Main menu

WikipediaThe Free Encyclopedia

Search Wikipedia
Search
Create account
Log in

Personal tools
Contents hide
(Top)
Types
Toggle Types subsection
First-party developers
Second-party developers
Third-party developers
Indie game developers
Quality of life
Toggle Quality of life subsection
Crunch
Discrimination and harassment
Gender
Racial
LGBT
Age
Contract workers
Unionization
See also
References
Bibliography
External links
Video game developer

Article
Talk
Read
Edit
View history

Tools
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Part of a series on the

Video game industry
Development
Products
Publishing
Distribution and monetization
Related
Lists
vte

A group of game developers accepts a game developers' award.

A video game developer is a software developer specializing in video game
development – the process and related disciplines of creating video games.[1][2] A
game developer can range from one person who undertakes all tasks[3] to a large
business with employee responsibilities split between individual disciplines, such
as programmers, designers, artists, etc. Most game development companies have video
game publisher financial and usually marketing support.[4] Self-funded developers
are known as independent or indie developers and usually make indie games.[5]

A developer may specialize in specific game engines or specific video game

consoles, or may develop for several systems (including personal computers and
mobile devices).[citation needed] Some focus on porting games from one system to
another, or translating games from one language to another. Less commonly, some do
software development work in addition to games.

Most video game publishers maintain development studios (such as Electronic Arts's
EA Canada, Square Enix's studios, Activision's Radical Entertainment, Nintendo EPD
and Sony's Polyphony Digital and Naughty Dog). However, since publishing is still
their primary activity they are generally described as "publishers" rather than
"developers". Developers may be private as well.

Types

Shigeru Miyamoto (left) and John Romero (right) are well-known game developers.
First-party developers
In the video game industry, a first-party developer is part of a company that
manufactures a video game console and develops exclusively for it. First-party
developers may use the name of the company itself (such as Nintendo), have a
specific division name (such as Sony's Polyphony Digital) or have been an
independent studio before being acquired by the console manufacturer (such as Rare
or Naughty Dog).[6] Whether by purchasing an independent studio or by founding a
new team, the acquisition of a first-party developer involves a huge financial
investment on the part of the console manufacturer, which is wasted if the
developer fails to produce a hit game on time.[7] However, using first-party
developers saves the cost of having to make royalty payments on a game's profits.
[7] Current examples of first-party studios include PlayStation Studios for Sony,
and Xbox Game Studios for Microsoft.

Second-party developers
Second-party developer is a colloquial term often used by gaming enthusiasts and
media to describe game studios that take development contracts from platform
holders and develop games exclusive to that platform, i.e. a non-owned developer
making games for a first-party company.[8] As a balance to not being able to
release their game for other platforms, second-party developers are usually offered
higher royalty rates than third-party developers.[7] These studios may have
exclusive publishing agreements (or other business relationships) with the platform
holder, but maintain independence so that upon completion or termination of their
contracts, they are able to continue developing games for other publishers if they
choose to. For example, while HAL Laboratory initially began developing games on
personal computers like the MSX, they became one of the earliest second-party
developers for Nintendo, developing exclusively for Nintendo's consoles starting
with the Famicom, though they would self-publish their mobile games.[9][10]

Third-party developers

See also: Third-party software component

A third-party developer may also publish games, or work for a video game publisher
to develop a title. Both publisher and developer have considerable input in the
game's design and content. However, the publisher's wishes generally override those
of the developer. Work for hire studios solely execute the publishers vision.

The business arrangement between the developer and publisher is governed by a

contract, which specifies a list of milestones intended to be delivered over a
period of time. By updating its milestones, the publisher verifies that work is
progressing quickly enough to meet its deadline and can direct the developer if the
game is not meeting expectations. When each milestone is completed (and accepted),
the publisher pays the developer an advance on royalties. Successful developers may
maintain several teams working on different games for different publishers.
Generally, however, third-party developers tend to be small, close-knit teams.
Third-party game development is a volatile sector, since small developers may
depend on income from a single publisher; one canceled game may devastate a small
developer. Because of this, many small development companies are short-lived.

