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REVEALED: Latest figures show a widening gender pay gap in the UK games industry

REVEALED: Latest figures show a widening gender pay gap in the UK games industry

The gender pay has increased in the UK games industry. 

According to stats released for April 5th, 2018, the disparity between the median hourly wage earned by men and women has grown by 4.78 per cent year-on-year, while this figure is 4.04 per cent when looking at mean hour wage comparing this year's reports to last.

In this year's report, women are earning an average of 22.26 per cent more than men in median bonus pay. This figure, however, is heavily weighted by women at Ubisoft Reflections' studio earning 292.3 per cent more in median bonus pay than their male counterparts. This studio is new to this year's rankings; removing the Newcastle racing specialist and comparing like-for-like, the median bonus pay gap has increased by 4.58 per cent.

Looking at mean bonus pay, this gap has increased by 2.1 per cent year-on-year. Again, this is affected by Reflections' female staff earning 52.5 per cent more than male colleagues. As above, comparing like-for-like, this gap in mean bonus pay has increased 10.1 per cent year-on-year.

The percentage of women receiving bonus pay has increased 2.3 per cent to an average of 72.6 per cent. This figure has risen 3.8 per cent for men to 78 per cent.

Companies with more than 250 employees have to report their gender pay gap figures under legislation introduced in 2017.

While it's great to have this insight into how men and women are compensated, these figures are 12 months out of date - this year's report looks at a company on April 5th, 2018, just as last year's looked at an organisation on April 5th, 2017.

Last year's stats can be found here.

Here is the data for the companies that reported their Gender Pay Gap information for April 5th, 2018: 

Jagex 

RuneScape maker Jagex has seen the pay gap widen, with women's mean hourly wage coming in at 28.1 per cent lower than men's compared to 21.7 per cent last year. Median hourly wage is 23.5 per cent lower, meaning that female workers earn 24p less per hour for every £1 a man receives.

Just 6.1 per cent of the top quarter of employees are women - compared to 9.2 per last year - with the upper middle quartile seeing a 0.3 per cent increase year-on-year to 14.6 per cent. The lower middle quartile, too, has seen a slight increase - 0.1 per cent - to 18.3 per cent. Women make up 34.9 per cent of the lowest quarter of workers, a five per cent increase year-on-year.

Median bonus pay for women is 13.5 per cent below that of men, but a higher portion of women receive this reward in this year's stats. Last year, just 87.3 per cent of women got bonuses, compared to 95.1 per cent this year. 94 per cent of men received a bonus, too.

Here's what Jagex has to say about its gender pay gap

Codemasters

At racing specialist Codemasters, the mean hourly wage of women is 21.6 per cent lower than men's, a slight increase on last year's 22.2 per cent. Going by median hourly wage, women receive 33.3 per cent less than men. This gap has widened from last year's 27.9 per cent.

There's a higher portion of women in the top earners at Codemasters this year at seven per cent compared to last year's five.

In the upper middle quartile, there's been a decrease in female employees, with just five per cent compared to last year's 10 per cent. There has been an increase in the lower middle quarter, which rose two per cent year-on-year to 12 per cent. 16 per cent of workers in the lowest paid quarter were women, an increase of one per cent year-on-year.

A higher portion of women receives bonus pay at Codemasters, 65 per cent compared to 61 per cent of men. This is up across the board from last year's 48 and 49 per cent, respectively. Women median bonus pay is 40.7 per cent lower than men's, an improvement on last year's 60 per cent, while mean bonus pay is 39.4 per cent lower. Last year, that figure was 55.6 per cent.

Here's what Codemasters has to say about its gender pay gap

Frontier Developments

Over at Cambridge-based Frontier Developments, the median hourly wage for women is 18.8 per cent lower than men's, a 1.3 per cent larger gap than last year. The mean hourly wage gap, however, has increased by almost 10 per cent, rising from 14.9 per cent of 27.2 per cent compared to last year's report.

There's a higher portion of women in the top quarter of earners, however, with 13.2 per cent of this segment of employees being female. Last year this figure was 8.9 per cent. The upper middle quarter is 7.6 per cent women, a decrease on last year's 14.1 per cent, while the lower middle quarter is 18.5 per cent female. That's a slight rise on last year's 16.7 per cent.

Women make up 18.7 per cent of the lowest quarter of workers, a decrease of 0.5 per cent year-on-year.

81.1 per cent of women receives bonus pay compared to 91.4 per cent of men. This has decreased for both genders, with last year's figures clocking in at 93.5 per cent and 94.8 per cent respectively. The mean bonus pay gap, however, has almost doubled, with women going from receiving 28.5 per cent less to a staggering 48.5 per cent. Median bonus pay, however, has halved from 22.2 to 10.2 per cent.

Here's what Frontier has to say about its gender pay gap

Electronic Arts

At one of the world's biggest publishers, the pay gap has increased. Mean hourly wage is now 15.4 per cent lower than men's, compared to last year's 13.7 per cent divide, while the median hourly delta has gone from 15.3 per cent to 19.7 per cent.

