Salesnow, a Japanese software developer, released a ranking of domestic game development companies based on the average annual salary for employees (Nice Spot, Automaton). The data was compiled with Salesnow DB, a large Japanese corporate database that collects data from public sources as a tax office.
Something that is sure to surprise some is that Nintendo is not ranked first, but rather third. The top price goes to Sony, which has an average employee salary of $ 11,132 ($ 75,000). Bandai Namco follows near Sony, with an average salary of $ 10,950,000 ($ 74,000). These two companies are the only companies with an average employee salary higher than 10 million yen, with third place Nintendo entering $ 9,626,857 ($ 65,000).
The entire table is below, with approximate wages in USD.
Money games
|
Rank |
Business |
Salary ¥ ($) |
|
1 |
Sony Group Corporation |
11,132,231 ($ 75,000) |
|
2 |
Bandai Namco Holdings |
10 950 000 ($ 74,000) |
|
3 |
Nintendo |
9.626.857 ($ 65,000) |
|
4 |
Sega Sammy Holdings |
8 791,596 ($ 59,000) |
|
5 |
Akatsuki |
8,557 000 ($ 57,000) |
|
6 |
Denta |
8,540,000 ($ 57,000) |
|
7 |
Capcom |
8 328 000 ($ 56,000) |
|
8 |
Koei Tecmo Holdings |
8105 686 ($ 54,000) |
|
9 |
Gungho online entertainment |
7 504 000 ($ 50,000) |
|
10 |
Bank of Innovation |
7 421 000 ($ 50,000) |
|
11 |
Crooz |
7 290 000 ($ 49,000) |
|
12 |
Nexon |
7,256 000 ($ 49,000) |
|
13 |
Drecom |
7,188,223 ($ 48,000) |
|
14 |
Konami Group Corporation |
7 108 375 ($ 48,000) |
|
15 |
Digital hearts hold |
6,743 000 ($ 45,000) |
|
16 |
Colopl |
6,719 000 ($ 45,000) |
|
17 |
Imagine |
6,528,603 ($ 44,000) |
|
18 |
KLAB |
6 449 000 ($ 43,000) |
|
19 |
Meter |
6 339 917 ($ 42,000) |
|
20 |
Furyu |
6,231,302 ($ 42,000) |
Noteworthy does not appear Square Enix on the list despite the company's reputation and life. FROMSoftware (or the parent company Kadokawa) is also absent. Bandai Namco has attracted positive attention for how high the paying company is.
Although these salaries can seem relatively low compared to the United States, where the average salary for a game developer is over $ 100,000, living costs are significantly lower in Japan, especially when comparing technical hotspots with their counterparts in Japan. For example, living costs in Tokyo are 30 percent lower than in Los Angeles.
The average median salary in Japan is about 4.4 million JPY ($ 38,000), which means that game development is relatively high paying.