A common exit strategy for a successful video game developer is to sell the company
to a publisher, becoming an in-house developer. In-house development teams tend to
have more freedom in game design and content than third-party developers. One
reason is that since the developers are the publisher's employees, their interests
align with those of the publisher; the publisher may spend less effort ensuring
that the developer's decisions do not enrich the developer at the publisher's
expense.

Activision in 1979 became the first third-party video game developer. When four
Atari, Inc. programmers left the company following its sale to Warner
Communications, partially over the lack of respect that the new management gave to
programmers, they used their knowledge of how Atari VCS game cartridges were
programmed to create their own games for the system, founding Activision in 1979 to
sell these. Atari took legal action to try to block the sale of these games, but
the companies ultimately settled, with Activision agreeing to pay a portion of
their sales as a license fee to Atari for developing for the console. This
established the use of licensing fees as a model for third-party development that
persists into the present.[11][12] The licensing fee approach was further enforced
by Nintendo when it decided to allow other third-party developers to make games for
the Famicom console, setting a 30% licensing fee that covered game cartridge
manufacturing costs and development fees. The 30% licensing fee for third-party
developers has also persisted to the present, being a de facto rate used for most
digital storefronts for third-party developers to offer their games on the
platform.[13]

In recent years, larger publishers have acquired several third-party developers.

While these development teams are now technically "in-house", they often continue
to operate in an autonomous manner (with their own culture and work practices). For
example, Activision acquired Raven (1997); Neversoft (1999), which merged with
Infinity Ward in 2014; Z-Axis (2001); Treyarch (2001); Luxoflux (2002); Shaba
(2002); Infinity Ward (2003) and Vicarious Visions (2005). All these developers
continue operating much as they did before acquisition, the primary differences
being exclusivity and financial details. Publishers tend to be more forgiving of
their own development teams going over budget (or missing deadlines) than third-
party developers.

A developer may not be the primary entity creating a piece of software, usually
providing an external software tool which helps organize (or use) information for
the primary software product. Such tools may be a database, Voice over IP, or add-
in interface software; this is also known as middleware. Examples of this include
SpeedTree and Havoc.

Indie game developers

See also: Indie game and Independent video game development
Independents are software developers which are not owned by (or dependent on) a
single publisher. Some of these developers self-publish their games, relying on the
Internet and word of mouth for publicity. Without the large marketing budgets of
mainstream publishers, their products may receive less recognition than those of
larger publishers such as Sony, Microsoft or Nintendo. With the advent of digital
distribution of inexpensive games on game consoles, it is now possible for indie
game developers to forge agreements with console manufacturers for broad
distribution of their games.

Other indie game developers create game software for a number of video-game
publishers on several gaming platforms.[citation needed] In recent years this model
has been in decline; larger publishers, such as Electronic Arts and Activision,
increasingly turn to internal studios (usually former independent developers
acquired for their development needs).[14]

Quality of life
Video game development is usually conducted in a casual business environment, with
t-shirts and sandals as common work attire. Many workers find this type of
environment rewarding and pleasant professionally and personally.[citation needed]
However, the industry also requires long working hours from its employees
(sometimes to an extent seen as unsustainable).[15] Employee burnout is not
uncommon.[16]

An entry-level programmer can make, on average, over $66,000 annually only if they
are successful in obtaining a position in a medium to large video game company.[17]
An experienced game-development employee, depending on their expertise and
experience, averaged roughly $73,000 in 2007.[18] Indie game developers may only
earn between $10,000 and $50,000 a year depending on how financially successful
their titles are.[19]

In addition to being part of the software industry,[citation needed] game

development is also within the entertainment industry; most sectors of the
entertainment industry (such as films and television) require long working hours
and dedication from their employees, such as willingness to relocate and/or
required to develop games that do not appeal to their personal taste. The creative
rewards of work in the entertainment business attracts labor to the industry,
creating a competitive labor market that demands a high level of commitment and
performance from employees. Industry communities, such as the International Game
Developers Association (IGDA), are conducting increasing discussions about the
problem; they are concerned that working conditions in the industry cause a
significant deterioration in employees' quality of life.[20][21]

