In 2020, as the world grappled with a paradigmatic societal shift in the form of a global pandemic, the CEOs of the largest gaming companies collectively brought home almost $1 billion. This is acc a new report from market research firm Games One, which compiles a handful of key video game industry metrics.
As noted from GamesIndustry.biz, the report details the compensation of 42 of the highest-paid CEOs in the video game industry. The report not only considers raw salary but also measures stocks, bonuses and benefits.
“Publicly traded companies are owned by shareholders who elect the board of directors who elect the CEO. The board is responsible for compensation and its decisions are ratified by shareholder vote,” the report authors write, explaining how it all works. “The list is … democracy in action.”
So what does democracy look like in action?
Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activision Blizzard, who has served at the helm for three decades – a tenure that has included a Culture of abuse and harassment was allowed to spread, detailed in a bomb Wall Street Journal examination which showed he knew about it all the damn time – with a payday of about $150 million second. Robert Antokol, the CEO of Playtika, a well-known developer bingo blitz (described referred to on the company’s homepage as “the most exciting free online multiplayer board game of our time!”) and board kings
Strauss Zelnick, the fitness–obsessed CEO of Take-Two Interactive, made about half by Frank Gibeau, who runs Zynga. Earlier this week, Zelnick’s company announced plans to acquire Zynga for nearly $12.7 billion. (As Axios Gamingis Stephen Totilo written down, both companies have until February 25 to decline the deal, at the hefty cost of around a gaming executive’s salary.) Meanwhile, Lars Wingefors, CEO of Embracer Group – which appears to have enough cash on hand to buy a to make true studio shopping spree, pick up developer
Anyway, that’s enough noise. Here are the 10 highest-earning CEOs of gambling companies:
- Robert Antokol, Playtika; $372,008,176
- Bobby Kotick, Activision Blizzard; $154,613,318
- Andrew Paradise, Skillz; $103,321,052
- Andrew Wilson, Electronic Arts; $34,715,802
- Frank Gibeau, Zynga; $32,003,768
- John Riccitiello, Unit; $22,001,733
- Strauss Zelnick, Take Two; $18,111,761
- Taek-Jin Kim, NCSoft; $15,620,773
- Min Liang Tan, Razer; $10,457,000
- Debbie Bestwick, Team17; $10,242,642
And here are the bottom 10 (of the top 42 in the business, that is):
- Carl Cavers, Sumo Group; $685,495
- David Braben, Frontier Developments; $581,516
- Kati Levoranta, Rovio; $535,722
- Anton Gauffin, Huuuge Games; $470,800
- Alex Nichiporchik, tinyBuild; $419,460
- Darcy Taylor, East Side Games; $418,473
- Adam Foroughi, AppLovin; $409,462
- Hannes Wallin, Fractal Gaming; $238,447
- Claude Guillemot, Guillemot Corporation; $185,004
- Lars Wingefors, Embracer Group; $162,293
While I have you, does anyone know where a journalist can register for CEO school?
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