[Axios (opens in new tab)] reports that a new New York City law is bringing an unusual insight into the earnings of game developers at some of the world's largest game studios. The law requires that, beginning November 1, New York City companies must include a "bona fide salary range (opens in new tab)" in their job ads, including those for game studios.

New York City is not a major center for game development, but it is home to the offices of such giants as Rockstar, Take-Two, Activision, and Epic. New York job postings from these companies reveal how much you can expect to earn working for one of the world's largest video game companies in one of the most expensive cities on the planet (opens in new tab).

Rockstar has the widest range, varying by job title and seniority, from $50,000 to $57,000 for an associate dialog designer (opens in new tab) to nearly $200,000 for the company's various open director positions (opens in new tab) listed in the listings. All of these are above the 2020 median personal income (open in new tab) for New York City (about $3,400), but given the city's notoriously exorbitant rent prices (open in new tab), Rockstar's new Associate Dialogue Designer will have a long commute in the future It will probably take.

Rockstar's parent company, Take-Two, offers comparable pay for similar positions. Activision currently has only one New York-based job opening, so all we know is that it is a measurement lead position (open in new tab) - a marketing analysis position requiring at least five years of experience - with an annual salary of $77,000 to $114,000. As expected, none of the firms have applied their new salary transparency policies outside of New York, so we can't even compare Activision's New York salaries to salaries for similar positions in other regions. [Because if you want to make big money in New York, you need to work as a product marketing director for Epic's Metaverse Development (opens in new tab). The annual salary ranges from $197,000 to $250,000+ and you can play a leading role in Epic's ambitions for the Metaverse, whatever that means (opens in new tab). (Opens in new tab)

It's not all bad: Epic seems to pay relatively well, even if the positions don't lead us to dystopia. If you are a data analyst (opens in new tab), you can expect $126,000 to $163,000, and for senior positions (opens in new tab), it starts around $160,000 and goes as high as $210,000. However, someone may ask you to do a job that is metaverse nonsense.

This salary transparency law is a rare glimpse into the usually opaque world of gaming salaries, and similar laws are about to go into effect in Washington State (open in new tab) and California (open in new tab). With any luck, this won't be the last of it. We could all be more open about our paychecks: that way, we'll be less likely to get ripped off.