Game Developer Research is pleased to announce the debut of its eighteenth report, the ‘Game Developer Salary Report 2005-2010’, a 110-page study collecting full salary, benefits, and bonuses comparisons for American, Canadian, and European game industry salaries in 2009.

“Developer Histories and Outlooks” (pg. 67) is a cross-section of what today’s developers think about the industry they power, where it’s been, and where it’s going. “The Indie Report” (pg. 98) is a snapshot of the indies and contractors who comprise a growing segment of the community. Finally, “Developer Comments” (pg. 104) is a roundup of notable observations made by respondents this year—long and short, good and bad.

The Game Developer Salary Survey was conducted in February 2010 for the calendar year January 1, 2009 through December 31, 2009, with the assistance of Audience Insights. Email invitations were sent to Game Developer subscribers, Game Developer Conference attendees, and Gamasutra.com members asking them to participate in the annual survey.

We gathered 4,050 responses from developers worldwide, but not all who participated in the survey provided enough information to be included in the final data. We excluded salaries less than $10,000, salaries of students and educators, and records missing key demographic and classification data.

The survey primarily includes U.S. compensation but consolidated figures from Canada and Europe are included. The sample reflected in the data presented for the U.S. is 2,136, for Canada 440, and for Europe 749.

Our results can be projected to the U.S. game developer community with a margin of error of +/-3.1% at a 95% confidence level. The margin of error for Canada is +/-6.0%, and for Europe is 5.1%.

Full report here