catbarf on 18/4/2009 at 03:13
Today I went for a campus visit at a college offering a game design and development course (RIT). The head of the department, in a discussion about some of the companies offering co-ops, and specifically EA, recalled an interview he'd had a few months prior. A representative from EA apparently asked him how the students view the company, and his response was that they see EA as an uncaring company that will work its employees at $40k/year, eighty hours a week, burn them out, and go hire more. The representative's reaction, surprisingly, was that they're 'working on it'. When a graduate was offered a job at EA some time thereafter, they started at $75k, and he was able to talk them up to $80k and paying for him to move to their headquarters.
This is the first I've EVER heard of EA trying to move away from their infamous horror-story policies. Is there anything out on the internet that can back this up?
aguywhoplaysthief on 18/4/2009 at 16:50
I don't care enough to look any links up, but if you read Gamasutra or The Escapist, this topic has come up many times over the years. It's not bad - I don't know anyone who has worked there recently that has bitched about it.
Fafhrd on 18/4/2009 at 21:11
That 40k/year number for developers has to be wrong. That's around what QA leads make. I'm pretty sure devs pull down between 60 and 80k a year on average.
Muzman on 19/4/2009 at 12:39
The problem is more that they've said crunch is a fact of life and employees should expect it and just deal. What impact that has is going to vary from studio to studio, department to department. A lot of the old guard sounding slightly macho about it doesn't help.
catbarf on 19/4/2009 at 17:48
Quote Posted by Fafhrd
I'm pretty sure devs pull down between 60 and 80k a year on average.
I have no idea. The department head said that the 75k figure was simply unheard of, although that may be because the prospective employee in question was fresh out of school.
Minion21g on 19/4/2009 at 22:45
I can't imagine EA would only pay people 40k/year. I make nearly that much and I'm only an intern. I know for a fact that my coworkers make at least 60k/year. 75k for a graduate new hire isn't that great either.
Fafhrd on 20/4/2009 at 01:03
I think a lot of it comes down to the degree, as well. I honestly would expect somebody with a degree in game design to make slightly less than someone with a computer science degree, just due to the implied lack of flexibility with the game design degree.
