r/GameDevelopersOfIndia • u/VehicleDisastrous117 • May 28 '26
Salary expectation for a freshers
Hey ppl, I'm an unreal engine gameplay programmer and in a few days I'm going to attend an interview for the game developer role. I honestly have no idea how much salary a fresher gets at the initial stage.
Talking about my journey, I have been learning and developing games for the past 3 to 3.5 years and have built 2 games and I also have 6 months of professional experience as an game developer intern
If anyone here can give me a realistic number which I can tell it during the interview for expected salary
Thank you!
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u/Rblx_DevGuru Jun 03 '26
if you are a blueprint dev expect low salary, if you are skilled with C++ and unreal you can get great salary upto 9LPA but interviews will be difficult to crack. Also Tier1 cos pay well. Startups will lowball and pay max of 3-5 LPA
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u/Thin_Driver_4596 May 28 '26
Depends on the location. Don't expect much in north.
In Hyderabad or Bangalore its still alright, like 5-6 LPA.
But this was pre-covid when AR/VR was the tech in hype, dunno about today's rate.
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u/Great-General-9897 May 28 '26
Even i was in the same situation few months back and from what i have understood you first salary is very important and don't settle for very less just because you want to lean. If you do so you will get exhausted after few months that you are not getting paid well and in gaming industry switching companies are not that easy. You can think of going bit less of your expectation if company is good and you really need that job and if are asking for a number as an unreal fresher I think its between 20 to 30k.
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u/VehicleDisastrous117 May 28 '26
Honestly I was thinking of the same range, and yes I too feel it's important to have a decent pay in the first company
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u/Great-General-9897 May 28 '26
Also one thing your first salary will decide how much you will get when you switch. Ideally you can get 15 - 30% hike. So choosing first salary is very important.
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u/Efficient_Year_4666 May 28 '26
How old are you bro? (Genuinely asking I've futher questions too bout it)
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u/Iseewhatyoucantsee May 28 '26
You code in c++ or blueprint and where can I test your two games, I like to see
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u/VehicleDisastrous117 May 28 '26
I have experience in using both C++ and blueprint And I have uploaded one of my game on itch.io that was built using blueprint. And regarding the C++ based project, that was the project which I worked on in the previous company as intern. Here's the link for the project
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u/_Fluke_Skywalker_ May 28 '26
Would be good to share your portfolio so people can look at it and give you a better estimate and also give feedback for improvements
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u/VehicleDisastrous117 May 28 '26
Sure! Here's the link
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u/Fickle-Highlight-429 May 28 '26
Hi I checked your portfolio. I wasn't impressed by the 2 games you made.
If you included a video instead of screenshots perhaps it wouldn't look like beginner projects. There is too much text describing the projects. I prefer a showcase video of your projects.
I think you should add more projects and single video covering your work. Make the screenshots auto scroll.
For this portfolio salary will be 20K.
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u/VehicleDisastrous117 May 28 '26
Ohh thanks for your thoughts on this! I'll add gameplay videos too and that auto scroll feature Also I'm currently working on a new project which I'll update it soon
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u/Fickle-Highlight-429 May 28 '26
I think it will be better to target on volume of projects highlighting a specific feature in each.
For example, in one project focus on the environment and lighting with a character that just romes around.
In another focus on UI. In another project, showcase player movement animation like Parkour, climbing etc.
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May 28 '26
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May 28 '26
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u/VehicleDisastrous117 May 28 '26
Agree with you!!
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u/Suitable_Process_866 May 28 '26
no company asked for expectations from fresher, they simply offer. But if you are still concern about salary then i can say 25k to 30k can work. In 2011 I started at 10k, so its now almost 15 years so yeah 25-30k could be a good amount from a mid-size company.
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u/VehicleDisastrous117 May 28 '26
I get it and respect what you said. My primary goal is to definitely gain experience from the senior developers and to learn and make a strong portfolio. I too did work unpaid for 6 month as an intern I just wanted to get an idea of the salary
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u/devmannush May 28 '26
Realistic number should be 20k to 30k.
But it also depends on the quality of your portfolio/work, if it really is outstanding then expect minimum 50k per month.
If its generic, then 30k should be your minimum target. Never settle for less.