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rates than third party developers 7 these studios may have exclusive publishing agreements or other business relationships with the platform holder but maintain independence so that upon completion or termination of their contracts they are able to continue developing games for other publishers if they choose to for example while hal laboratory initially began developing games on personal computers like the msx they became one of the earliest second party developers for nintendo developing exclusively for nintendo s consoles starting with the famicom though they would self publish their mobile games 9 10 third party developers see also third party software component a third party developer may also publish games or work for a video game publisher to develop a title both publisher and developer have considerable input in the game s design and content however the publisher s wishes generally override those of the developer work for hire studios solely execute the publishers vision the business arrangement between the developer and publisher is governed by a contract which specifies a list of milestones intended to be delivered over a period of time by updating its milestones the publisher verifies that work is progressing quickly enough to meet its deadline and can direct the developer if the game is not meeting expectations when each milestone is completed and accepted the publisher pays the developer an advance on royalties successful developers may maintain several teams working on different games for different publishers generally however third party developers tend to be small close knit teams third party game development is a volatile sector since small developers may depend on income from a single publisher one canceled game may devastate a small developer because of this many small development companies are short lived a common exit strategy for a successful video game developer is to sell the company to a publisher becoming an in house developer in house development teams tend to have more freedom in game design and content than third party developers one reason is that since the developers are the publisher s employees their interests align with those of the publisher the publisher may spend less effort ensuring that the developer s decisions do not enrich the developer at the publisher s expense at first all atari 2600 software came from atari inc and all mattel intellivision software came from mattel 11 activision in 1979 became the first third party video game developer when four atari programmers left the company following its sale to warner communications partially over the lack of respect that the new management gave to programmers they used their knowledge of how 2600 game cartridges were programmed to create their own games for the system founding activision in 1979 to sell these atari took legal action to block the sale of these games but the companies ultimately settled with activision agreeing to pay a portion of their sales as a license fee to atari for developing for the console this established the use of licensing fees as a model for third party development that persists into the present 12 13 by 1982 mattel s m network was among 16 third party publishers of 2600 software 11 the licensing fee approach was further enforced by nintendo when it decided to allow other third party developers to make games for the famicom console setting a 30 licensing fee that covered game cartridge manufacturing costs and development fees the 30 licensing fee for third party developers has also persisted to the present being a de facto rate used for most digital storefronts for third party developers to offer their games on the platform 14 in recent years larger publishers have acquired several third party developers while these development teams are now technically in house they often continue to operate in an autonomous manner with their own culture and work practices for example activision acquired raven 1997 neversoft 1999 which merged with infinity ward in 2014 z axis 2001 treyarch 2001 luxoflux 2002 shaba 2002 infinity ward 2003 and vicarious visions 2005 all these developers continue operating much as they did before acquisition the primary differences being exclusivity and financial details publishers tend to be more forgiving of their own development teams going over budget or missing deadlines than third party developers a developer may not be the primary entity creating a piece of software usually providing an external software tool which helps organize or use information for the primary software product such tools may be a database voice over ip or add in interface software this is also known as middleware examples of this include speedtree and havoc indie game developers see also indie game and independent video game development independents are software developers which are not owned by or dependent on a single publisher some of these developers self publish their games relying on the internet and word of mouth for publicity without the large marketing budgets of mainstream publishers their products may receive less recognition than those of larger publishers such as sony microsoft or nintendo with the advent of digital distribution of inexpensive games on game consoles it is now possible for indie game developers to forge agreements with console manufacturers for broad distribution of their games digital distribution services for pc games such as steam have also contributed to facilitating the distribution of indie games other indie game developers create game software for a number of video game publishers on several gaming platforms citation needed in recent years this model has been in decline larger publishers such as electronic arts and activision increasingly turn to internal studios usually former independent developers acquired for their development needs 15 quality of life video game development is usually conducted in a casual business environment with t shirts and sandals as common work attire while some workers find this type of environment rewarding and pleasant professionally there has been criticism of this uniform potentially adding to a hostile work environment for women 16 the industry also requires long working hours from its employees sometimes to an extent seen as unsustainable 17 employee burnout is not uncommon 18 an entry level programmer can make on average over 66 000 annually only if they are successful in obtaining a position in a medium to large video game company 19 an experienced game development employee depending on their expertise and experience averaged roughly 73 000 in 2007 20 indie game developers may only earn between 10 000 and 50 000 a year depending on how financially successful their titles are 21 in addition to being part of the software industry citation needed game development is also within the entertainment industry most sectors of the entertainment industry such as films and television require long working hours and dedication from their employees such as willingness to relocate and or required to develop games that do not appeal to their personal taste the creative rewards of work in the entertainment business attracts labor to the industry creating a competitive labor market that demands a high level of commitment and performance from employees industry communities such as the international game developers association igda are conducting increasing discussions about the problem they are concerned