A survey conducted by Game Workers Unite Australia (GWUA) has shown that more than per cent of developers working full time are earning below minimum wage.

258 developers took part in the GWUA survey, with 50 per cent of that figure working full-time while the other 50 per cent was made up of freelancers, contractors, hobbyists and other creators.

The minimum wage in Australia is $51,498 - more than a fifth of developers working full-time are earning below this threshold set by the Professional Employees Award 2010.

According to GWUA’s research, 15 per cent of respondents are earning between $40,000 and $50,000 while four per cent are being paid $30,000-to-$40,000. Just one per cent has a salary of between $20,000 and $30,000. There’s another 10 per cent earning between $50,000 and $60,000, a portion of which will be below the aforementioned $51,498 minimum wage benchmark.

It’s worth pointing out that 258 respondents isn’t a huge panel, meaning that the data pulled from this research is far from conclusive - especially when you consider the stats for full-time workers has come around from just 129 respondents.

A report published by local video games trade body IGEA at the end of 2018, claims that the Australian games industry employs 928 people full-time.

The vast majority of those surveyed have been working in development for less than five years - very few made it to the 10-year mark.

Only 27 per cent of respondents felt secure within their jobs. 29 per cent had short-term concerns, while an overwhelming 44 per cent had long-term concerns regarding employment.

59 per cent of respondents to this survey were male, while 18 per cent are female with 17 per cent choosing not to state their gender and a further six per cent were non-binary.