Crunch
Main article: Crunch (video games)
Some video game developers and publishers have been accused of the excessive
invocation of "crunch time".[22] "Crunch time" is the point at which the team is
thought to be failing to achieve milestones needed to launch a game on schedule.
The complexity of workflow, reliance on third-party deliverables, and the
intangibles of artistic and aesthetic demands in video game creation create
difficulty in predicting milestones.[23] The use of crunch time is also seen to be
exploitative of the younger male-dominated workforce in video games, who have not
had the time to establish a family and who were eager to advance within the
industry by working long hours.[23][24] Because crunch time tends to come from a
combination of corporate practices as well as peer influence, the term "crunch
culture" is often used to discuss video game development settings where crunch time
may be seen as the norm rather than the exception.[25]

The use of crunch time as a workplace standard gained attention first in 2004, when
Erin Hoffman exposed the use of crunch time at Electronic Arts, a situation known
as the "EA Spouses" case.[23] A similar "Rockstar Spouses" case gained further
attention in 2010 over working conditions at Rockstar San Diego.[26][27] Since
then, there has generally been negative perception of crunch time from most of the
industry as well as from its consumers and other media.[28]

Discrimination and harassment

Gender
Main article: Women and video games § Treatment of women in the industry
Game development had generally been a predominately male workforce. In 1989,
according to Variety, women constituted only 3% of the gaming industry,[29] while a
2017 IGDA survey found that the female demographic in game development had risen to
about 20%. Taking into account that a 2017 ESA survey found 41% of video game
players were female, this represented a significant gender gap in game development.
[30][31]

The male-dominated industry, most who have grown up playing video games and are
part of the video game culture, can create a culture of "toxic geek masculinity"
within the workplace.[32][30] In addition, the conditions behind crunch time are
far more discriminating towards women as this requires them to commit time
exclusively to the company or to more personal activities like raising a family.
[23][33] These factors established conditions within some larger development
studios where female developers have found themselves discriminated in workplace
hiring and promotion, as well as the target of sexual harassment.[34] This can be
coupled from similar harassment from external groups, such as during the 2014
Gamergate controversy.[35] Major investigations into allegations of sexual
harassment and misconduct that went unchecked by management, as well as
discrimination by employers, have been brought up against Riot Games, Ubisoft and
Activision Blizzard in the late 2010s and early 2020s, alongside smaller studios
and individual developers. However, while other entertainment industries have had
similar exposure through the Me Too movement and have tried to address the symptoms
of these problems industry-wide, the video game industry has yet to have its Me
Too-moment, even as late as 2021.[33]

There also tends to be pay-related discrimination against women in the industry.

According to Gamasutra's Game Developer Salary Survey 2014, women in the United
States made 86 cents for every dollar men made. Game designing women had the
closest equity, making 96 cents for every dollar men made in the same job, while
audio professional women had the largest gap, making 68% of what men in the same
position made.[36]

Increasing the representation of women in the video game industry required breaking
a feedback loop of the apparent lack of female representation in the production of
video games and in the content of video games. Efforts have been made to provide a
strong STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) background for
women at the secondary education level, but there are issues with tertiary
education such as at colleges and universities, where game development programs
tend to reflect the male-dominated demographics of the industry, a factor that may
lead women with strong STEM backgrounds to choose other career goals.[37]

Racial
See also: Race and video games
There is also a significant gap in racial minorities within the video game
industry; a 2019 IGDA survey found only 2% of developers considered themselves to
be of African descent and 7% Hispanic, while 81% were Caucasian; in contrast, 2018
estimates from the United States Census estimate the U.S. population to be 13% of
African descent and 18% Hispanic.[38][39][40] In a 2014 and 2015 survey of job
positions and salaries, the IGDA found that people of color were both
underrepresented in senior management roles as well as underpaid in comparison to
white developers.[41] Further, because video game developers typically draw from
personal experiences in building game characters, this diversity gap has led to few
characters of racial minority to be featured as main characters within video games.
[42] Minority developers have also been harassed from external groups due to the
toxic nature of the video game culture.[32]
This racial diversity issue has similar ties to the gender one, and similar methods
to result both have been suggested, such as improving grade school education,
developing games that appeal beyond the white, male gamer stereotype, and
identifying toxic behavior in both video game workplaces and online communities
that perpetuate discrimination against gender and race.[43]