that working conditions in the industry cause a significant deterioration in employees quality of life 22 23 crunch main article crunch video games some video game developers and publishers have been accused of the excessive invocation of crunch time 24 crunch time is the point at which the team is thought to be failing to achieve milestones needed to launch a game on schedule the complexity of workflow reliance on third party deliverables and the intangibles of artistic and aesthetic demands in video game creation create difficulty in predicting milestones 25 the use of crunch time is also seen to be exploitative of the younger workforce in video games who have not had the time to establish a family and who were eager to advance within the industry by working long hours 25 26 because crunch time tends to come from a combination of corporate practices as well as peer influence the term crunch culture is often used to discuss video game development settings where crunch time may be seen as the norm rather than the exception 27 the use of crunch time as a workplace standard gained attention first in 2004 when erin hoffman exposed the use of crunch time at electronic arts a situation known as the ea spouses case 25 a similar rockstar spouses case gained further attention in 2010 over working conditions at rockstar san diego 28 29 since then there has generally been negative perception of crunch time from most of the industry as well as from its consumers and other media 30 discrimination and harassment gender main article women and video games treatment of women in the industry game development had generally been a predominately male workforce in 1989 according to variety women constituted only 3 of the gaming industry 31 while a 2017 igda survey found that the female demographic in game development had risen to about 20 taking into account that a 2017 esa survey found 41 of video game players were female this represented a significant gender gap in game development 32 33 the male dominated industry most who have grown up playing video games and are part of the video game culture can create a culture of toxic geek masculinity within the workplace 34 32 in addition the conditions behind crunch time are far more discriminating towards women as this requires them to commit time exclusively to the company or to more personal activities like raising a family 25 35 these factors established conditions within some larger development studios where female developers have found themselves discriminated in workplace hiring and promotion as well as the target of sexual harassment 36 this can be coupled from similar harassment from external groups such as during the 2014 gamergate controversy 37 major investigations into allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct that went unchecked by management as well as discrimination by employers have been brought up against riot games ubisoft and activision blizzard in the late 2010s and early 2020s alongside smaller studios and individual developers however while other entertainment industries have had similar exposure through the me too movement and have tried to address the symptoms of these problems industry wide the video game industry has yet to have its me too moment even as late as 2021 35 there also tends to be pay related discrimination against women in the industry according to gamasutra s game developer salary survey 2014 women in the united states made 86 cents for every dollar men made game designing women had the closest equity making 96 cents for every dollar men made in the same job while audio professional women had the largest gap making 68 of what men in the same position made 38 increasing the representation of women in the video game industry required breaking a feedback loop of the apparent lack of female representation in the production of video games and in the content of video games efforts have been made to provide a strong stem science technology engineering and mathematics background for women at the secondary education level but there are issues with tertiary education such as at colleges and universities where game development programs tend to reflect the male dominated demographics of the industry a factor that may lead women with strong stem backgrounds to choose other career goals 39 racial see also race and video games there is also a significant gap in racial minorities within the video game industry a 2019 igda survey found only 2 of developers considered themselves to be of african descent and 7 hispanic while 81 were caucasian in contrast 2018 estimates from the united states census estimate the u s population to be 13 of african descent and 18 hispanic 40 41 42 in a 2014 and 2015 survey of job positions and salaries the igda found that people of color were both underrepresented in senior management roles as well as underpaid in comparison to white developers 43 further because video game developers typically draw from personal experiences in building game characters this diversity gap has led to few characters of racial minority to be featured as main characters within video games 44 minority developers have also been harassed from external groups due to the toxic nature of the video game culture 34 this racial diversity issue has similar ties to the gender one and similar methods to result both have been suggested such as improving grade school education developing games that appeal beyond the white male gamer stereotype and identifying toxic behavior in both video game workplaces and online communities that perpetuate discrimination against gender and race 45 lgbt in regards to lgbt and other gender or sexual orientations the video game industry typically shares the same demographics as with the larger population based on a 2005 igda survey those in the lgbt community do not find workplace issues with their identity though work to improve the representation of lgbt themes within video games in the same manner as with racial minorities 46 however lgbt developers have also come under the same type of harassment from external groups like women and racial minorities due to the nature of the video game culture 34 age the industry also is recognized to have an ageism issue discriminating against the hiring and retention of older developers a 2016 igda survey found only 3 of developers were over 50 years old while at least two thirds were between 20 and 34 these numbers show a far lower average age compared to the u s national average of about 41 9 that same year while discrimination by age in hiring practices is generally illegal companies often target their oldest workers first during layoffs or other periods of reduction older developers with experience may find themselves too qualified for the types of positions that other game development companies seek given the salaries and compensations offered 47 48 contract workers some of the larger video game developers and publishers have also engaged contract workers through agencies to help add manpower in game development in part to alleviate crunch time from employees contractors are brought on for a fixed period and generally work similar hours as full time staff members assisting across all areas of video game development but as contractors do not get any benefits such as paid time off or health care from the employer they also are typically not credited on games that they work on for this reason the practice itself is legal and common in...
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