There's been a two per cent decline in the portion of women workers in the top quarter of earners at 23 per cent. The upper middle quarter is 19 per cent female, compared to last year's 20 per cent. The lower middle quarter is 27 per women, a four per cent decline year-on-year, while the lowest quarter has seen a four per cent increase to 46 per cent.

71 per cent of women at EA receive a bonus, compared to 78 per cent of men, a decline across the board from last year's 81 and 82 per cent.

Women's mean bonus pay was 45.4 per cent lower than men's, a rise of 0.4 per cent year-on-year, while the media bonus pay gap rose from 46 per cent to 48.9 per cent.

Here is what EA has to say about its gender pay gap

Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe

Over at the European branch of PlayStation maker Sony Interactive Entertainment, the median hourly pay gap has decreased from 12.5 per cent to 11.2 per cent. In mean terms, it has also dropped, going from 12.8 per cent to 12.4 per cent.

There's a higher percentage of women in the top quarter of earners, too, at 17 per cent compared with last year's 16.6 per cent. The upper middle quarter has seen an increase also, with 23 per cent of workers in this segment being women compared to last year's 19.1 per cent. 35 per cent of lower middle quarter employees are female compared with 31.4 per cent last year. The lowest quarter of staff is the only area where PlayStation Europe saw a decrease, dropping from 20.3 per cent to 19 per cent.

62 per cent of women receives bonus pay, compared to the 68 per cent of men. That's a decrease on last year's 69.3 per and 72 per cent. The median bonus pay gap is 18.2 per cent, while Sony's mean bonus pay gap comes in at 26.9 per cent. These have almost doubled from last year's 10.3 per cent and 15.5 per cent gaps respectively.

Here is what SIEE has to say about its gender pay gap

Microsoft

Tech and software giant Microsoft's pay gap has decreased year-on-year. The Xbox firm's median hourly rate gap is 7.9 per cent compared to last year's 8.4 per cent, while the mean hourly gap has dipped 0.3 per cent to 6.3 per cent.

There's been a decrease in the percentage of women in the Big M's top quarter of employees, a dip of 0.8 per cent year-on-year to 22 per cent. The upper middle quarter has seen a slight decrease, too, with 22.5 per cent of employees in this segment being women. There's been a 3.6 per cent decline in the lower middle quartile - 25 per cent versus 28.6 per cent last year - while the portion of female workers in the lowest quarter of earners has risen 0.9 per cent to 36.2 per cent.

The portion of male and female workers that receive bonus pay is 99.5 per cent compared to last year's 92.1 per cent and 92.4 per cent respectively.

Median bonus pay is 13 per cent lower for women, 6.6 per cent when looking at mean bonus pay. Last year, these figures stood at 11.4 per cent and 11.2 per cent respectively.

Here is what Microsoft has to say about its gender pay gap

Sumo Digital

Sheffield-headquartered Sumo Digital's gender pay disparity has improved year-over-year. In the last report, the work-for-hire specialist had a gap of 33.7 per cent and 34.5 per cent when looking at the mean and median gaps respectively. There's still some way to go, with these figures standing at 29.9 per cent and 32.6 per cent this year.

Four per cent of the top quarter of earners at the firm are women, a rise on last year's 2.5 per cent, while 3.9 per cent of the upper middle quartile of employees is female. Last year this figure was 2.5 per cent, too.

There's been an increase in the lower middle quarter of staff, rising from 12.3 per cent to 14.9 per cent, while the portion of female workers in the lowest quarter of employees has dipped almost two per cent to 21.6 per cent.

60 per cent of women receive bonus pay compared to 76.2 per cent of men, an increase across the board from last year's 23.5 per cent and 21.8 per cent.

Mean bonus pay is 45.3 per cent lower for women than men, however. That's almost double the 21.6 per cent in last year's report. The median bonus pay gap, however, has substantially changed. Last year, Sumo Digital claimed female employees received median bonus pay 100 per cent higher than their male colleagues. This time around, women are earning 54.6 per cent less in median bonus pay.

Here is what Sumo Digital has to say about its gender pay gap

Creative Assembly

Over at real-time strategy specialist Creative Assembly, the mean hourly pay gap has decreased a small amount from 20.3 per cent to 19.7 per cent year-on-year. Women are earning 23.5 per cent less when looking at the median hourly wage figure, a rise of 0.2 per cent year-on-year.

There's been an increase in women workers at every level of the Total War maker. The percentage of female top earners has risen one per cent to 4.5 per cent, while the proportion of women workers in the upper is up 3.2 per cent at 22 per cent. There's also been a 3.4 per cent rise in the proportion of female lower middle quarter staff, clocking in at 28.2 per cent this year. Finally, women workers make up 16.5 per cent of the lowest quarter of earners compared to last year's 14.7 per cent.

