One of my favorite statistics is this:
- Only 3.4% said that their coworkers averaged 10 or more years of experience.
- 33.8% of respondents are between 25 and 29, only 18.4% over 35.
- Crunch time is omnipresent, during which respondents work 65 to 80 hours a week (35.2%). The average crunch work week exceeds 80 hours (13%). Overtime is often uncompensated (46.8%).
- 44% of developers claim they could use more people or special skills on their projects.
- Spouses are likely to respond that:
- You work too much... (61.5%)
- You are always stressed out. (43.5%)
- You don't make enough money. (35.6%)
- Contrary to expectations, more people said that games were only one of many career options for them (34%) than said games were their only choice (32%).
Less likely than the population as a whole to have children. 76.9% of respondents (and 82.9% of female respondents) have no kids.Now, if this is a conscious decision, that's one thing, but it does beg the question, is this statistic due to the fact that game developers just can't get laid? If so, do I really want to be one? Working 65-80 hours a week, every week, only to come home and not get any lovin'? It does raise some concerns. However, one good statistic in all of that information is that half of the developers expect to leave the industry in the next 10 years:
34.3% of developers expect to leave the industry within 5 years, and 51.2% within 10 years.... which means, there might be an opening for me! Sure, I can see how miserable their lives are, and I want to share in that misery... for some reason I still think I want to make video games... what's wrong with me?
