Game CEO Pay in 2020

Survey measures $842 million in compensation

Lars Wingefors, CEO
Embracer Group
$162,293 (total compensation)
$81 (hourly average)
Claude Guillemot, CEO
Guillemot Corporation
$185,004 (total compensation)
$92 (hourly average)
Hannes Wallin, CEO
Fractal Gaming
$238,447 (total compensation)
$119 (hourly average)
Adam Foroughi, CEO
AppLovin
$409,462 (total compensation)
$204 (hourly average)
Darcy Taylor, CEO
East Side Games
$418,473 (total compensation)
$295 (hourly average)
Alex Nichiporchik, CEO
tinyBuild
$419,460 (total compensation)
$209 (hourly average)
Anton Gauffin, CEO
Huuuge Games
$470,800 (total compensation)
$235 (hourly average)
Kati Levoranta, CEO
Rovio
$535,722 (total compensation)
$267 (hourly average)
David Braben, CEO
Frontier Developments
$581,516 (total compensation)
$290 (hourly average)
Carl Cavers, CEO
Sumo Group
$685,495 (total compensation)
$342 (hourly average)
Abramo Galante, CEO
Raffaele Galante, co-CEO
Digital Bros
$712,560 (total compensation) each
$356 (hourly average) each
Alain Falc, CEO
Nacon
$727,739 (total compensation)
$363 (hourly average)
Dmitry Kozko, CEO
Motorsport Games
$737,672 (total compensation)
$368 (hourly average)
Yves Guillemot, CEO
Ubisoft
$925,314 (total compensation)
$642 (hourly average)
Marcin Iwiński, Joint CEO
CD Projekt
$1,032,536 (total compensation)
$516 (hourly average)
Adam Kiciński, Joint CEO
CD Projekt
$1,054,090 (total compensation)
$527 (hourly average)
Frédéric Chesnais, CEO
Atari
$1,124,870 (total compensation)
$562 (hourly average)
Frank Sagnier, CEO
Codemasters
$1,267,155 (total compensation)
$633 (hourly average)
Andrew Day, CEO
Keywords Studios
$1,299,104 (total compensation)
$649 (hourly average)
Joshua Wilson, CEO
SciPlay
$1,635,171 (total compensation)
$817 (hourly average)
Juergen Stark, CEO
Turtle Beach
$2,275,770 (total compensation)
$1,137 (hourly average)
Andrew Paul, CEO
Corsair
$2,796,433 (total compensation)
$1,398 (hourly average)
Shuntaro Furukawa, President
Nintendo
$2,839,072 (total compensation)
$1,419 (hourly average)
Hajime Satomi, CEO
Sega Sammy
$2,949,168 (total compensation)
$1,474 (hourly average)
Yosuke Matsuda, President
Square Enix
$4,169,594 (total compensation)
$2,084 (hourly average)
Stéphane Roussel, CEO
Gameloft
$3,673,362 (total compensation)
$1,836 (hourly average)
Jørgen Madsen Lindemann, CEO
Modern Times Group
$4,309,571 (total compensation)
$2,873 (hourly average)
David Baszucki, CEO
Roblox
$6,775,108 (total compensation)
$3,387 (hourly average)
George E. Sherman, CEO
Gamestop
$7,609,754 (total compensation)
$3,804 (hourly average)
Owen Mahoney, CEO
Nexon
$8,311,079 (total compensation)
$4,155 (hourly average)
Nick Earl, CEO
Glu Mobile
$8,633,871 (total compensation)
$4,316 (hourly average)
Debbie Bestwick, CEO
Team17
$10,242,642 (total compensation)
$5,121 (hourly average)
Min-Liang Tan, CEO
Razer
$10,457,000 (total compensation)
$5,228 (hourly average)
Taek-Jin Kim, CEO
NCsoft
$15,620,773 (total compensation)
$7,810 (hourly average)
Strauss Zelnick, CEO
Take-Two Interactive
$18,111,761 (total compensation)
$9,055 (hourly average)
John Riccitiello, CEO
Unity Software
$22,001,733 (total compensation)
$11,000 (hourly average)
Frank Gibeau, CEO
Zynga
$32,003,768 (total compensation)
$16,001 (hourly average)
Andrew Wilson, CEO
Electronic Arts
$34,715,802 (total compensation)
$17,357 (hourly average)
Andrew Paradise, CEO
Skillz
$103,321,052 (total compensation)
$51,660 (hourly average)
Robert Kotick, CEO
Activision Blizzard
$154,613,318 (total compensation)
$77,306 (hourly average)
Robert Antokol, CEO
Playtika
$372,008,176 (total compensation)
$186,004 (hourly average)
data sourced from company filings. standardized to 2020 calendar year. all amounts in US Dollars. foreign currencies converted at average exchange rate for 2020. hourly average based on a standard two-thousand work-hours per-year.

Median Employee Compensation:

Electronic Arts: $123,935
Activision: $99,100
Zynga: $98,781
Glu Mobile: $89,738
Take-Two: $72,046
Gamestop: $11,033

CEO Pay Ratio Disclosure:

Glu Mobile: 1 to 96
Take-Two: 1 to 252
Electronic Arts: 1 to 316
Zynga: 1 to 324
Gamestop: 1 to 650
Activision: 1 to 1,560

Explanation:

Publicly-traded companies are owned by shareholders, who elect the board of directors, who select the CEO. The board is responsible for compensation, and their decisions are ratified by shareholder vote. The list above is democracy in action.

Total compensation can come from a mixture of salary, bonus, stock, benefits — all of which have a tax ramification for the CEO.

The board is trying to cause performance, and will tie as many rewards to goals as possible. When investor relations departments translate this it may the share price that measures ultimate success.

Boards of directors believe that there is competition for chief executive officers, and they must meet or exceed the standard comparable compensation in order to retain that CEO.

The roles and responsibilities of the publicly-traded chief executive are beyond the scope of this survey. This data set on CEO pay is of general interest, and presented for anyone who wants better understanding of game industry dynamics.

As further context, six major game companies disclose median compensation, giving a window into pay ratio — how many median workers equal the cost of a single chief executive officer.

Games One forecasts that executive compensation will continue to rise. Numerous factors drive the trend, including year-over-year growth of the total market. Record-breaking revenue and IPOs will always result in executive compensation records.

† Darcy Taylor employment began 17 Apr 2020; compensation would have been higher for full year.

† Frank Sagnier compensation reported for fiscal 2020, whilst calendar 2020 would have been higher.

† Jørgen Madsen Lindemann employment ended 1 Sep 2020; compensation would have been higher for full year.

Copyright © 2022 by Evan Van Zelfden. All rights reserved.