Compensation Trends in Canada’s Video Game and Interactive Digital Media, VFX and Animation Industries
November 06, 2023
In a year of inflation, layoffs, union drives and continued skills shortages, how did Creative Technology salaries move?
TAP Network’s annual Tech Sector Salary and Total Rewards Survey was recently published by Mercer Canada, showing tech sector salaries across a broad cross section of subsectors such as Software Products and Services, AI, Clean Tech, Hardware Design and Manufacturing, Video Games & Interactive Digital Media, VFX, Animation and more.
With compensation data for 60 Creative Technology positions, the 2023 survey provides robust market data for Canada’s Video Game and Interactive Digital Media, VFX and Animation sectors. It includes roles in animation, lighting, digital matte painting, modelling, concept art, game design, level design, art direction, technical direction, and much more. Three new positions were added in 2023: Senior Producer – Gaming, Intermediate Technical Artist and Senior Technical Artist. The full job library can be found here.
Of the 30,600 incumbents in this year’s survey, 26% are employed in Video Game / Interactive Digital Media, VFX and Animation companies. The complete list of over 200 participating companies is here. As participation continues to grow, Creative Technology data cuts are now available for British Columbia, Quebec, Ontario and Alberta.
A question that’s on everyone’s mind this year? How did Creative Technology salaries move, in a year of inflation, layoffs, union drives and continued skills shortages? Here are some findings from our 2023 survey.
Salary Movement in 2023
The median salary increase for Video Game and Digital Interactive Media sector employees who stayed in the same position two years in a row (we call them common incumbents) remained high in 2023 at 7.9%. This is higher than the 7.5% median common incumbent increase seen across all Tech subsectors within the survey.
In comparison, the year over year median salary increase for VFX and Animation sector employees who stayed in the same position two years in a row (common incumbents) was lower at 6.2%.
Hot Jobs in 2023
This year, UI/UX Designer (entry level), Game Designer (intermediate level) and Film Production Coordinator were among the top ten jobs with the highest rate of year over year median base salary increases across all of Canada’s tech sector.
Game Designer has made the Top 10 list three years in a row, and Intermediate Game Designer salaries now average $89,000.
Top 10 Hot Jobs across Canada’s Tech Sector
Common incumbent (same employees) year over year median base salary increase percent by job
DevOps Developer/Engineer - Fully Competent | 10.5% |
Accounting Clerk - Senior/Lead | 10.3% |
Data Scientist - Intermediate | 10.0% |
UI/UX Designer - Entry | 10.0% |
Hardware/Electrical Engineer - Entry | 9.9% |
Game Designer - Intermediate | 9.6% |
Accounting Clerk - Intermediate | 9.4% |
Implementation Specialist | 9.0% |
Technical Customer Support Representative - Intermediate | 8.7% |
Production - Coordinator - Film | 8.7% |
Note: Represents the same organizations participating in TAP Network’s survey two years in row, matching the same employees to the same job year over year. Jobs with less than 10 organizations in the sample were excluded.
Turnover and Headcount Growth
In addition to salary, total cash and long-term incentives data, the survey provides comprehensive reporting on employment practices such as annual salary and merit increase budgets, geographic differentials, remote work, projected and actual short-term incentives, total rewards practices, voluntary turnover, severance policies, flexible work practices, diversity, equity and inclusion and more.
Voluntary turnover remained high in VFX and Animation last year, despite the cooling business climate. The average voluntary turnover was 29.8%. The Video Game and Interactive Digital Media sector saw much lower turnover, with an average of 13.7%.
Headcount growth projections are always shifting. As of May/June 2023, the VFX and Animation sector was projecting 3.3% headcount growth for 2023 and 9.4% growth for 2024. Since that time, we’ve seen layoffs in this sector.
Video Game and Interactive Digital Media has higher headcount growth projections with an average projection of 19.5% for this year and 13.5% for next year.
Join us for a webinar on November 16th to hear from our survey partners at Mercer, as they unpack key findings from our 2023 survey and take a deeper look at what’s happening in Canadian tech sector compensation. Register here.
About TAP Network’s Tech Sector Salary and Total Rewards Survey
TAP Network’s annual Tech Salary and Total Rewards Survey, produced by Mercer, focuses on the Canadian tech sector, reporting on local and national salaries, total compensation, detailed policy data, and more. Survey participants include start-ups, scale ups and large multinationals representing a broad cross section of subsectors such as Software Products and Services, AI, Clean Tech, Hardware Design and Manufacturing, VFX, Animation, Video Game and Interactive Digital Media and more. The 2023 survey includes data on more than 30,000 incumbents, across 234 jobs, supplied by 204 technology companies operating in Canada. Survey submissions were collected in Spring 2023 and results were published in August 2023.
Learn more and purchase the Tech Sector Salary and Total Rewards Survey here.