This article was originally published on April 3, 2026 - read the full issue

By Marie Dealessandri

Salary in games is a touchy topic. Disparities are so common that devs often have to resort to community-sourced spreadsheets to attempt to see things more clearly – Weather Factory's Lottie Bevan put one together for the UK industry, for instance. In addition to discrepancy across similar roles, the gender pay gap is another can of worms altogether, which we touched upon last year. But for EU-based devs working at big companies, things might finally move in the right direction. There's only two months left before the Pay Transparency Directive is transposed into national law for member states – a new regulation meaning companies over 150 employees have to disclose salary ranges or starting salaries before the first job interview at the latest.

For German-based developer Inno Games, a pioneer and advocate for salary transparency that employs over 350 people, this is a significant step forward.

"[Salary] discrepancies can only be eliminated through transparency," co-founder and COO Michael Zillmer tells Knowledge. "The question of how much applicants earned in previous positions may no longer be asked. Confidentiality clauses regarding salary information in employment contracts will no longer be permitted.

"The five per cent threshold is particularly significant: if there is an unexplained pay gap of at least five per cent in a comparison group, the company must sit down with employee representatives and carry out a pay assessment. This includes a root cause analysis and an action plan. If no correction is made within six months, sanctions and further obligations apply."

This is great news for the gender pay gap but also eliminates issues where staff with similar roles get paid differently simply based on their ability to negotiate. The new directive will also apply to smaller companies from June 2031.

Becoming a fairer company

Inno Games made headlines in 2022 for being the first company to openly publish its salary bands – something it's done every year since (you can find the 2026 version here, published last month).

"Transparency and fairness are part of InnoGames' self-image," Zillmer continues. "Our employees have always been able to see exactly how our games and the company as a whole are performing at any time. Fairness also means fair pay that does not depend on gender, negotiating skills or similar factors, but solely on the skills and performance of the employees. To lay the foundation for this, we first introduced salary bands [and] in 2021 we made these transparent internally. In 2022, we followed up with the public announcement. This was the next logical step. We [also] wanted to counter the unfortunately still widespread [idea] that you can't earn good money in the gaming industry."

For companies pondering the move, Zillmer points to the benefits: creating trust and providing a sense of certainty to staff. No more wondering whether your colleague with the same responsibilities is being compensated at a higher level.

"Such questions no longer arise because individual salary negotiations and pay gaps are a thing of the past for us. We have simply become a fairer company. This, in turn, has a positive impact on our corporate culture and, ultimately, on employee satisfaction."

Zillmer says that Inno Games has received an overwhelming amount of positive feedback since going public with its salary bands. However, he mentions criticism coming from some competitors.

"For example, over time we received complaints that significantly more applicants were now coming in with salary expectations based on our salaries – without taking into account that our company is located in one of the most expensive cities in Germany and that most studios that are smaller than ours simply cannot pay the same salaries.

"I can't say whether our campaign has actually persuaded a significant number of people who were not previously interested in working in our industry to change their minds. But what I can say is that, just two months after taking this step, we were able to fill 19 vacancies, including some that had been vacant for over a year. Since then, we have also saved a lot of time and effort because applicants with different salary expectations do not even apply to us in the first place.

"The bottom line is that we have not only become a much more visible employer, but also a much more attractive one – especially for those who are typically affected by pay gaps. However, it is also true that some of these advantages only came about because we were the first mover in our region."

"Salaries are no real secret"

Obviously the new EU directive will only apply to larger studios to start with, meaning a lot of developers will continue to be secretive about their salaries, especially at the hiring stage, getting into the dreaded "What are you salary expectations?" feedback loop.

"Those who wait until the end of the application process to discuss salary often hope that the applicant will be more willing to accept a salary below their expectations so close to the finish line," Zillmer notes. While this might initially save the company money, he notes that in the long run these savings are offset by the costs of more frequent dropouts in the application process.

"Getting an applicant to the final round requires a number of resources. If the applicant rejects the job offer because the salary is too low, those resources have been wasted. Not to mention the frustration on the part of the applicant, who will think very carefully about whether to apply to the same company again when the next job change comes around, and the frustration of the HR staff involved."

Zillmer applauds what the new EU directive represents but isn't necessarily hoping for more regulation in the future. Instead, he hopes that the change will come from within and that game companies realise that salary is actually an open topic among staff, so they may as well embrace it.

"Salaries are no real secret. Sufficiently motivated applicants can find out what they can earn and where by talking to current or former employees, looking at platforms such as Glassdoor, or visiting relevant social media channels. My hope is that companies – including those not covered by the new laws – will realise this and save their applicants the trouble by making their salaries transparent on their own initiative."

This article was originally published on April 3, 2026 - read the full issue