IGDA survey casts a light on game devs’ impressions of industry diversity, job satisfaction, and crunch culture

The International Game Developers Association (IGDA) has put together the 2023 version of its game developer satisfaction survey, which continues to take the temperature of game devs’ thoughts on the industry as a whole, specifically on matters of diversity in the office and in games, their experiences with crunch, and general job security and relationships with management.

The data gathered comes from 777 respondents between May 17th and October 20th, 2023, and shares a wide assortment of figures from those who answered the org’s questions. Starting with diversity, the vast majority of respondents felt it was important both in the studio and in-game, but 58 percent of devs believe the industry has become more diverse — a figure that is higher than 2021’s results but also similar to 2019 data.

In terms of anti-discrimination policies, 28 percent say their companies have no EDI policies in place (which is a low but still worrying figure), yet 43 percent of respondents felt that the above policies were adequately enforced, which is up slightly from 41 percent in 2021.

The section about job security and treatment provides some more eye-opening data: 10,500 people lost their jobs in 2023 (a number the industry has nearly met and surpassed this year already, according to estimates), 25 percent of devs report working extended hours, and 28 percent say their job involved crunch time; of those who experienced crunch, 64 percent are freelancers, and 76 percent are self-employed devs.

On matters of pay scale, data is a bit all over the map: Most respondents say their salaries are over $150K, though the next largest figure says devs are paid between $50K and $75K.

Overall the data notes that 35 percent of regular devs rate their relationship with management as fair or poor while overall relations between managers and contractors and employees is mostly classified as good. The full breakdown can be read in the report itself or summarized with the below infographics.

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