LGBT
In regards to LGBT and other gender or sexual orientations, the video game industry
typically shares the same demographics as with the larger population based on a
2005 IGDA survey. Those of LGBT do not find workplace issues with their identity,
though work to improve the representation of LGBT themes within video games in the
same manner as with racial minorities.[44] However, LGBT developers have also come
under the same type of harassment from external groups like women and racial
minorities due to the nature of the video game culture.[32]

Age
The industry also is recognized to have an ageism issue, discriminating against the
hiring and retention of older developers. A 2016 IGDA survey found only 3% of
developers were over 50 years old, while at least two-thirds were between 20 and
34; these numbers show a far lower average age compared to the U.S. national
average of about 41.9 that same year. While discrimination by age in hiring
practices is generally illegal, companies often target their oldest workers first
during layoffs or other periods of reduction. Older developers with experience may
find themselves too qualified for the types of positions that other game
development companies seek given the salaries and compensations offered.[45][46]

Contract workers
Some of the larger video game developers and publishers have also engaged contract
workers through agencies to help add manpower in game development in part to
alleviate crunch time from employees. Contractors are brought on for a fixed period
and generally work similar hours as full-time staff members, assisting across all
areas of video game development, but as contractors, do not get any benefits such
as paid time-off or health care from the employer; they also are typically not
credited on games that they work on for this reason. The practice itself is legal
and common in other engineering and technology areas, and generally it is expected
that this is meant to lead into a full-time position, or otherwise the end of the
contract. But more recently, its use in the video game industry has been compared
to Microsoft's past use of "permatemp", contract workers that were continually
renewed and treated for all purposes as employees but received no benefits. While
Microsoft has waned from the practice, the video game industry has adapted it more
frequently. Around 10% of the workforce in video games is estimated to be from
contract labor.[47][48]

Unionization
See also: Unionization in the tech sector
Similar to other tech industries, video game developers are typically not
unionized. This is a result of the industry being driven more by creativity and
innovation rather than production, the lack of distinction between management and
employees in the white-collar area, and the pace at which the industry moves that
makes union actions difficult to plan out.[49] However, when situations related to
crunch time become prevalent in the news, there have typically been followup
discussions towards the potential to form a union.[49] A survey performed by the
International Game Developers Association in 2014 found that more than half of the
2,200 developers surveyed favored unionization.[50] A similar survey of over 4,000
game developers run by the Game Developers Conference in early 2019 found that 47%
of respondents felt the video game industry should unionize.[51]

In 2016, voice actors in the Screen Actors Guild‐American Federation of Television

and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) union doing work for video games struck several major
publishers, demanding better royalty payments and provisions related to the safety
of their vocal performances, when their union's standard contract was up for
renewal. The voice actor strike lasted for over 300 days into 2017 before a new
deal was made between SAG-AFTRA and the publishers. While this had some effects on
a few games within the industry, it brought to the forefront the question of
whether video game developers should unionize.[49][52][53]

A grassroots movement, Game Workers Unite, was established around 2017 to discuss
and debate issues related to unionization of game developers. The group came to the
forefront during the March 2018 Game Developers Conference by holding a roundtable
discussion with the International Game Developers Association (IGDA), the
professional association for developers. Statements made by the IGDA's current
executive director Jen MacLean relating to IGDA's activities had been seen by as
anti-union, and Game Workers Unite desired to start a conversation to lay out the
need for developers to unionize.[54] In the wake of the sudden near-closure of
Telltale Games in September 2018, the movement again called out for the industry to
unionize. The movement argued that Telltale had not given any warning to its 250
employees let go, having hired additional staff as recently as a week prior, and
left them without pensions or health-care options; it was further argued that the
studio considered this a closure rather than layoffs, as to get around failure to
notify required by the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act of 1988
preceding layoffs.[55] The situation was argued to be "exploitive", as Telltale had
been known to force its employees to frequently work under "crunch time" to deliver
its games.[56] By the end of 2018, a United Kingdom trade union, Game Workers Unite
UK, an affiliate of the Game Workers Unite movement, had been legally established.
[57]

