Persona and Shin Megami Tensei series developer Atlus announced revisions to its compensation system on March 16. This will include both a rise in starting salaries for freshly graduated new employees, as well as an across-the-board increase of average annual salaries. Alongside the revisions to compensation, the company announced that it would be reducing fixed overtime work from 30 hours to 20 hours per month.
According to Atlus, new employees joining at entry-level positions (fresh hires straight out of college) starting from April 2026 will have their monthly salaries raised from 300,000 yen (about $1,880 USD) to 330,000 yen (about $2,070 USD). Furthermore, the company will rase base yearly salaries for both their full-time and contract employees by about 15%.
Atlus says that the decision to raise base salaries comes as a way to “foster the creativity and improve the productivity of every individual employee,” arguing that investment in human resources is absolutely essential in order to keep delivering inspirational experiences to their audience. “Despite the fluctuations in external factors such as rising prices, we will aim to support our employees so they can live stable lives, and provide them with an environment where they can work with a greater sense of security,” the company wrote.
This move was likely influenced by Atlus’ parent company Sega’s series of big raises throughout the past few years. In November 2025, Sega announced that it would raise entry-level monthly salaries from 300,000 to 330,000 yen (the same as Atlus), while implementing a general yearly pay increase of 10% for all existing employees.
As the industry is growing more competitive when it comes to securing human resources, it seems like Atlus, alongside Sega, will be the next to join other big Japanese companies like Konami and Capcom in their efforts to attract and retain skilled development staff through substantial raises.
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