Aside from the benefits of experience and skills I would gain from working in a AAA company, I was interested to see how much the pay would differ from the UK to the US. I also am interested to see how the pay would compare to working and the potential pay offs of being an indie dev (which is a very hard thing to nail down seeming as any good game has the potential so spiral out of control when it is released, particularly iOS and Android apps currently... Angry Birds, Temple Run to name a couple).
My research is based off numerous game development salary surveys to reach a more general and accurate picture of the games industry, it is important to note salary can vary dependant on the size, location and type of company (and what titles have already been succesfully released by them). Its also interesting to point out there seems to be a 4k different between the North and the South (The latter being the better paid...) :
UK (Environment Artist) 2009-2012 (p.a)
0-3 Years Exp (Junior)
£18,000
£18,475
£20,000
£26,707
£28,879
£29,285
3+ Years Exp (Normal/Senior)
£35,833
£37,352
£38,636
£51,137
£70,000+
£100,000
US (Environment Artist) 2009-2012 (p.a)
0-3 Years Exp (Junior)
$41,611
$49,009
$75,780
$79,000
3+ Years Exp (Normal/Senior)
$75,009
$80,817
$84,337
$97,206 x
*Research
US
http://www.edge-online.com/news/average-us-game-developer-salary-down-4/
http://www.gamecareerguide.com/features/980/game_developer_salary_survey_.php
http://www.joystiq.com/2011/04/27/game-developer-salaries-in-2010-tracked-fills-us-once-more-with/
http://uk.gamespot.com/news/average-2012-us-dev-salary-84000-6406397
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/167355/
http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/04/03/how-much-do-game-developers-make
UK
http://www.payscale.com/research/UK/Job=Video_Game_Designer/Salary
http://www.videogamescourses.co.uk/tg-salary.php
http://www.develop-online.net/features/429/The-2009-UK-Games-Development-Salary-Survey
http://www.prospects.ac.uk/games_developer_salary.htm
http://www.develop-online.net/features/1529/Develop-Salary-Survey-2012-The-results
