Newest Report

Game Developer Research is pleased to announce the debut of its ninth report, the 'Game Developer Census 2008'. The in-depth 171-page report provides a detailed list of every significant video game developer and publisher currently working in the game business in the United States and Canada.

The Census report lists more than 650 companies alphabetically by U.S. state and Canadian province, along with generalize contact addresses, website information, estimates of employee numbers and details on their market specialties (from casual gaming, online gaming, mobile gaming and serious gaming to PC, handheld or console gaming). The report is intended to be a valuable tool for game industry trendwatchers, contractors, service companies, and other entities wanting to acquire accurate information to reach out to the North American game market as a whole.

Not included in the current Census estimate are game tools companies, game contracting/services companies, external PR, marketing, legal, and other business services, and liaison or licensing divisions at larger media companies. Game Developer Research putatively puts this figure at around 18,000 across North America.

The 'Game Developer Census 2008' digital download is comprised of the following elements: The .DOC version of the report, which summarizes the contacts in easily readable form and provides totals for game developers per state and Canadian province, and the .XLS Excel spreadsheet version of the report, which allows the individual fields to be sorted, exported and used however the purchaser sees fit.

Other Reports

Game Developer Research is pleased to announce the debut of its eighth report, the 'Game Developer Top 20 Publishers 2008 Survey'. This detailed supplement to the sixth Top 20 Publishers countdown, which appears in basic form in the October 2008 issue of Game Developer magazine, reveals the numerical reputation scores, written comments, and anonymous partner feedback for the major game publishers in this year's countdown, alongside game release and average review score specifics by platform.

The 2008 rankings were calculated by considering number of releases by SKU, average review scores, and estimated publisher revenue from August 2007 to July 2008. It also included the results of a survey conducted to gather opinions on the major video game software publishers.

More than 300 industry professionals from all parts of the game production process were asked to give their opinions – including comments – on the reputations of each publisher in the survey. In addition, scores and commentary were gathered from respondents who had direct experience with the publishers in the recent past, either as workers or partners, including milestone, marketing and pay feedback.

The full version of 'Top 20 Publishers' report spans more than 100 pages and almost 27,000 words, including many exclusive and detailed graphs, and should be of eminent interest to game publishers, game investors, and other businesspeople inside and outside the game industry.

Game Developer Research is pleased to announce the debut of its seventh report, the '2008 State Of Game Development Survey.' The in-depth 180-page report was compiled by surveying almost 2,000 video game professionals from North America and beyond who read Gamasutra.com or subscribe to Game Developer magazine.

It includes answers to over 55 questions about the platforms Western game creators develop for, the market sectors they are working in, the tools they use, and the amount of money they spend on them. Some of the highlights of the report which Game Developer Research is revealing to the public at this time include the following:

- Overall, 70% of those replying are making games on the PC or Mac, with 43% creating for console and 28% for web platforms - with just 16% making games for handheld platforms such as the DS or PSP.

- Of the surveyed console developers, which represent a notable cross-section of the entire industry, 73% are creating games for Xbox 360, 58% (including some of the same respondents) for the PlayStation 3, and 42% for the Wii - with 15% still creating games for the PlayStation 2. This implies that the greatest amount of Western console developers by sheer numbers are creating games for Microsoft's console - but due to team size differences, this doesn't necessarily imply that more games will appear on the Xbox 360 than other consoles.

- Again, of the largely North American and European developers surveyed, Nintendo DS had the largest amount of creators by numbers, with 75% of those handheld developers surveyed making games for it - and with 45% making games for the PSP.

Another particularly interesting result that discussing trends in programming language. Of those responding, 76% are currently using C++ to make games, with 31% using C#, and 19% using Java/J2ME in their programming efforts. In addition, 9% of those replying still use assembly language in some way.

The remainder of the survey offers a wealth of extra data into the purchasing habits and development choices of the game development industry, with market share information in areas as diverse as AI tools, game engines, 3D art software, compilers, books, motion capture suites, and computer hardware - covering every submarket of purchases made by game makers. This will be of interest to technology companies in the game development space, as well as those looking to enter the market or to survey general game industry trends.

