half of UK devs happy with pay

Alexander Sliwinski — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 20:45:00 EST

Develop's survey of 528 UK developers found the average salary on the islands to be £30,442 ($43,087). Although that's a few thousand pounds higher than the average annual salary in the UK, there appear to be significant differences in pay when compared to American counterparts.

Not that it seemed to bother the majority of respondents, as 66 percent stated they were satisfied their salary covered the cost of living. Also interesting is that 67 percent stated their employer provided no training -- sink or swim, baby. Of those looking for a job, 26 percent said their motivation came from not being paid enough, while 50 percent said their boss reminded them of David Brent from The Office (not really).

[Image]

More than half of UK devs happy with pay originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 16 Mar 2009 20:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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