State of the Game Industry 20192
Nearly half of game makers work over 40 hours a week on games
Since there’s been so much public discussion about labor conditions in the game industry, we
thought it was a good idea to ask respondents to tell us what their average hours worked in a
week and maximum hours worked in a week were over the past twelve months.
Nearly half of respondents (44 percent) say they spend more than 40 hours a week, on
average, working on games. The most common workweek proved to be 36-40 hours per week,
with 24 percent of respondents saying that was their average. 21 percent of respondents said
they worked on games 41-45 hours per week on average and 17 percent said they averaged
0-20 hours per week on games.
Notably, 3 percent of respondents said they average over 60 hours of work per week on games,
and 5 percent said they average 51-60 hours.
When it came to talking about their maximum overtime, the largest share of respondents (19
percent) said 46-50 hours was the most they’d worked on games in a single week during the
past twelve months. 18 percent said 51-60 hours was the most they’d worked on games in a
single week (though note this answer encompasses 10 years, rather than 5, and will thus attract
more responses), and 11 percent said 41-45 hours.
However, we saw that at least some respondents claimed to have worked as much as a
hundred-hour week in the past twelve months. 2 percent said they’d worked at least 91-100
hours in one week, 1 percent said they’d hit 101-110, and another 1 percent (or almost 40 people)
said they’d worked more than 110 hours in a week on games within the past year.
“Self-pressure” was the most common reason game makers
gave for working overtime
We also gave respondents the option of telling us the reason(s) why they thought they’d worked
those maximums, and what their general studio size (small, medium, large) was when it happened.
Respondents could choose multiple reasons and the most popular answer, given by 69 percent
of respondents, was that it was at least partially self-pressure -- personally putting in extra work
because the respondents felt they wanted or needed to. More than half of those who gave this
answer worked at small outfits of 10 people or less, while a third worked at a studio of more
than 30 people.
The second most popular response, given by 59 percent of respondents, was that they don’t
feel the number of hours worked to be excessive. Here again, more than half of those who said
this worked alone or in small groups, while a third worked on large teams.
The third most popular proved to be management pressure, with 26 percent of respondents
saying they’d crunched because it was made clear by someone above them that they needed to
work those hours. A disproportionately large number of them (39 percent) said they work at large
companies of 30+ people, while 42 percent said they work at small companies of ten or less.
State of the Game Industry 20193
We observe a similar pattern if we zoom in on the data and only look at the responses of one
subset of respondents. If we look at just the responses from those who say they work at small
studios (10 people or less), we again see the most popular answer is self-pressure, followed by
I don't consider the hours excessive, though I don't know, I just did beat out management
pressure to take third place.
We also note that while “I don’t know, I just did” was a relatively uncommon answer to
this question (given by just 20 percent of respondents), the folks that did give it were
disproportionately indie, with 65 percent of those who gave this answer identifying as working
at a studio of 10 people or less.
Steam is the storefront to beat on PC, but some devs thrive
on smaller competitors
Given how many notable new game storefronts debuted in 2018 (such as the Epic Games Store
and Discord Store), we gave survey respondents the option to tell us which PC/Mac game
storefronts they sell their games on, and what percentage of their sales came from each.
As you might expect, the most popular answer was Steam, with roughly 47 percent of those
who responded saying they sell games on Valve’s storefront.
Selling directly to customers (via your own website, for example) was the second most popular
answer with 26 percent, followed by Itch and publisher-owned storefronts (like Electronic Arts'
Origin or Battle) with 18 percent.
Of the respondents who said they sell their games on Steam, the majority (55 percent) say
Steam accounts for 75-100 percent of their sales revenue. There’s a similar slant among the
devs who said they sell their games direct, with the largest share (41 percent) saying direct
sales make up 75-100 percent of their sales.
What were the reasons you believe caused you to work those maximum number of
hours per week
I don't consider the amount of time I worked to be excessive. 28%
Management pressure (it was made clear that we needed to work those hours). 10%
Peer pressure (everyone else was working those hours). 10%
Self-pressure (I was personally working hard and felt I needed/wanted to). 33%
I don’t know, I just did. 12%
Other 7%
State of the Game Industry 20194
Among the much smaller number of
respondents who sell their games on
publisher-owned storefronts, 36 percent
said such storefronts generate 75-100
percent of their revenues. More than
half (51 percent) said publisher-owned
storefronts generate 50 percent or less of
their earnings.
The same was true of GOG, Humble, and
Discord, each of which accounted for less
than 10 percent of revenues earned by the
majority of the (few) respondents who sell
games there.
While Itch had a similar ratio (52 percent of
devs who use it say it generates less than
10 percent of their revenues), it also had a
surprisingly high number of respondents
(29 percent) who said Itch accounts for 75-
100 percent of their earnings. This suggests
Itch is doing something to cultivate a
specific audience uniquely accessible to
certain devs.
What percentage of your sales comes from each storefront
Steam
Percentage of Sales
ItchKartridge
GOG
Discord
Direct
(via your own
website)
Humble
Publisher ownedOther
10% 10-25% 26-50% 51-75% 75-100%
10% 10-25% 26-50% 51-75% 75-100%
10% 10-25% 26-50% 51-75% 75-100%
10% 10-25% 26-50% 51-75% 75-100%
10% 10-25% 26-50% 51-75% 75-100%
10% 10-25% 26-50% 51-75% 75-100%
10% 10-25% 26-50% 51-75% 75-100%
10% 10-25% 26-50% 51-75% 75-100%
10% 10-25% 26-50% 51-75% 75-100%
9%
52%
22%
15%14%12%
36%
27%
15%11%
5%
41%
27%
13%9%
5%
46%
72%76%
12%
3%2%7%
15%
6%4%4%
11%
4%4%
29%
10%9%
18%
55%65%76%
19%
2%1%2%
26%
6%2%2%
Which PC/Mac video game store do you
sell games on
Steam 47%
GOG 14%
Humble 17%
Itch 18%
Discord 6%
Kartridge 5%
Publisher owned 18%
Direct (via your own website) 26%
Other 17%。