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Capcom to increase salaries for new graduates by 28% and existing employees by an average of 5%

Thick Thighs Save Lives

NeoGAF's Physical Games Advocate Extraordinaire
Capcom Co., Ltd. (Capcom) today announced that beginning in fiscal year 2025 it will raise its starting salary for new graduate hires from the current level of ¥235 thousand per month to ¥300 thousand per month.

CurrentRevisedIncrease
Starting salary (monthly base pay)¥235,000¥300,000+¥65,000
*Flat rate for graduate degree holders to vocational degree holders

*Overtime and commuting allowances are paid separately

The Capcom Group is focused on strengthening its capabilities with development and technology in creating world-class quality games in order to enhance sustainable corporate value. To promote its Human Resources investment strategy, one of the Group’s highest priorities, since 2022 it has carried out a number of initiatives to invest in its people. These have included a reorganization of its Human Resources operations and the establishment of a Chief Human Resources Officer, an average base-salary increase of 30%, the introduction of a bonus system more closely linked to the company’s business performance, and the introduction of an employee stock-based compensation system.

With this increase in starting salary, Capcom is pursuing further investment in human capital and the acquisition of exceptional talent. In conjunction with the decision to raise starting salaries, Capcom will provide its current employees (including new employees that join in fiscal year 2024) with a one-time special payment as an investment in the people who support the future of the company. Further, Capcom plans to raise salaries over 5% on average in fiscal year 2024.

Driven by its philosophy of being a Creator of Entertainment Culture that Stimulates Your Senses, Capcom will work to address the issues facing our society while aiming improve its corporate value and establishing a relationship of trust with employees and stakeholders.


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Lambogenie

Member
HR and probably more useless DEI jobs coming. And then they'll lay them off when they realise you don't need so many of them.
 

RoadHazard

Gold Member
Damn that's a low salary, even the new one. $2K/month, $24K/year. Maybe they have a lot of bonuses on top of that, don't know.

I know X amount of money buys different amounts of stuff in different countries, but Japan isn't exactly low-cost as far as I know.
 
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Elysium44

Banned
I hope those poor fuckers are allowed to work from home at that price, pretty sure that 5% for current isn't even keeping up with inflation.

Inflation is lower than that in Japan, looks like it was around 3% for most of last year, now dropped to the low 2% range.
 
Either they get a big pay raise after the first year or there are gonna be some majorly pissed off 3-4 year employees when they find out someone off the street is making more money than them.
 
Damn that's a low salary, even the new one. $2K/month, $24K/year. Maybe they have a lot of bonuses on top of that, don't know.

I know X amount of money buys different amounts of stuff in different countries, but Japan isn't exactly low-cost as far as I know.
Comparing a single number from a country with another usually tells not much. But I also thought that Japan is not low cost, at least Tokyo is probably quite the opposite, and not really low on overtime hours either (which are apparantly compensated unlike the expected self sacrifice some countries celebrate)? But they have mostly free healthcare, so any american/dollar comparison has to take that into account.

Google tells me the average salary in Tokyo is 574000 while in Okinawa 390000, which makes 300k as the start look not that bad, when I also see the info that japanese salaries in general are growing 32% in the 2-5 years experience bracket and another 36% after 5 years, so at Capcom you might average in your lifetime easily above average. Might be below what America pays for the same though, but Japanese can move to America if they think the money is better there.
 

RoadHazard

Gold Member
Comparing a single number from a country with another usually tells not much. But I also thought that Japan is not low cost, at least Tokyo is probably quite the opposite, and not really low on overtime hours either (which are apparantly compensated unlike the expected self sacrifice some countries celebrate)? But they have mostly free healthcare, so any american/dollar comparison has to take that into account.

Google tells me the average salary in Tokyo is 574000 while in Okinawa 390000, which makes 300k as the start look not that bad, when I also see the info that japanese salaries in general are growing 32% in the 2-5 years experience bracket and another 36% after 5 years, so at Capcom you might average in your lifetime easily above average. Might be below what America pays for the same though, but Japanese can move to America if they think the money is better there.

I'm not actually comparing with America, but with Sweden where I'm from. We also have free (ish) healthcare, education, etc. $2K/month would be a VERY low salary here, people doing the very simplest jobs generally make more than that.

I just put it in USD because that's what most people here will understand.
 
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navii

My fantasy is that my girlfriend was actually a young high school girl.
How much of that is taxed?
 

StereoVsn

Member
Capcom is paying graduates peanuts, I wouldn't shower too much praise on them just yet. One can only hope their game developers are dramatically better paid.
They aren’t really. Software Devs are not paid well in Japan in general (not just gaming), and that situation has only been very slowly improving.

