DesignRush (a web design company) recently published a document revealing stark pay disparities between male and female game developers nationwide.
The data, sourced from the United States Census Bureau, reveals a troubling trend of gender-based income inequality in the gaming industry.
According to the report, on a national scale, women in game development earn only 84.2% of what men earn. This disparity indicates that women work for 41 days of the year without pay.
This transition to unpaid labor takes place on November 20th, 2024, but it occurs even sooner in states with larger wage gaps.
Here are the 10 states with the biggest pay disparity for female game developers:
| State | Women game developer’s earnings as proportion of men’s | Pay gap as unpaid working days | 2024 date when women in computing start working for free |
| Alaska | 60.6% | 103 | September 19 |
| Delaware | 66.5% | 88 | October 4 |
| North Dakota | 66.3% | 88 | October 4 |
| Mississippi | 72.4% | 72 | October 20 |
| Arkansas | 73.2% | 70 | October 2 |
| North Carolina | 75.0% | 66 | October 26 |
| Nebraska | 75.9% | 63 | October 29 |
| Utah | 76.2% | 62 | October 30 |
| Kansas | 78.1% | 57 | November 4 |
Alaska tops with a 60.6% wage discrepancy, followed by Delaware and North Dakota
As you can see, Alaska has the highest pay disparity for female game developers, with a minimum wage of 60.6% more than male game developers. That means Alaskan women in such a field will work for free for the remainder of the year, or 31 1/2%, beginning September 19th.
North Dakota and Delaware tied for second place, with women earning 66.3% more than men. Counting the 88 days since October 4th to close the pay gap demonstrates that women still have work to do.
Mississippi is about two months behind, and Arkansas is three months away from ending the unpaid period for female self-employed workers. However, the Motorman state also has the largest pay gap, with women earning 99.1% of men’s salaries, which equates to only one day of unpaid work on December 29th.
Women’s wages in Idaho and Connecticut become worth 3.8% and 94.3% of men’s income on December 21st, respectively, as women begin working for free at this time due to low wages in their states compared to men.
However, the fact that there are such large discrepancies is concerning, especially when considering the lack of tech labor, which remains a major issue for more than half of worldwide firms.
‘Discrimination is unethical and should not be condoned’
Gianluca Ferruggia, General Manager at DesignRush, comments on the situation: “While skill gaps can occur for a variety of reasons, we’ve definitely seen a significant one emerge in the tech industry due to difficulty attracting and retaining qualified workers – especially in a competitive field like game development.”
“Last year saw widespread layoffs across the tech sector, with reportedly more than three million workers being affected by this mass workforce reduction. Yet most of these organizations will need to retain their current talent and attract new skilled workers – and if they have difficulty doing so, they need to evaluate why that may be.”
“Discrimination of any kind is unethical and should not be tolerated, including gender disparity. Not providing equal opportunities for female developers to advance their careers or get compensated equally reflects poorly on your ability to manage, maintain, and satisfy your current workforce and needs rectifying as a priority,” she continued.
The layoffs that swept through the tech sector last year, affecting over three million workers, have only exacerbated the issue.