Us Western Programmers Have Been Taking Our Salaries For Granted.

[gary]

We fail to realize how good we have it in comparison to our Japanese counterparts.

So you wanna be a Japanese video game programmer?

A recent thread on the notorious 2ch BBS system asked Japanese video game programmers, what is your take-home pay per month? We translated a few of the answers, and the numbers reported seem surprisingly low:

"¥130,000 For 256 hours of work a month"

"My only take-home pay is the smiles of our customers."

"Let me tell you, the minimum salaries that game companies claim to pay employees are total BS. Ads promising ¥250,000+ a month? In reality they pay ¥130,000 a month. ¥200,000+ a month? In reality they pay ¥110,000 a month. Oh, and then you get taxes withheld. So take-home's like ¥70,000-80,000 a month. Ah ha ha ha!"

My boyfriend's case is between ¥130,000 and ¥140,000 a month, with no bonus, a 230 hour work-month, a balding head and a hazy future."

"¥160,000 and I am ready to die. I can't even afford the 'recruit suit' I'll need for interviewing for another job."

"¥180,000 a month, no bonus, and only thanks to the company dorm can I afford to live in Tokyo."

http://www.cnngo.com/tokyo/none/so-you-wanna-be-japanese-video-game-programmer-159617

 

[pcchen]

If that's for real then it's probably why Japanese game companies are so lacking in the technology department
I mean, even 250K yen per month is not really enough for living in a Japanese city, not to mention 130K... that'd be nightmare.

 

[archie4oz]

Sounds about right to me from what I can remember.

 

[Squilliam]

1,458.16 USD is the number at 130k Yen a month.


1,600 USD a month is what you get from 180k Yen.

Thats without taxes being paid.

One guy said 70-80k Yen after tax which translates to 841U.S.D. in the hand.

 

[nightshade]

That's awfully low for a developer, and to think of them managing to live in cities like Tokyo

 

[obonicus]

That's game developers, correct? Do all developers get paid similar wages or is this all due to the glamour of game-making?

 

[T.B.]

"Twice the work, half the pay."

Then again, I'd like to know what positions these people are in. I've heard some pretty amazing stories from junior programmers that got offered jobs for significantly less than that. In Germany.

 

[eastmen]

1,458.16 USD is the number at 130k Yen a month.


1,600 USD a month is what you get from 180k Yen.

Thats without taxes being paid.

One guy said 70-80k Yen after tax which translates to 841U.S.D. in the hand.

841 usd is bad at 10k a year. 1600 isn't as bad its just shy of 20k .

What are the postions. If the 10k a year one is gametester then i can understand. If 20k is a first year programer its not out of the blue.

My last job in jersey working as a tier 1 tech guy at a school district i started at 25k. When I left I was at 50k just 3 years later.

 

[Squilliam]

841 usd is bad at 10k a year. 1600 isn't as bad its just shy of 20k .

What are the postions. If the 10k a year one is gametester then i can understand. If 20k is a first year programer its not out of the blue.

My last job in jersey working as a tier 1 tech guy at a school district i started at 25k. When I left I was at 50k just 3 years later.

Why do the salaries scale so quickly like that? Is this also a reason why there are so many layoffs in the industry as they can then rehire more junior staff members at a much lower rate at the commencement of a new project?

In that case it implies that the salaries of more stable developers could be on average significantly higher than more unstable developers, say Bungie, Infinity Ward, Epic vs some EA studio.

 

[tongue_of_colicab]

Is this really true? I mean 80k yen a month is 100 euro's less than I spend every month on college, rent etc. Even in Holland it would be very hard to live from 80k yen a month. Why do they keep working such a job? With such a salary you'd earn more with a part time job...

200k doesnt sound bad to me if you are in your first year. That is more than most master graduate students will earn over here.

 

[joker454]

I guess those numbers explain why Japanese dev's have largely been unable to compete with western devs this gen when it comes to cutting edge work. Seriously, with those kinds of salaries and work hours, why not just flip burgers for a living and at least have some semblance of a life.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Is this really true? I mean 80k yen a month is 100 euro's less than I spend every month on college, rent etc. Even in Holland it would be very hard to live from 80k yen a month. Why do they keep working such a job? With such a salary you'd earn more with a part time job...

200k doesnt sound bad to me if you are in your first year. That is more than most master graduate students will earn over here.

Well, since the recession hit the US, jobs have been few and far between in Japan. But even prior to that it wasn't what I would call great.

In general, unlike the US and most Western countries, people in Japan are willing to work any job for any pay as long as it keeps them employed. Bonus points if they enjoy the work.

