We continue to publish the results of our salary survey chapter by chapter, conducted from April to May 2023. This current publication focuses on the income levels of Russian-speaking mid-level game managers (by which we mean professionals such as Project Managers, Product Managers, and Producers).
We remind you that we are currently conducting a new salary survey. This survey aims to gather up-to-date salary data of Russian-speaking and Russian professionals. You can take it here:
$3,511 is the average salary for mid-level managers in the Russian-speaking gaming industry. The median is $3,200.
There are two dominant salary groups among mid-level managers: those earning between $2,000 and $2,500, and those earning between $4,000 and $4,500. The dominance of these two distinct groups is partly explained by the fact that our responses primarily came from project managers and producers. The former, on average, earn less than the latter.
The share of those earning less than $1,000 among mid-level managers is small — 7.5%. Approximately the same percentage applies to specialists earning more than $7,000 per month.
The percentage of mid-level managers remaining in Russia is 36.7%. Meanwhile, more than 20% of Russian-speaking project managers, product managers, and producers live in Cyprus and Serbia combined. However, manager salaries in Serbia are closer to those in Russia than in Cyprus.
The lowest salaries in this segment belong to project managers, while the highest are for product managers.
Despite generally high salaries within the profession, starting salaries for mid-level managers are on par with (if not lower than) those for artists and game designers (though the median is significantly lower). However, transitioning to a Middle level can lead to a twofold salary increase.
Methodology
The study is the result of the third salary survey of Russian-speaking representatives of the gaming industry. The survey was conducted by WN Media Group from April to May 2023. It was conducted via voluntary questionnaires (users filled out freely distributed questionnaires with questions).
A total of 1,004 completed questionnaires were received during the survey. Of these, 95 were from mid-level managers.