Software Games Survey

Compensation and Benefits

The Croner Software Games Survey – North America has served as the benchmark compensation and benefits Survey of the entertainment software industry for software gaming jobs in North America since its inception in 1990.

This leading-edge report provides compensation data for jobs in all gaming platform types – including mobile, social, console, PC, cloud, handheld, MMO and virtual reality games. The 2025 Croner Software Games Survey – North America results provide data for total rewards of 51 companies in the U.S. for 527 positions and 30 companies in Canada for 167 positions.

The Croner Software Games Survey is considered the gold standard in video gaming surveys.

Survey Participation Inquiries

To inquire about Survey participation and access to results, contact The Croner Company today.

World-Class Participants

For over 30 years, this Survey has provided market data for compensation and benefits offered at companies that publish and/or develop software for entertainment in North America. Its scope and content have evolved each year to reflect current conditions within the industry, including the addition of the International Survey for companies based inside and outside the U.S.

Major industry players and emerging companies rely upon the Survey results to make informed decisions about how to pay video gaming jobs by using salary differentials to benchmark compensation, establish job architecture, set rational pay levels and pay structures and make informed decisions about bonus plans, equity plans and benefits.

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Valuable Data for Critical Decisions

Participant companies use our Survey results to understand salary differentials, benchmark sector-specific compensation, establish rational pay levels and pay structures and make well-informed decisions about their competitive bonus plans and equity plans.

Download PDF Survey Data

Position Data Query

  • Croner Software Games Survey – North America participation includes access to Croner’s Position Data Query on our Survey Portal.

  • This interactive tool allows users to select a position along with cuts of the data, and then a printer-friendly page of selected results will be immediately available.

  • CLICK HERE to view a sample of the Position Data Query, including the types of cuts available by position and the presentation format.

Significant Features

Of the Croner Software Games Survey – North America

  • Compensation and Benefits Survey with full range of industry-specific jobs at all organization levels, from Head of Studios to Associate Game Designer

  • Mobile-specific jobs and data cuts for mobile specialty

  • Sales Plan, Bonus Plan, Product Development Plan and Equity Plan design details

  • Data cuts by business model, platform, position specialty/scope and U.K. region

  • Deferred Compensation and Selected Benefits reported, along with PTO and other selected practices

  • Tools for Analysis include: Paired Comparison, Titles Matched and CEO Regression by Revenue

  • Participation in annual Croner Interim Merit Budget Survey and February Interim Practices Survey included Survey Participation Fee

  • Results delivered online via our secure Survey Portal, which allows you to download presentation-ready reports for every position (for all results and/or specific cuts)

  • Comprehensive position descriptions, updated annually to mirror industry changes

  • Separate survey and report offered for software gaming positions located internationally

Key Dates & Survey Pricing

2026 Survey Schedule

Survey Planning Meeting: Thursday, May 7, 2026 (via Zoom)

Questionnaire Distribution: July

Data Effective Date: July 1

Questionnaire Due Date: September

Full Report of Results Published: December

Report of Results Webinar: January

Salary Budget Survey Supplement: August Questionnaire Distribution, Results Published in September

Confidentiality Yields Quality Results

The Croner Company conducts all of our surveys as an independent third party. You can trust us. We have many decades of experience successfully ensuring the security, confidentiality and consistency of the data we provide.

Confidentiality

All participant submissions are processed securely and held in strict confidence. Survey results are reported only in summary form; no attribution is made to any specific data from any participating entities.

Limited Distribution

Survey results are distributed only to the participants in each survey. All participants are required to sign an agreement that confirms they will abide by our confidentiality standards.

Antitrust Compliance

The Croner Company’s data aggregation and reporting practices adhere to industry-standard statistical methodologies consistent with the analytical framework articulated in the DOJ/FTC “Guidance for Human Resource Professionals” (October 2016) and with longstanding federal antitrust enforcement principles.

Secure Data Management

All of our data submission, storage and distribution practices adhere to privacy and security standards established by the U.S. National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST), the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the joint E.U.-U.S. Privacy Shield Certification program. Click here for more information regarding our privacy policies.

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To Participate

To inquire about participating in this survey, contact us today.