Following Activision Blizzard's financial report for the previous quarter in

February 2019, the company said that they would be laying off around 775 employees
(about 8% of their workforce) despite having record profits for that quarter.
Further calls for unionization came from this news, including the AFL–CIO writing
an open letter to video game developers encouraging them to unionize.[58]

In January 2020, Game Workers Unite and the Communications Workers of America
established a new campaign to push for unionization of video game developers, the
Campaign to Organize Digital Employees (CODE), in January 2020. Initial efforts for
CODE were aimed to determine what approach to unionization would be best suited for
the video game industry. Whereas some video game employees believe they should
follow the craft-based model used by SAG-AFTRA which would unionize based on job
function, others feel an industry-wide union, regardless of job position, would be
better.[59]

Starting in 2021, several smaller game studios in the United States began efforts
to unionize. These mostly involved teams doing quality assurance rather than
developers. These studios included three QA studios under Blizzard Entertainment:
Raven Software, Blizzard Albany, and Proletariat; and Zenimax Media's QA team.
Microsoft, which had previously acquired Zenimax and announced plans to acquire
Blizzard via the acquisition of Activision Blizzard, stated it supported these
unionization efforts.[60]

Sweden presents a unique case where nearly all parts of its labor force, including
white-collar jobs such as video game development, may engage with labor unions
under the Employment Protection Act often through collective bargaining agreements.
Developer DICE had reached its union agreements in 2004.[61] Paradox Interactive
became one of the first major publishers to support unionization efforts in June
2020 with its own agreements to cover its Swedish employees within two labor unions
Unionen and SACO.[62] In Australia, video game developers could join other unions,
but the first video game-specific union, Game Workers Unite Australia, was formed
in December 2021 under Professionals Australia to become active in 2022.[63] In
Canada, in a historic move, video game workers in Edmonton unanimously voted to
unionize for the first time in June 2022.[64]

In January 2023, after not being credited in The Last of Us HBO adaptation, Bruce
Straley called for unionization of the video game industry.[65] He told the Los
Angeles Times: "Someone who was part of the co-creation of that world and those
characters isn't getting a credit or a nickel for the work they put into it. Maybe
we need unions in the video game industry to be able to protect creators."[66]

