If you're a video game designer, don't you get like 5% in total sales?

Question

If you're a video game designer, don't you get like 5% in total sales?

Answer 1

Most game designers get salary and benefits and not a dime more, no matter how well the game does.  If the game does poorly, you have a higher chance of getting laid off, but if it does well you usually don’t see any of it.

Some companies offer game designers stock options, which can be beneficial if the game does well.  A very few companies do “profit sharing” in which employees get a cut of the profits of a game, based on their job title and how long they’ve been with the company.  Very few companies do this, however, and each individual game designer only gets a fraction of a percentage of the profit.

Keep in mind that modern game development teams typically consist of 50 to 200 people, including dozens of game designers.  Even the Lead Designer would get less than 1% of the profits, at a company that did profit sharing.

Answer 2

It would depend on the game , company exact position etc.  Theirs no golden standard but if your something like the head designer you make a lot of money.   I imagine some games have many designers so not all of them get paid all that much.