Amid depressing news about layoffs, it is cheering to read that Konami is raising the base salary of its staff for the third consecutive fiscal year. The new wage increment will see the monthly salaries of new graduates rise to 300,000 monthly.
“With the aim of stabilizing the income of our employees and creating a satisfying working environment, Konami Group will raise its Japan domestic group companies’ regular employees’ base salary for the third consecutive fiscal year starting March 2025,” the company announced today.
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“In addition, the initial base salary for new recruits will be 300,000JPY*, an increase from the current starting salary of 295,000JPY. Konami Group’s compensation is composed of base salary, bonuses, and incentives (monetary awards and distributions based on contribution).”
The raise will take effect from March 2025 and applies to Japanese domestic group companies’ regular employees. To break it down, 5,000 JPY (approx. $33) will be added to the base salary of employees—that’s 60,000 JPY annually.
“This will be our third raise of base salary continuing from our previous fiscal years (fiscal year ending March 2023 and 2024). We will stabilize the income of our employees and create a satisfying working environment by conducting continuous raises in base salary.”
While the raise may not sound impressive when viewed in isolation, it will be better appreciated when compared to the base salary of other video game developers in the country. Last month, Capcom raised the starting salary of new graduates by 25%, bringing the new salary to 300,000 JPY.
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In comparison, the starting salary of Capcom was previously 235,000 JPY before the raise while that of Konami was 295,000 JPY. That means Konami paid significantly higher than Capcom. The new wage review now levels the earnings of new recruits in both companies.
While a lot of people may want to pick on the size of the raise as a reason for hitting out at Konami, it is important to mention that it may mean a lot to the new recruits that would be getting them. Also, wage raises—no matter how insignificant it may look—are always better than layoffs.
Konami is one of the Japanese publishers yet to cut roles
Since January 2024, layoffs have been a monthly staple. While around 10,000 jobs were lost in the game industry last year, the first three months of this year have seen the loss of over 7,000 jobs in the industry. Some of the big Japanese video game companies have announced layoffs.
Barely a week ago, SEGA announced that it was cutting roles in an effort to “streamline, focus on what we are good at, and position ourselves as best we can for the road ahead.” In addition to the layoff, it also announced that it had sold Relic Entertainment—which also announced layoffs last week.
Last month, Nintendo of America also announced that it was cutting contract roles which was believed to impact 120 people. In a statement shared with Kotaku, a spokesperson for the company said the “changes will involve some contractor assignments ending, as well as the creation of a significant number of new full-time employee positions”.
The last time we heard of a significant cut in roles at Konami was back in 2015 when it was announced that the Japanese developer cut over 20 roles and shut down its Los Angeles studio which was involved in the development of Metal Gear Solid V. During that time, the company’s spokesperson said the decision was due to restructuring of development resources.
“Konami has made the decision to close its Los Angeles Studio, effective immediately, due to the product development resources being restructured into a more centralized unit,” said the spokesperson in a statement.
“This facility contributed to the recent Metal Gear Solid games. Konami will continue its operations to support all Metal Gear Solid titles, including the recently launched Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain and Metal Gear Online.”
