OpenMoney, a service that provides information on working conditions in Japanese companies based on user data, recently published some statistics related to major domestic game companies like Capcom and Nintendo.
This includes how much employees earn on average, how much overtime they do, and how satisfied they are with their working conditions. Based on data registered from 2024 onwards, the below chart ranks Japanese game companies by order of highest average yearly income.
| Company | Average yearly income | Average monthly overtime | Satisfaction (1-5, with 5 being highest) |
| Sony Interactive Entertainment | 9.94 million JPY (about $63k USD) | 17.6h | 3.85 |
| Capcom | 8.40 million JPY (about $53k USD) | 20h | 3.83 |
| SEGA | 8.10 million JPY (about $51k USD) | 23.5h | 3.52 |
| Bandai Namco Entertainment | 7.95 million JPY (about $50k USD) | 28.3h | 3.89 |
| Nintendo | 7.64 million JPY (about $48k USD) | 27.2h | 3.48 |
| Konami Digital Entertainment | 7.11 million JPY (about $45k USD) | 24.2h | 2.83 |
| Square Enix | 6.87 million JPY (about $43k USD) | 19.0h | 2.77 |
SIE tops the list with the highest income figure and lowest overtime hours. Coincidentally, the company recently announced that it will be raising starting salaries in Japan starting April this year. With monthly wages rising between $350 and $430, this will be a record-breaking increase and will likely boost Sony’s competitiveness as an employer even further. Another curious detail from the data is that Bandai Namco Entertainment has the highest employee satisfaction score with the longest overtime hours.
When it comes to yearly income, it’s important to note that both averages and US-conversions can be deceptive, but it does seem like the standard for Japanese game companies has risen significantly throughout the years. In response to the new data from OpenMoney, Former Capcom developer Sawaki Takeyasu (known as the character designer of Devil May Cry and Okami and game director of El Shaddai) revealed on X that his yearly income at Capcom used to be only 4 million yen in the early 2000s, which is less than half the company’s current average.
The low figure was shocking to many Japanese commenters, but things do seem to be getting better for devs, especially in recent years. In a survey published by CESA earlier this year, almost 80% of Japanese developers said their annual income had increased in the past year. That said, conditions are still getting tougher on other fronts, with lower hiring quotas and downsizing making it harder for developers to secure jobs in the first place.
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