Rockstar's Gender Wage Gap Larger Than Any Other UK Studio

The gender wage gap has been a hot topic among many, and not just in one area either. The gaming industry is no exception and a recent report just blew the door wide open in the UK, especially regarding Rockstar Games.

The Gender Pay Gap database, which can be seen here, makes it so large companies have to record their financial dealings within their company. This compares various employee salaries including pay levels, job duties, and differences in wages. Quite a few game studios have done their part to avoid the fines that hit with failure to comply and one thing in particular stood out the most: Rockstar needs to do some major restructuring.

Rockstar Games shows that the hourly rate for their female workers is a whopping 64% lower than their male counterparts. At this present time, that's the widest gender gap seen in the gaming industry in present times. Of the highest paid employees at Rockstar in the UK, only 8% of them are women.

The studio's director Andrew Semple told GamesIndustry.biz:

"Rockstar North is fully committed to maintaining an equal opportunity work environment, where diversity is extremely highly valued and men and women are equally paid for equal work. Like much of the interactive entertainment industry, there is gender disparity in our workforce, particularly at senior levels where our team has been with us for many years.

"We are proactively working to decrease this disparity and we look forward to seeing representation of our female colleagues continue to grow in all roles and at all levels as we actively recruit, train and encourage women to pursue career opportunities at Rockstar North and within our industry."

There were other companies also included in this extended research throughout the UK market, which can all be seen right here. Missing from the current reports are the financial records for Ubisoft and Activision, which should be revealed in the near future.

What do you think about this wage gap? In an industry that swears it's not an issue, do you find this data startling? Sound off with your thoughts in the comment section below and tell us what you think about Rockstar Games and their issued statement.