As to living on some of those wages. There's comments about being able to do it only due to company provided housing (not uncommon). Also many Japanese live with family well into their adult life, even after getting married sometimes. And it's not uncommon for people to get jobs in neighboring cities and taking a 2 hour train commute into work in order to keep living costs down. And then, of course, there's always the ultra small apartments that are only slightly larger than a walk in closet.

Regards,
SB

 

[Squilliam]

Well, since the recession hit the US, jobs have been few and far between in Japan. But even prior to that it wasn't what I would call great.

In general, unlike the US and most Western countries, people in Japan are willing to work any job for any pay as long as it keeps them employed. Bonus points if they enjoy the work.

As to living on some of those wages. There's comments about being able to do it only due to company provided housing (not uncommon). Also many Japanese live with family well into their adult life, even after getting married sometimes. And it's not uncommon for people to get jobs in neighboring cities and taking a 2 hour train commute into work in order to keep living costs down. And then, of course, there's always the ultra small apartments that are only slightly larger than a walk in closet.

Regards,
SB

Hey, you go to Japan. Do you have any examples of the kinds of places you stay in whilst you work there? Pictures? Video? You can do us proud here.

 

[Mobius1aic]

Japan's pretty harsh when it comes to the economic and sociological issue of education leading into work. What's even worse is that all the executives at the top of the chain are raking in the money, while everyone else slaves over their work, which is a universal problem. We should bring back the maximum wage limit law here in the US. It worked pretty well from the early 40s to 1962 As for living in Japan, I'd like to see a pure comparison in living costs compared to a typical US suburb. Housing, food, transportation, etc. Seems businessmen these days don't realize that a happy worker is a good and productive worker. More gets done, he/she gets paid more, can spend more, and give reason for more jobs to exist.

 

[Nightz]

I wonder how they survive on $1600? Japan is a very expensive country to live to in. Just basic stuff like food and accommodation is crazy. The cost of living is in insane.

 

[Laa-Yosh]

"Japanese devs" in general does not mean the guys working on MGS and FF games. More like this stuff:

As far as I know there are thousands of games released for the Japanese market only that we never even hear about. Train and date sims are just the top of the mountain.

I can see how this could skew the averages.. then again, even high profile devs aren't that well paid.
http://japanmanship.blogspot.com/

 

[MfA]

Then again, I'd like to know what positions these people are in. I've heard some pretty amazing stories from junior programmers that got offered jobs for significantly less than that. In Germany.

Germany is a bit of an odd duck in the north ... no minimum wage.

You couldn't pay anyone less than that in the Netherlands, not on a legal full time contract at any rate.

 

[Rangers]

I just know that Shane Bettenhausen on various 1 up podcasts has often mentioned that Japanese development is something like sweat shop conditions.

I'm sure he's correct, cultural differences and all that.

 

[tongue_of_colicab]

I wonder how they survive on $1600? Japan is a very expensive country to live to in. Just basic stuff like food and accommodation is crazy. The cost of living is in insane.

Actually stuff like food isnt that expensive at all compared to the netherlands. Things like going out for lunch is even very cheap IMO. For 500 yen or less you can buy lunch and you will get a lot of food for that which is also pretty good quality. If you compare that to over here at the University cafetaria I'd get something like a hotdog and a piece of bread with nothing on it.

Housing costs probably are higher though I think that also depends a lot on where you want to live. Obviously living in or near the city (center) is going to be expensive but that is the case in every country. I'm sure suburbs and villages close to the city have housing available at decent prices. If that wasnt the case than nobody would ever be able to live in a house.

But I suppose it depends on what country you compare it to. The US is probably a relative cheap place when it comes to things like housing just like for example Spain had very cheap housing compared to the netherlands untill not too long ago.

 

[RobertR1]

"Japanese devs" in general does not mean the guys working on MGS and FF games. More like this stuff:

As far as I know there are thousands of games released for the Japanese market only that we never even hear about. Train and date sims are just the top of the mountain.

I can see how this could skew the averages.. then again, even high profile devs aren't that well paid.
http://japanmanship.blogspot.com/

hahaahahaahahahha! i can't stop laughing at that pic. If you're going to produce stuff like that, working 260hours a week, you might want to find a new talent.

I find Japanese games to be pure shit for the most part. From the horrible RPG's to snoozefests like MGS. Outside of capcom games and Bayonetta, I stay the hell away from Japanese games and to be fair most of what they produce stays in Japan...for a good reason.