Nintendo explains employee salary increase

In a bid to retain its talented workforce and stay competitive with other studios, Nintendo has recently implemented a 10% increase in employee salary levels.

Nintendo, based in Kyoto, has not only raised employee salary levels but also increased the starting salary for new graduate hires. Although there were concerns about the potential impact on dividends, Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa acknowledged the feedback and emphasized the initiative's importance in securing future talent. Institutional investors have lauded the move for its positive impact on Nintendo's long-term prospects.

Q: This fiscal year, you announced an increase in employee base salary in Japan, and I think that is a very positive initiative in retaining talented employees. On the other hand, increasing the employee base salary decreases the resources for dividends, so I can imagine there was some sort of negative feedback from institutional investors. Please describe the reactions from institutional investors, employees, and other companies in the industry regarding this wage increase.

Furukawa: I believe the most important factor in maintaining our high level of competitiveness is to value the employees that have created various popular products and built our brand. Currently, we are experiencing unprecedented levels of global inflation, and in Japan, we understand that people are facing increasing financial pressure in their daily lives. For this reason, to deal with long-term and continuing changes in the environment, Nintendo increased the base salary for all employees in Japan by 10%, separate from the annual wage increase. In addition, to strengthen our competitiveness in the job market and increase the overall capabilities of the company over the medium and long term, we also increased the starting salary for new graduate hires in Japan by approximately 10%.

There have been various reactions to this wage increase, and we received comments stating that the resources for dividends would decrease, but there were also positive responses from institutional investors who value human resource strategy from a medium-to-long-term perspective.

The level of competition for human resources is increasing within the game industry, and we understand that many companies, not just Nintendo, are increasing wages for new hires through a variety of methods.

Source / Via