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How much does a game sound creator make a year in Japan?

By on June 9, 2020

Perhaps parents today won’t be so impressed when their daughter or son tells them he/she wants to pursue a career as sound creator of video games. 

But I was. My son who earns his degree in Engineering this month was snapped up by a recruiter for a position at a major Japanese video game developer with a high starting salary to boot. The annual salary of game sound creators differs greatly depending on the size of the company they work for. But overall, it’s the major game companies that pay the highest.

Sound is very important for game developers. Often played with electronic music in various beats, the job requires some creativity and technical ability to create sound effects that make the gaming experience immersive and engaging. The Global Games Market Report estimates the number of games across the world to be around 2.5 billion with console being the fastest-growing segment year on year.

This means the video game industry is making money. According to Japanese website Gyoukai search, the whole gaming industry is worth 5.5 trillion yen in the year 2018-2019.

When game developers Enix and Square merged in 2003 and became Square Enix HD, their software games such as Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy instantly became a hit. Today, the average annual salary of employees comes to about 13.74 million yen, the highest salary paid by a publicly listed game developer.

At Bandai Namco HD, the average annual income of  employees is 9.38 million yen, the second highest next to Square Enix HD. Sony employees get 8.59 million while Nintendo’s receive 8.39 million in yearly average.

Capcom, despite being a publicly listed company, pays its employees the least with just 5.55 million yen in annual average.

 

About Ted Tanaka