arkanoid wrote:
Also the game industry, within Europe generally at least, has in recent years been saturated with cheap labor from new EU member states. This has drastically reduced many financial benefits of working in the industry. Wages are plummeting, expectations and DEMANDS of ridiculous amounts of (unpaid) overtime are increasing, etc. These aggressive attitudes from companies go hand-in-hand with labor saturation, of course: "If you don't like the new regression of Worker Rights/wages, then leave. Because there are many people lined-up who will do your job for half the price". Lol, and we were told EU expansion benefits all, not just big businesses.
So there is not much for me to stick around for in this field and I have decided to "retrain" at my old University for something a little more relevant to my current interests. Sadly, video games are no longer my passion thanks to rampant corporatism, deconstructive corporate pipelines and economic factors. Sad but that's just life in the "rat race"/meat-market called employment I guess. At least my University course will free me from all that for at least the next 3 years. After which I can reassess my situation and decide exactly what to do to bring more enjoyment and "spark" back to my day-to-day life, rather than just living to work to pay bills and fill the pockets of my employers.
It's a common situation. But I have seen quite an influx of European workers to here in Australia. Working conditions might be similar, but lifestyles a bit nicer... and Euros are strong against the AUD.
That said, I see wage expectations changing in the long run. The industry needs quite specialised and well-trained human resources for the newest line-up of games and there's just not enough people to go around.
On the other hand, this force will be counteracted by the success of Wii vs PS3 and DS vs PSP, it seems simple graphics and uncomplicated gameplay sell more, and also do not require the same technical skills to create.
That said, I'm not in the industry anymore. I don't rule out going back, but at least for programmers, there are far more tempting options available in other fields.
Jarrod
[Edits - Grammar]