The 'Game Developer Salary Report: 2004-2008' was conducted February-March 2008 with the assistance of research firm Audience Insights. More than 4,860 responses were gathered from participants in total. The survey excluded salaries under $10,000 as well as salary figures from students and educators. The small number of reported salaries over $202,500 was excluded to prevent their high numbers from unnaturally skewing the average. The sample represented in the salary survey can be projected to the overall game developer community with a margin of error for the U.S. statistics of plus or minus 1.7% at a 95% confidence level.

These trends include detailed data for year-over-year results from 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007, leading to prediction possibilities over all disciplines, including programming, art, audio, production, Q/A, business, and beyond. This makes it an essential purchase for HR professionals, business owners, investors and government entities wanting to know how game salaries are changing over time.

There is also further segmenting of the data to show average salaries for select Canadian provinces and European countries, as well as many other newly exposed details, thanks to the in-depth surveying of Game Developer/Gamasutra readers and GDC attendees, with over 4,860 responses for this year.

Game Developer Research is pleased to announce the debut of its third report, the 'Game Developer Top 20 Publishers 2007 Survey'. This detailed supplement to the fifth Top 20 Publishers countdown, which appears in the October 2007 issue of Game Developer magazine, reveals the numerical reputation scores, written comments, and anonymous partner feedback for the major game publishers in this year's countdown, alongside game release and average review score specifics by platform.

For the first time ever, Game Developer Research is making available the data set using to calculate the countdown, including a reputational survey using 300 industry professionals from all parts of the game production process. They were asked to rate numerically – including comments - the reputations of each publisher in the survey.

In addition, scores and commentary was gathered from respondents who had direct experience with these game publishers in the recent past, either as workers or partners - including milestone, marketing and pay feedback. This information is twinned with complete publisher release lists and average review scores from August 2006 to July 2007 to present an unprecedented level of data into how major game companies are currently faring.

You can now read more information on the specific information available in the survey, including sample data, and purchase the 'Game Developer Top 20 Publishers 2007 Survey'.

Game Developer Research is pleased to announce the debut of its second report, 'The Game Developer Census 2007', which has created an accurate and detailed list of every significant developer and publisher currently working in the game business in the United States and Canada.

The result, which will be invaluable for contractors, service companies, educational institutions and other entities wanting to reach out to the North American game market as a whole, includes almost 600 firms listed, and includes both a 150-page in-depth report by state, and a separate Excel document with the full data set.

Every firm surveyed is listed with full postal address, website URL, phone number/email contact when publicly available, size of firm, and the type of development or publishing it focuses on—casual gaming, online gaming, mobile gaming, serious gaming, PC, handheld or console gaming, as well as example titles that the company has produced.

The 'Game Developer Census 2007' can be ordered digitally, and comprises the following elements: The .DOC version of the report, which summarizes the contacts in easily readable form and provides totals for game developers per state and Canadian province, and the .XLS Excel spreadsheet version of the report, which allows the individual fields to be sorted, exported and used however the purchaser sees fit.

You can now read more information on the specifics of the survey, and purchase the 'Game Developer Census 2007' .

The in-depth 'Game Developer Salary Report: 2004-2007' includes a full salary, benefits, and bonuses comparison for American, Canadian, and European game industry salaries over that time period. An overview of the basic findings is available in a Gamasutra.com news story

The 2006 survey was conducted through Audience Insights, and anonymously polled 5,600 readers of Game Developer magazine and Gamasutra.com and attendees of Game Developers Conference on their current salary information. The 2005 and 2004 surveys were conducted similarly, leading to almost 15,000 responses and unprecedented levels of detail.

These trends include three-year averages, leading to prediction possibilities over all disciplines, including programming, art, audio, production, Q/A, business, and beyond. This makes it an essential purchase for HR professionals, business owners, investors and government entities wanting to know how game salaries are changing over time.

You can now read more information on the specifics of the survey, and purchase the 'Game Developer Salary Report: 2004-2007' .

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