See also
List of video game developers
List of independent game developers
Video game industry practices
References
Bethke, Erik K (2003). Game development and production. Texas: Wordware 2, Inc. p.
4. ISBN 1-55622-951-8.
McGuire, Morgan; Jenkins, Odest Chadwicke (2009). Creating Games in maps for happy
wills Mechanics, Content, and Technology. Wellesley, Massachusetts: A K Peters. p.
25. ISBN 978-1-56881-305-9.
Bob, Ogo. "Electronic Game School". Teacher. Archived from the original on 2018-
10-12. Retrieved 2020-07-20.
Bates, Bob (2004). Game Design (2nd ed.). Thomson Course Technology. p. 239. ISBN
1-59200-493-8.
Gnade, Mike (July 15, 2010). "What Exactly is an Indie Game?". The Indie Game
Magazine. Archived from the original on September 27, 2013. Retrieved January 9,
2011.
Ahmed, Shahed. "Naughty Dog discusses being acquired by Sony". GameSpot. Archived
from the original on 2018-06-29. Retrieved 2018-05-26.
"Is Your Favorite Game Company Ripping You Off?". Next Generation. No. 30. Imagine
Media. June 1997. pp. 39–40.
"The Next Generation 1996 Lexicon A to Z: Second Party". Next Generation. No. 15.
Imagine Media. March 1996. p. 40.
Fahey, Mike (February 21, 2015). "The Studio Behind Smash Bros. And Kirby, HAL
Laboratory Turns 35 Today". Kotaku. Archived from the original on November 6, 2021.
Retrieved March 25, 2021.
Devore, Jordan (2018-02-26). "HAL Laboratory's first mobile game is out today".
Destructoid. Archived from the original on 2022-08-19. Retrieved 2022-06-16.
"Stream of video games is endless". Milwaukee Journal. 1982-12-26. pp. Business 1.
Archived from the original on 2016-03-12. Retrieved 10 January 2015.
Flemming, Jeffrey. "The History Of Activision". Gamasutra. Archived from the
original on December 20, 2016. Retrieved December 30, 2016.
Mochizuki, Takahashi; Savov, Vlad (August 25, 2020). "Epic's Battle With Apple and
Google Actually Dates Back to Pac-Man". Bloomberg News. Archived from the original
on November 6, 2021. Retrieved August 25, 2020.
"The End Game: How Top Developers Sold Their Studios - Part One".
www.gamasutra.com. 3 March 2004. Archived from the original on 23 September 2017.
Retrieved 14 October 2019.
"EA: The Human Story". livejournal.com. 10 November 2004. Archived from the
original on 6 November 2018. Retrieved 6 November 2018.
Liao, Shannon (15 April 2021). "A year into the pandemic, game developers reflect
on burnout, mental health and avoiding crunch". The Washington Post. Archived from
the original on 28 May 2022. Retrieved 26 July 2022.
"Top Gaming Studios, Schools & Salaries". Big Fish Games. Archived from the
original on 19 July 2013. Retrieved 30 July 2013.
The Game Industry Salary Survey 2007 Archived 2021-10-06 at the Wayback Machine
however, different regions and costs of living will add a wide range to the minimum
and maximum pay scales. Most larger developers such as Ubisoft will include profit-
sharing plans, royalty payments or performance-related bonuses to reward their
employees. from GameCareerGuide.com
 Kris Graft (July 22, 2014). "Game Developer Salary Survey 2014: The results are
in!". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on August 25, 2021. Retrieved April 23,
2015.
Robinson, Evan (2005). "Why Crunch Mode Doesn't Work: Six Lessons". IGDA. Archived
from the original on 2009-03-02. Retrieved 2009-03-07.
Harkins, Peter Bhat (5 April 2009). "The Game Industry". Push.cox. Archived from
the original on 15 July 2012. Retrieved 20 August 2009.
Frauenheim, Ed (11 November 2004). "No fun for game developers?". CNet News.
Archived from the original on 3 April 2019. Retrieved 17 September 2018.
Dyer-Witheford, Nick; de Peuter, Greig (2006). "" EA Spouse" and the Crisis of
Video Game Labour: Enjoyment, Exclusion, Exploitation, Exodus". Canadian Journal of
Communication. 31 (3): 599–617. doi:10.22230/cjc.2006v31n3a1771.
Paprocki, Matt (February 27, 2018). "EA Spouse, 14 Years Later: How One Person
Tried Correcting EA Culture". Glixel. Archived from the original on February 27,
2018.
McCarty, Jared (October 15, 2019). "Crunch Culture Consequences". Gamasutra.
Archived from the original on August 25, 2021. Retrieved February 3, 2020.
Bramwell, Tom (January 11, 2010). ""Rockstar Spouse" attacks dev conditions".
