The following summarizes our findings on incentive plan prevalence in software games organizations, based on data compiled in the 2012 Croner Software Games Survey.
Short Term Incentive Plans
• The majority of companies, both independent and parent owned companies, offer some type of formal Short Term Incentive (“STI”) plan
• Most companies offer an STI plan to all employees
• When STI eligibility is limited, versus available to all employees, most limit to manager level and above
• Recent trend is to reduce Product Development Plan eligibility and increase general STI eligibility
Long Term Incentive Plans
• The majority of companies, both independent and parent owned, offer a Long Term Incentive (“LTI”) plan
• Most companies limit LTI eligibility to only some employees
• When LTI eligibility is limited to some, versus all, employees, most companies limit to vice president level and above
• LTI is more prevalent in independent than in parent owned companies
• Type of LTI offered varies by ownership model
• Independent companies make greatest use of stock options
• Parent owned companies make greatest use of a mix of stock options, full value shares and other types of LTI