I am very sad to say my time working at Gameloft has come to an end. I always want to be honest about changes like this for a few reasons, sometimes people leaving a company can be a sign of unrest and trouble to come and sometimes it can be totally unrelated so I want to break down the decision to leave Gameloft here so anyone interested can see my thought process.
Currently my family is a 2 income family which is great, but since my wife makes more than I do her career tends to take priority. This is how I ended up in Louisiana and I was able to work for Gameloft in the first place. I've always been interested in trying to find a job in the video game industry that was reliable (can't be a solo indie) and also allowed me to change locations whenever Erin's job required her to move. This year at GDC I was introduced to High 5 Games and talked a bit with their Tech Lead about this option. It turns out their engine team already is mostly remote/working from home and although they weren't looking to hire for that team at the time he said he'd keep me in mind. Well 6 months later they had an opening and were willing to pay me a much higher salary to work from home.
After talking with the wife, I talked to my supervisor and discussed the offer and gave them a chance to counter-offer. I gave them a number I didn't think they would go for, and I said even at that level the remote-work option may be too good to pass up. To my surprise they came very very close to matching my proposed counter offer (more than High5 was offering). It was a seriously hard decision.
The work I was doing at Gameloft was fulfilling and I really enjoyed the position and people I worked with there. Taking the Remote job would mean working mostly alone, it would be a "demotion" in terms of management of a team, and I enjoyed the projects more at Gameloft than I would at High5.
When it was all said and done however, giving up my 2 hours of traffic a day was too tempting an offer especially since I would be able to keep this job if Erin needs to move.
So there it is. And let this be a lesson to anyone thinking they are not being paid enough. If you find another job you are interested in that will pay you more, you may want to give it a shot. Just be sure you are willing to change companies if your current employer decides they can't match your new offer.