At a time when mass layoffs are rampant in the games industry, one company is talking about raises. Capcom announced to investors this week that it's increasing its base starting salary for new hires in Japan, and giving current employees a raise of "over 5% on average" this year.
It's a moderate cost-of-living bump that might not have been notable if so many gaming companies weren't aggressively cutting costs right now.
The starting salary for new graduates at Capcom Japan, which is headquartered in Osaka, is being raised from ¥235,000 per month to ¥300,000, which is about $2,014 USD a month at the current exchange rate, or $24,168 per year. It's not a salary that would go far in a US city, which reflects the fact that wages are lower on average in Japan than in the US and a number of other countries. The yen-to-dollar exchange rate has also fallen 34% over the last five years, making Japanese salaries look particularly low in USD.
Current and new employees will also receive "a one-time special payment as an investment in the people who the future of the company," and Capcom says it's introducing "a bonus system more closely linked to the company’s business performance" as well as a stock-based employee compensation system.
The last instance of major Capcom layoffs that I recall occurred in 2018, when it eager to play Dragon's Dogma 2, Capcom's new open world RPG, which is out this month.
Elden Ring in 2022; Nintendo and Sega both raised salaries last year.
The starting salary increase applies just to Capcom Japan employees, a company spokesperson told PC Gamer. However, "strategic investment in human resources" is one of Capcom's top priorities, they said, so "management is discussing investment in human capital for the overall Capcom Group on an ongoing basis."
