Japanese entertainment organization CESA (Computer Entertainment Supplier’s Association) published its “Game Developer Employment and Career Formation 2025” report on January 6, 2026. As reported by Game Makers, the document compiles findings based on CESA’s survey on the working environment of domestic game developers, conducted during last year’s CEDEC (Computer Entertainment Developers Conference). The research is based on data provided by 339 commercial game developers, educators and university students in the field. One interesting trend that the report brought to light was an overall rise in average annual income across the Japanese video game industry.
As the survey reveals, the average annual household income of game developers from January to December 2024 was around 8.3 million yen (approximately $52.5k USD), with the average individual yearly income being about 6.7 million yen (approximately $42.3k USD). Additionally, 77.9% of respondents reported that their annual income had increased compared to 2023. Out of all survey participants, 19.5% said that their average yearly income increased by over 20%, followed by 14.5% whose income rose by more than 10%, and 18.6% whose income rose by more than 5%. Lastly, 25.4% of respondents reported a 0-5% rise. On the other hand, only 6.8% of developers participating in the survey reported that their yearly income had dropped compared to 2023.
Interestingly, CESA also concludes that the industry is showing a “high workforce mobility,” as the majority of interviewed developers – 55.2% of them to be precise – have said that they have experienced switching employers (which is generally less common in Japan than in countries like the US). Furthermore, when it comes to job tenure, 36.0% of respondents said that they’d been working at their current company for 3 years or less, and 26.0% of said that they’d been working at their current company between 3 and 6 years. Finally, 13.6% of respondents said that their current tenure was between six and 9 years.
On a related note, CESA released a preview of their 2025 Video Game Industry Report during last year’s Tokyo Game Show, revealing some interesting tidbits on the current state of domestic video game companies. Among other things, the report tackled the topic of AI technology and generative AI, revealing that more than half of surveyed companies use generative AI during development.
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