82.9 per cent of women and 88.4 per cent of men receive bonus pay, an increase for both genders. The mean bonus pay gap comes in at 37.5 per cent, compared to last year's 38.2 per cent, while median bonus pay is 19.5 per cent lower for women than men. Last year, this figure was 25.3 per cent.

Here is Creative Assembly's statement on its gender pay gap

Travellers' Tales

Warner Bros-owned LEGO game studio Travellers' Tales reports that looking at median hourly wage, women earn 16 per cent less than their male colleagues compared to last year's 21.8 per cent.

In mean terms, this figure has dropped just 0.1 per cent year-on-year to 20.9 per cent.

The proportion of women workers in the top quarter of earners has dipped 0.8 per cent to 4.2 per cent, while there's been a 3.1 per cent in the upper middle quarter which clocks in a 9.1 per cent female.

The lower middle quarter has seen a 2.2 per cent decrease in women employees, this year clocking in at 16.8 per cent, while 18.9 per cent of the lowest quarter of staff are women. Last year, this figure was 14 per cent.

65.7 per cent of women and 75.1 per cent of men receive bonus pay compared to the 58 per cent and 72 per cent detailed in last year's report. Median bonus pay is 15.4 per cent lower for women compared to male compensation, a rise on last year's 9.5 per cent. The mean bonus pay gap, however, has risen a ridiculous 38.8 per cent to 56.5 per cent this year.

Here is what TT Games has to say about its gender pay gap

Rockstar North

Things haven't improved a great deal over at Grand Theft Auto studio Rockstar North. The mean hourly wage gap has actually increased over last year's already-absurd 64 per cent, clocking in at 66.2 per cent this year. Median hourly wage, too, has risen from 31.8 per cent to 34.3 per cent.

There's been a one per cent increase in the proportion of women in the top quarter of earners at the Edinburgh studio, with nine per cent being female this time around. The upper middle quarter is 8.2 per cent female, also a one per cent rise year-on-year.

The lower middle quarter of workers this year is 23.8 per cent compared with last year's 18.1 per cent, while the lowest quarter comes in at 18.6 per cent women. Last year, this figure stood at 21.4 per cent.

89.8 per cent of women receives bonus pay compared to 91 per cent of men. Those figures have risen from last year's 83.9 per cent and 89 per cent.

Mean bonus pay, however, is 85.6 per cent lower for women than men - compared to 84 per cent last year - while the median bonus pay gap clocks in at 62.5 per cent. Last year this was 61.3 per cent.

Here is what Rockstar North says about its gender pay gap

King.com

Candy Crush maker King.com has reported a median hourly wage gap of 18.8 per cent, a figure that has doubled on last year's 9.9 per cent. The mobile specialist's mean gender pay gap has decreased from 13.5 per cent to 11.6 per cent.

Women still form 33 per cent of top quarter earners, while the proportion of female upper middle quarter employees has dropped four per cent to 31 per cent. Women make up 36 per cent of lower middle quarter earners, an 11 per cent increase year-on-year. Meanwhile, there's been a three per cent decline in the percentage of women workers in the lowest quarter of earners, 52 per cent versus last year's 55 per cent.

85.4 per cent of women get bonus pay, a decline on last year's 87.9 per cent, while 88 per cent of men receives this compensation. Last year, this figure was 92.8 per cent.

The median bonus pay gap is 31.7 per cent this year, double the 16 per cent reported last year. There's a 33.5 per cent divide between the genders' mean bonus pay, an increase on the 22.9 per cent King.com reported last year.

Here is what King.com has to say about its gender pay gap

Ubisoft Reflections - NEW 

The Newcastle branch of French publishing giant Ubisoft Reflections has crossed the 250-employee threshold in the last 12 months and has to report its gender pay gap stats now. As such, there's no historical data to compare this information to unlike every other company in this article.

Women earn a median hourly wage that's 21.6 per cent lower than their male counterparts. The mean hourly wage gap is 19.1 per cent.

Female workers form just 5.6 per cent of the top quarter of earners at the studio and 8.5 per cent of the upper middle quarter. Women are 18.3 per cent of the lower middle quarter and 19.4 per cent of the lowest quarter of earners.

13.5 per cent of women receive bonus pay, compared to 25.4 per cent of men. Bonus pay for women is higher though; median bonus pay is 292.3 per cent higher for female workers at the Newcastle studio, while mean bonus pay is 52.2 per cent higher for women.

Ubisoft Reflections is the only UK games company reporting its gender pay gap stats this year where this is the case.

Here's what Ubisoft Reflections has to say about its gender pay gap


PCGamesInsider Contributing Editor

Alex Calvin is a freelance journalist who writes about the business of games. He started out at UK trade paper MCV in 2013 and left as deputy editor over three years later. In June 2017, he joined Steel Media as the editor for new site PCGamesInsider.biz. In October 2019 he left this full-time position at the company but still contributes to the site on a daily basis. He has also written for GamesIndustry.biz, VGC, Games London, The Observer/Guardian and Esquire UK.