Eurogamer. Archived from the original on October 30, 2017. Retrieved October 31,
2017.
Brice, Kath (January 11, 2010). ""Rockstar Spouse" accuses dev of pushing its
employees "to the brink"". GamesIndustry.biz. Archived from the original on
November 7, 2017. Retrieved October 31, 2017.
Thomsen, Michael (March 24, 2021). "Why is the games industry so burdened with
crunch? It starts with labor laws". The Washington Post. Archived from the original
on October 15, 2021. Retrieved August 19, 2021.
Marc Graser (October 1, 2013). "Videogame Biz: Women Still Very Much in the
Minority". Variety. Archived from the original on 2016-05-04. Retrieved 2013-10-20.
Campbell, Colin (January 8, 2018). "Game companies are failing on diversity,
according to new report". Polygon. Archived from the original on August 3, 2021.
Retrieved August 3, 2021.
"2017 Essential Facts About the Computer and Video Game Industry". Entertainment
Software Association. 2017. Archived from the original on August 3, 2021. Retrieved
August 3, 2021.
Lorenz, Taylor; Browning, Kellen (June 23, 2020). "Dozens of Women in Gaming Speak
Out About Sexism and Harassment". The New York Times. Archived from the original on
June 23, 2020. Retrieved August 17, 2021.
Romano, Aja (August 10, 2021). "Gaming culture is toxic. A major lawsuit might
finally change it". Vox. Archived from the original on August 11, 2021. Retrieved
August 11, 2021.
Prescott, Julie; Bogg, Jan (2011). "Segregation in a Male-Dominated Industry:
Women Working in the Computer Games Industry". International Journal of Gender,
Science, and Technology. 3 (1): 205–27.
Conditt, Jessica (August 30, 2019). "Emerging from the shadow of GamerGate".
Engadget. Archived from the original on August 3, 2021. Retrieved August 3, 2021.
Graft, Kris (July 22, 2014). "Gender wage gap: How the game industry compares to
the U.S. average". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on January 27, 2016.
Retrieved December 27, 2015.
Caddy, Becca (February 17, 2020). "'I was always told I was unusual': why so few
women design video games". The Guardian. Archived from the original on February 26,
2021. Retrieved August 19, 2021.
"Developer Satisfaction Survey 2019 Summary Report" (PDF). International Game
Developers Association. November 20, 2019. Archived (PDF) from the original on
March 15, 2020. Retrieved June 4, 2020.
Browne, Ryan (August 14, 2020). "The $150 billion video game industry grapples
with a murky track record on diversity". CNBC. Archived from the original on August
17, 2021. Retrieved August 17, 2021.
Peckham, Eric (June 21, 2020). "Confronting racial bias in video games". Tech
Crunch. Archived from the original on August 17, 2021. Retrieved August 17, 2021.
 "Developer Satisfaction Survey 2014 & 2015 - Diversity in the Games Industry
Report" (PDF). International Game Developers Association. 2016-09-12. Archived
(PDF) from the original on 2020-06-04. Retrieved June 4, 2020.
Sheikh, Rahil (December 20, 2017). "Video games: How big is industry's racial
diversity problem?". BBC. Archived from the original on August 17, 2021. Retrieved
August 17, 2021.
Ramanan, Chella (March 15, 2017). "The video game industry has a diversity problem
– but it can be fixed". The Guardian. Archived from the original on June 28, 2019.
Retrieved March 15, 2017.
Ochalla, Bryan (March 30, 2007). "'Out' in the Industry". Gamasutra. Archived from
the original on August 17, 2021. Retrieved August 17, 2021.
Peterson, Steve (April 4, 2018). "Ageism: The issue never gets old".
GamesIndustry.biz. Archived from the original on August 17, 2021. Retrieved August
17, 2021.
Parkin, Simon (May 30, 2017). "No industry for old men (or women)". Gamasutra.
Archived from the original on August 17, 2021. Retrieved August 17, 2021.
Schreier, Jason (August 27, 2020). "Blockbuster Video Games Mint Millions While
Grunts Get Exploited". Bloomberg News. Archived from the original on August 27,
2020. Retrieved August 27, 2020.
Campbell, Colin (December 19, 2016). "The game industry's disposable workers".
Polygon. Archived from the original on August 24, 2020. Retrieved August 27, 2020.
Maiberg, Emanuel (February 22, 2017). "Walk the Line". Vice. Archived from the
