VALOLS VALUL Big GᴬᴹES INᴰUSTRY EMPLOYMENT SURVEY 2025 SALARIES, COMPENSATION TRENDS AND STATE OF THE GA w w w. i n g a m e j o b. c o m w w w. v a l u e s v a l u e. c o m w w w. s c o r e w a r r i o r. c o m MES SECTOR IN EUROPE D Exclusive sponsor: Exclusive sponsor:

Highlights of 2025 26% experienc ed layoffs in the past year, with game designers, artists, and QA spec ialists hit the hardest. 13% left the games industry entirely in the past year. M arketing professionals lead the trend, with 24% switc hing to other industries — the highest rate ac ross all roles. At the junior level, 39% exited the industry in 20 24 –20 25. 15% have been job hunting for over a year — or are still searc hing. Among programmers, 18% say it takes a year or more to land a new role. When c hanging jobs last year, 28% ac c epted worse terms — either a lower salary or a lower position. Only 1% of respondents are interested in developing hyper- c asual games. Salary remains the top priority when c hoosing an employer for 87% of professionals. Half of all respondents report experienc ing professional burnout. 41% have a personal projec t on the side, most often programmers, game designers, and artists. game designers, and artists. QA spec ialists are the most skeptic al about AI: 24% neither use it for work nor plan to — the highest rate of any role. for work nor plan to - the highest rate of any role.

Introduction & Research Methodology Who c ond u c te d the s tu d y? This study was c onduc ted for the ninth time and the third at the international level. It provides an in- depth look into the European video games industry. A c ollaboration between Values Value and InGame Job, the researc h explores key trends in salaries, job satisfac tion, job sec urity, and c areer development ac ross different roles and regions. Values Value is a rec ruitment expert in hiring top game development talent. InGame Job is an online platform for finding c areer opportunities in the gaming industry. Last year's results were presented exc lusively at devc om Developer Conferenc e 20 24 . You c an watc h the full talk by Tanja Loktionova, founder of Values Value and c o-founder of InGame Job, on YouTube here. Wha t i s thi s s tu d y a b ou t? We’re looking into how sec ure industry professionals feel, foc using on their views on the likelihood of layoffs, their thoughts on switc hing jobs in 20 25, and how many have left the industry due to job c uts. We’re also identifying the groups most vulnerable to these c hanges. Alongside inc ome and job satisfac tion, our researc h explores the ec onomic effec ts of mass layoffs. Respondents also shared whic h c ompanies they’d like to work for and their preferred genres and platforms. As always, a large sec tion of the report is dedic ated to eNPS, broken down by various c riteria.

nc ome and job satisfac tion, our researc h explores the ec onomic effec ts of mass layoffs. Respondents also shared whic h c ompanies they’d like to work for and their preferred genres and platforms. As always, a large sec tion of the report is dedic ated to eNPS, broken down by various c riteria. This helps us understand how fac tors like c ompany type, size, projec t genre, and even the presenc e of a pet projec t impac t employee engagement and loyalty.

Introduction & Research Methodology How wa s the s tu d y c ond u c te d ? The researc h was c onduc ted anonymously from M arc h to June 20 25. A total of 1,650 respondents from 85 c ountries worldwide partic ipated in the study. The data was c leansed of invalid and anomalous salary responses. We analyze only the European region in order to represent valid data for this report. We divide Europe into two regions (European Uni on and Non-European Uni on) bec ause there are signific ant differenc es in the c ost of living, inc ome, expenses, and taxes. This way, we present more ac c urate figures in the salary c harts. For the sake of c larity, the following c ountries were grouped together as the region "Europe (EU+UK+S wi tzerl and)": Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czec h Republic , Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Franc e, Germany, Greec e, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, M alta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. The size of the sample – 70 9 people. The following c ountries were grouped together as the region "Europe (Non-EU)": Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, M oldova, Bosnia and Herzegovina, M ontenegro, North M ac edonia, Serbia and Ukraine. The size of the sample – 54 3 respondents. size of the sample - 543 respondents.

Introduction & Research Methodology Who p a r ti c i p a te d i n the s tu d y? 56% male, 25% female, 19% other 8% Junior, 24% M iddle, 35% Senior, 29% Lead/Top 21% have over 10 years of experienc e in games 82% have a bac helor's or master's degree, 8% did not finish university, 6% have only a high sc hool educ ation, and 3% have a PhD. Th a n k yo u ! This year, we would like to thank the partners and sponsors of this researc h who supported our initiative: the gaming c ompanies TAP CLAP, Hypercel l, HyperV R, Joyteracti ve, and the rec ruitment agency Tri be. A spec ial thank you goes to our main sponsor, the gaming c ompany S corewarri or. iovtergctiv HYPER CELL Exclusive Partner Lxoiurovoortol