That used to be the case, but now that so many unicorns companies have been created in Turkey, and massive amounts of foreign funding has been injected into the ecosystem, the salary expectations have risen significantly.
Yes but you can’t deny that was the initial fueling for everything. I know this working first hand at Voodoo and Homa. As an American I had to accept a much lower salary to just get my foot in the door.
Now they’ve stripped away most of their studios and developers from the west to hire almost exclusively Turks. Not just a talent thing, I know having made my own top 10 games on the App Store lol. Was painfully difficult to compete because the price publishers paid per external studio was so low because of the Turkish market.
And now because of that period of cheapness, yes unicorns have taken off. But the low cost of labor was the fuel that fired it all in the first place.
That said though, Turks do have that special blend like you mentioned. They’re avid gamers from birth and have just the right amount of business savvy, technical skills, creativity and market sensibilities (particularly to European / western audiences) as compared to other cheap labor centers like India or China which don’t have the “western taste” that is important when making design decisions
turkish developers are good at puzzle games but in massive games like genshin impact an AAA games like black myth : wukong, china is far better and stronger than turkey
When interviewing game developers from Turkey, they tell a different side to the story: "It has grown a lot in the past few years. But to be honest, the purchasing power here has dropped heavily, and salaries didn’t keep up with inflation. So many developers and creatives started making their own games to earn in dollars instead of giving their all to companies that don't give much to them. Also unemployment has increased a lot, and many people have started to see making games at home as a way to earn quick money. Also Turkish people like to try and support Turkish made stuff so since 2.8 million Turkish players are on Steam, it became a good market. Which led to a wave of new indie games and investments.
On the workforce side, Turkish organizational culture often expects overtime without extra pay, so people are used to working long hours, which makes it cheaper for investors while getting full dedication.
Normally Finland has the best tax rate, but for indies here, if you present your game as a "project" few times a year, taxes can drop close to 0%, so investors encourage indies to stay in technoparks. Even the biggest mobile companies that earn millions of dollars annually, tend to abuse the system.
If you ask others "formally", they would probably talk about the government investments, new education system and creative workforce etc. but to be honest these were the main fuel for growth...."
I submitted this post to a turkish colleague and I got another feedback. You probably should inform better.
For instance, when you say that founders stay until 22 is partly true. Usually they force also employees to stay until late. I heard of big names, the ones you celebrate in your post, and their toxic culture.
I suggest you to talk with employees of Peak, Dream games and so on to get better the bigger picture.
You forgot one important thing: cost differences. Turkish employees cost significantly less than European ones.
That used to be the case, but now that so many unicorns companies have been created in Turkey, and massive amounts of foreign funding has been injected into the ecosystem, the salary expectations have risen significantly.
Yes but you can’t deny that was the initial fueling for everything. I know this working first hand at Voodoo and Homa. As an American I had to accept a much lower salary to just get my foot in the door.
Now they’ve stripped away most of their studios and developers from the west to hire almost exclusively Turks. Not just a talent thing, I know having made my own top 10 games on the App Store lol. Was painfully difficult to compete because the price publishers paid per external studio was so low because of the Turkish market.
And now because of that period of cheapness, yes unicorns have taken off. But the low cost of labor was the fuel that fired it all in the first place.
That said though, Turks do have that special blend like you mentioned. They’re avid gamers from birth and have just the right amount of business savvy, technical skills, creativity and market sensibilities (particularly to European / western audiences) as compared to other cheap labor centers like India or China which don’t have the “western taste” that is important when making design decisions
china is not less than turkey
turkish developers are good at puzzle games but in massive games like genshin impact an AAA games like black myth : wukong, china is far better and stronger than turkey
For sure as you point out different countries have different types of strengths in gaming
When interviewing game developers from Turkey, they tell a different side to the story: "It has grown a lot in the past few years. But to be honest, the purchasing power here has dropped heavily, and salaries didn’t keep up with inflation. So many developers and creatives started making their own games to earn in dollars instead of giving their all to companies that don't give much to them. Also unemployment has increased a lot, and many people have started to see making games at home as a way to earn quick money. Also Turkish people like to try and support Turkish made stuff so since 2.8 million Turkish players are on Steam, it became a good market. Which led to a wave of new indie games and investments.
On the workforce side, Turkish organizational culture often expects overtime without extra pay, so people are used to working long hours, which makes it cheaper for investors while getting full dedication.
Normally Finland has the best tax rate, but for indies here, if you present your game as a "project" few times a year, taxes can drop close to 0%, so investors encourage indies to stay in technoparks. Even the biggest mobile companies that earn millions of dollars annually, tend to abuse the system.
If you ask others "formally", they would probably talk about the government investments, new education system and creative workforce etc. but to be honest these were the main fuel for growth...."
I submitted this post to a turkish colleague and I got another feedback. You probably should inform better.
For instance, when you say that founders stay until 22 is partly true. Usually they force also employees to stay until late. I heard of big names, the ones you celebrate in your post, and their toxic culture.
I suggest you to talk with employees of Peak, Dream games and so on to get better the bigger picture.