original on February 22, 2017. Retrieved February 23, 2017.
Sinclair, Brendan (June 24, 2014). "56% of devs in favor of unionizing - IGDA".
GamesIndustry.biz. Archived from the original on March 23, 2018. Retrieved March
22, 2018.
Takahashi, Dean (January 24, 2019). "GDC survey: Half of game developers support
unionization, believe Steam is too greedy". Venture Beat. Archived from the
original on January 25, 2019. Retrieved January 24, 2019.
Crecente, Brian (March 21, 2018). "Union Reps Meet With Game Devs About
Unionization". Glixel. Archived from the original on March 30, 2018. Retrieved
March 22, 2018.
Williams, Ian (March 23, 2018). "After Destroying Lives For Decades, Gaming Is
Finally Talking Unionization". Vice. Archived from the original on March 23, 2018.
Retrieved March 23, 2018.
Frank, Allegra (March 21, 2018). "This is the group using GDC to bolster game
studio unionization efforts". Polygon. Archived from the original on July 19, 2021.
Retrieved September 24, 2018.
Gach, Ethan (September 24, 2018). "Telltale Employees Left Stunned By Company
Closure, No Severance". Kotaku. Archived from the original on September 24, 2018.
Retrieved September 24, 2018.
Handradan, Matthew (September 24, 2018). "Telltale's treatment of staff "a problem
endemic in the industry"". GamesIndustry.biz. Archived from the original on March
8, 2021. Retrieved September 24, 2018.
Fogel, Stephanie (December 14, 2018). "Game Workers Unite UK Is That Country's
First Games Industry Union". Variety. Archived from the original on January 29,
2019. Retrieved January 29, 2019.
McAloon, Alissa (February 15, 2019). "US labor organization AFL-CIO urges game
developers to unionize in open letter". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on
February 15, 2019. Retrieved February 15, 2019.
Dean, Sam (January 7, 2020). "Major union launches campaign to organize video game
and tech workers". The Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on January 13,
2020. Retrieved January 7, 2020.
Carpenter, Nicole (January 8, 2023). "The game studios changing the industry by
unionizing". Polymer. Archived from the original on January 8, 2023. Retrieved
January 8, 2023.
Fridén, Eric (October 23, 2013). "Scandinavian Crunch: Pid Developer Might and
Delight Goes Its Own Way". Polygon. Archived from the original on April 25, 2020.
Retrieved June 3, 2020.
 Olsen, Mathew (June 3, 2020). "Paradox Reaches Agreement With Swedish Unions For
Better Pay, Benefits, And More". USGamer. Archived from the original on June 3,
2020. Retrieved June 3, 2020.
Plunkett, Luke (December 6, 2021). "Australian Video Games Industry Is Getting Its
Own Union". Kotaku. Archived from the original on December 7, 2021. Retrieved
December 6, 2021.
Weststar, Johanna (June 21, 2022). "Canada's first video game union shows that
labour organizing is on the rise". The Conversation. Archived from the original on
July 22, 2022. Retrieved July 22, 2022.
Martens, Todd (January 15, 2023). "How 'The Last of Us' changed gaming, strained
relationships and spawned an empire". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original
on January 15, 2023. Retrieved January 19, 2023.
Broadwell, Josh (January 19, 2023). "The Last of Us director calls for
unionization in the games industry". USA Today. Archived from the original on
January 20, 2023. Retrieved January 20, 2023.
Bibliography
McShaffry, Mike (2009). Game Coding Complete. Hingham, Massachusetts: Charles River
Media. ISBN 978-1-58450-680-5.
Moore, Michael E.; Novak, Jeannie (2010). Game Industry Career Guide. Delmar:
Cengage Learning. ISBN 978-1-4283-7647-2.
External links
"Quality of Life in the Videogame Industry"
Authority control databases: National Edit this at Wikidata
GermanyCzech Republic 2
Categories: Video game developmentVideo game developers
This page was last edited on 23 April 2024, at 10:40 (UTC).
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 4.0;
additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and
Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation,
Inc., a non-profit organization.
Privacy policyAbout WikipediaDisclaimersContact WikipediaCode of
ConductDevelopersStatisticsCookie statementMobile viewWikimedia FoundationPowered
by MediaWiki