Game Dev Crediting Concerns Revealed in New IGDA 2023 Survey

Besides the massive layoff trends, some game devs are facing crediting concerns to their work as revealed in the latest survey by the International Game Developers Association (IGDA).

Game Dev Crediting Report by IGDA’s 2023 Developer Satisfaction Survey

According to the 2023 Developer Satisfaction Survey (DSS) conducted by the International Game Developers Association (IGDA) in partnership with Western University in London, Ontario, Canada, a majority of game developers confirmed that they have received credit for their contributions to the titles they have worked on.

Furthermore, the survey also reveals only 13% of uncredited work happens to the respondents, while a further 9% of respondents remain unsure whether they received any credit or not.

This highlights a significant trend in the industry where most developers are recognized for their efforts, though there’s still a small percentage that remains unacknowledged or uncertain about their contributions.

These results were part of IGDA’s 2023 DSS report on game dev crediting practices, which was done per the IGDA Game Credits Special Interest Group’s (SIG) request—a group within IGDA that specializes in promoting policies surrounding game dev crediting.

Game Dev Crediting Is Up To Employers, IGDA’s 2023 Developer Satisfaction Survey Reveals

However, the IGDA 2023 DSS report also found out that less than half (48%) of the studios and companies the game devs worked for had a game credits policy. The report also further revealed that 24% of their respondents disclosed that their workplace had no credit policy in place while another 29% were clueless if they even had game dev crediting policies at all.

“In many companies, the process of crediting may be opaque and ad hoc,” IGDA’s 2023 DSS report reveals.

Despite game dev crediting seemingly falling just on the whims of the employers, a whopping 71% of the respondents were confident enough to say that they will receive their due credit for the projects they’ve worked on. However, that percentage drops to just 41% if they leave before the game’s release.

“This certainty fell when respondents were asked to consider what would happen if they left the studio or their contract ended before the game shipped,” IGDA’s 2023 DSS report states.

Although the overall report seems optimistic, game dev crediting still has some things to iron out which the IGDA Game Credits Special Interest Group has developed some resources for game studios and companies to use.

“The new data on game crediting practices is also informative and supports additional advocacy from groups such as the Game Credits SIG to encourage studios to formalize and make transparent their crediting policies and to expand them to include contract workers and workers who may leave the project before its end,” IGDA concludes in their 2023 DSS report.

Other Results in IGDA’s 2023 Developer Satisfaction Survey

Besides the game dev crediting report, IGDA’s 2023 Developer Satisfaction Survey also highlighted some of the more pressing issues the game development industry is still facing. Here’s a quick rundown of what the 2023 Developer Satisfaction Survey reports about:

Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion

IGDA’s 2023 DSS finds out that problems regarding equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) are still present but the industry seems to be more aware of them.

IGDA’s 2023 DSS report states that more than 80% of their respondents believe diversity is important in the workplace (85%), in the game content (85%), and in the industry (87%).

Furthermore, the video game industry has become more diverse as more than half of the respondents (58%) have felt improvement over the past two years.

Anti-Discrimination Policies in the Workplace

Despite the seemingly positive outcome of the EDI report, IGDA’s 2023 DSS reveals there is still room for improvement in enforcing anti-discrimination policies in the workplace.

As it stands, almost three-quarters (67%) of the survey’s respondents felt there was no equal treatment and opportunity in the industry. Additionally, 43% of respondents felt that their workplaces aren’t adequately enforcing their anti-discrimination policies.

Employment & Crunch Reports

IGDA’s 2023 Developer Satisfaction Survey also reports on the employment conditions in the video game industry as well as the number of hours employees work.

With approximately 10,500 employees losing their jobs in 2023, 4.8% of survey respondents remained unemployed. The report also finds out that most employees had worked for an average of 2.2 companies in the past five years, with freelancers boosting the statistic to 5.5.

As for the hours they logged working, 28% of the survey respondents said their job involved crunch time (which is what you call compulsory overtime during the development of a game). Another 25% said they worked very long or extended hours not classified as crunch time, which is an increase from 22% in 2021.

Speaking of crunch times, a very high amount of employees, specifically 63% of employees, 64% of freelancers, and 75% of the self-employed, had experienced more than twice the amount of crunch times in the past two years. As such, many of the survey respondents felt that crunch times and long, extended hours were the norm in the industry.

IGDA on 2023 Developer Satisfaction Survey’s Results

With the results of the 2023 Developer Satisfaction Survey, IGDA hopes that the survey will serve as an eye-opener for the video game development industry.

“The Developer Satisfaction Survey is a meaningful tool that helps games industry professionals identify what issues matter most among their peers,” says Dr. Jakin Vela, executive director of IGDA. “Identifying the critical issues highlighted in this report is the first step in moving forward as an industry, and as a community,” she adds.

With their continuous mission to support the working force behind our favorite video games, IGDA has created resources that the general video game industry can use for themselves which can be found on their website.

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