That said, yeah, it’s not completely one to one. There are transportation subsidies, sometimes housing allowances, medical costs are low, and of course there are cost of living differences.

Still, salaries are low especially considering cost of living in major cities where I would assume Capcom offices are located (doubt it’s going to be mostly working from home either).
 
I'm not actually comparing with America, but with Sweden where I'm from. We also have free (ish) healthcare, education, etc. $2K/month would be a VERY low salary here, people doing the very simplest jobs generally make more than that.

I just put it in USD because that's what most people here will understand.
I did not try to argument against with what you compare or not, just that for Japanese averages it seems to not be very low, and that's the main naturally self centered point for a japanese kid and their education and job decisions, if gaming (dev) career is wasted time or not, better or worse than other areas. Sweden or America or anything does not need to matter to them. We would need to know the progression of actual game dev salaries to know more. Dollar but no taxes/retirment plan/halth care/vacation religious holidays usually tells me almost nothing. Just that dollar wages always appear high, but have probably zero benefits for lower incomes and only higher paid jobs are comparable at all with European stuff, and insane gofundmes in emergencies as a result. Is in Japan eg also a 13th and 14th paycheck in the year usual or law like in Austria? Which would change the 300k per month quite a bit. As i said comparing numbers without actually comparing other elements barely tells anything. I don't care enough to research myself, so unless someone who knows Japanese customs exlains a bit, the whole info is not super informative beyond it was probably pretty bad before if such a massive hike is possible and maybe overdue.
 

Mr Moose

Member
Is Osaka really that much cheaper?
1K/1DK 32-63K in Osaka, 59-128k in Tokyo. (I think).
 

Porcile

Member
Should really be 350,000 to 400,000.

300,000 is too low for such a highly skilled and lucrative industry. 40,000 of that is gonna go to insurance and pension every month too.
 
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Ribi

Member
Cool. Can't wait to see the layoffs but the spin will be "but they're paying more".

How about you use that money to make new ideas Capcom?
 

Comandr

Member
How much of that is taxed?
The average tax rate is about 20%. For a new hire fresh out of college, this is a pretty competitive wage. Furthermore, there are fully furnished apartments with free fiber internet for only 47,000 yen/$315 USD a month that are 2.2 miles from Capcom's office. That's walking distance. When you zoom out and take yourself and your own country out of the equation, it's a pretty solid deal.

So.. After tax the net income for one of these employees is 240,000 yen or $1,600 USD. $315 goes to the apartment I mentioned. That leaves $1,285. No car or car insurance really necessary for a young person fresh out of college in Japan. An unlimited cellphone data plan from SoftBank is about 7,500 yen or $50. Health insurance is factored in through work. That leaves $1,235 for any remaining utilities like water, power, trash, that I might not be familiar with, and food. Many Japanese people eat their meals largely from convenience stores like 7/11, where a lunch box might be 350¥/$2.35. Now let's say this person gets 2 meals a day from 7/11. a bite on the way to work for breakfast and maybe a lunch later on. Then they spend three times that on dinner. That comes out to roughly 35,160¥/$235 for the month for meals during working days.

Let's break it down in a more digestible fashion.

300,000¥/$2,000 - Gross income.
240,000¥/$1,600 - After tax NET income.

-47,000¥/$315 - local apartment including furniture and internet.
-7,500¥/$50 - Unlimited cellphone plan.
-35,160¥/$235 - Food during the week.
150,340¥/$1,000 - remaining for incidental utilities including water, power, trash, renters insurance, clothes and food for the weekends.

Honestly $1,000 a month free and clear after the majority of your bills and food are taken care of is more than most young people in the states have to their names.

To me, then, this seems somewhat unfair to say "oh wow that's so low" when -- in actuality when you break it down and factor their culture and lifestyles in, it's pretty fuckin good.
 

Hudo

Member
1K/1DK 32-63K in Osaka, 59-128k in Tokyo. (I think).
Damn.
 

Elysium44

Banned
The average tax rate is about 20%. For a new hire fresh out of college, this is a pretty competitive wage. Furthermore, there are fully furnished apartments with free fiber internet for only 47,000 yen/$315 USD a month that are 2.2 miles from Capcom's office. That's walking distance. When you zoom out and take yourself and your own country out of the equation, it's a pretty solid deal.

£247 a month, that's crazy cheap. Even subsidised social housing in the UK, which most people can't get, even in the cheapest parts of the country would cost more than that. It does put the salary into context then.
 
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