GENDER PAY GAP REPORT

2023 marked the beginning of one of the greatest periods of uncertainty in the games industry, which has so far resulted in unprecedented economic pressures, widespread layoffs, and considerable uncertainty affecting studios across the UK and beyond.

During the reporting period, Splash Damage adapted to these pressures by shifting to a four-day working week that is fully office-based. While I believe that these changes were essential for our studio, I have to acknowledge that they disproportionately affected the women in our studio. This means that this year’s report is a disappointing step backwards.

I believe it is important to be transparent about this and to acknowledge that genuine progress in diversity and equality can be fragile – especially in an industry still maturing and historically dominated by men.

While this year is a setback, Splash Damage remains committed to closing the gender pay gap. I draw particular inspiration from progressive leaders like Sarah Bond at Xbox, whose advocacy for inclusive representation drives meaningful change across our industry. We know that building a truly diverse studio requires intentional action, resilience, and a genuine commitment to learning from both successes and setbacks.

Our mission, therefore, remains unchanged: to ensure Splash Damage is an environment where talented people from all backgrounds can feel like they belong, thrive, and lead.

Richard Jolly, Co-Founder & CEO

What is the Gender Pay Gap Report? 

Enacted in 2017, the UK Government’s Gender Pay Gap (GPG) reporting legislation is an amendment to the Equality Act 2010 and requires employers of over 250 people to report: 

• The proportion of men and women in each pay quartile 
• The Mean and Median gender pay gap in hourly pay 
• The Mean and Median bonus gender pay gap, and the proportion of men and women receiving a bonus payment 

This is different from the wider terms of the Equality Act which ensures parity in pay for men and women in the same role. 

The data in this report is based on a snapshot from 5 April 2024 and any bonus pay received in the 12 months before this date. 

It’s important to note that gender pay gap reporting requires us to compare salaries of employees who identify as men and women. Across our teams there are people of all genders – 2.9% of our team identify as non-binary, gender fluid or agender and because of the boundaries of this report they are not included in this data.  

Our Results 

You can take a look at our previous reports here:   

• Gender Pay Gap Report 2023
• Gender Pay Gap Report 2022 
• Gender Pay Gap Report 2021 
• Gender Pay Gap Report 2020  
• Gender Pay Gap Report 2019
• Gender Pay Gap Report 2018

For this reporting period, Splash Damage’s gender pay gap breaks down as follows:

• Our median gender pay gap is 22.95%, which has increased by 4.63% since the last reporting period of 2023. For every £1 a man earns, women earn 77p (77.05 rounded).
• Our mean gender pay gap is 28.74%, which is 8.84% higher than 2023. For every £1 a man earns, women earn 71p (71.26 rounded).

To be clear, Splash Damage does not have a disparity between men and women performing the same job role. Men and women at Splash Damage are being paid equally for equivalent roles. The larger proportion of men in the upper quartiles is the main cause of this pay gap. 

For this reporting period, our gender representation in the reportable data is 82.41% men, and 17.59% women.

Quartiles 

Quartiles are calculated by first listing the rates of pay for each employee across the business from lowest to highest, and then splitting that list into four equal-sized groups, then calculating the percentage of men and women in each of these groups. 

During this reporting period, the studio introduced a 4-day working week coupled with a return to office for those four days. This is because we believe that for the types of games our studio builds and the level of effective collaboration this requires, being on-site is critical part of the development process.

The studio experienced a higher amount of attrition in this reporting period as a result of these changes, and we have to recognise that they affected women more than they did men.

Splash Damage is pleased to report that its efforts to minimise bias in processes related to progression, including promotions and salary reviews, continue to pay off. In 2023, roughly the same proportion of all men (12.9%) and all women (13.1%) were promoted. Pay rises across all our quartiles were slightly in favour of women, with 82.7% of all men and 85.9% of all women receiving an increase during the reporting period.

Bonus Data 

The mean bonus data has increased in favour of men at 76.6%. This is due to three factors:

• During this reporting period, most employees did not receive a bonus.
• In 2022, Splash Damage’s parent company deployed a long-term incentive (LTI) scheme to retain senior leadership and a small number of business-critical employees. This scheme started maturing during the reporting period and is not tied to individual or company performance. We expect this scheme to continue to affect our reporting for the coming years.
• The studio on occasion pays signing bonuses for critical roles. These are typically for senior leadership roles which in the games industry are disproportionately male.

These factors all favoured our upper pay quartiles which are currently mostly made up of men.

We stand by our intention to continue to increase female representation in our senior levels long-term by recruiting, developing and retaining women into senior leadership roles and our upper quartile.

Declaration  

I confirm that the data contained within this report is accurate and meets the requirements of the Gender Pay Gap reporting regulations.  

Richard Jolly, Co-Founder & CEO