Nintendo has ranked third on list of top 20 Japanese companies for average yearly salary

In a new ranking of Japanese gaming companies posted by software developer SalesNow, Nintendo has ranked third among its peers for average yearly income. Based on data gathered between June 2024 and June 2025, Nintendo’s average pay for employees comes out to around $65K USD (or ¥9,626,857). While that might seem low for US standards, the general cost of living in Japan is significantly lower than in the United States, even if certain things like groceries are more expensive overall.

While the top 20 includes other big name publishers familiar to gamers, the only two companies that beat Nintendo were Bandai Namco and Sony. Sony came in first with roughly $75K annually (¥11,132,231), while Bandai Namco was second with $74K (¥10,950,000). That’s a pretty big step up from Nintendo, though all three are considerably higher than the average yearly wage in Japan. The entire list is higher, in fact, though it does start to creep closer to that average as you make your way down.

Here are the top 20 gaming companies in Japan as ranked by Average Yearly Income:

 

1. Sony Group Corporation – 11,132,231 ($75k USD)
2. Bandai Namco Holdings – 10,950,000 ($74k USD) 
3. Nintendo – 9,626,857 ($65k USD) 
4. Sega Sammy Holdings – 8,791,596 ($59k USD) 
5. Akatsuki – 8,557,000 ($57k USD) 
6. DeNA – 8,540,000 ($57k USD) 
7. Capcom – 8,328,000 ($56k USD) 
8. Koei Tecmo Holdings – 8,105,686 ($54k USD) 
9. GungHo Online Entertainment – 7,504,000 ($50k USD)
10. Bank of Innovation – 7,421,000 ($50k USD) 
11. Crooz – 7,290,000 ($49k USD) 
12. Nexon – 7,256,000 ($49k USD) 
13. Drecom – 7,188,223 ($48k USD) 
14. Konami Group Corporation – 7,108,375 ($48k USD) 
15. Digital Hearts Holdings – 6,743,000 ($45k USD) 
16. Colopl – 6,719,000 ($45k USD)
17. Imagineer – 6,528,603 ($44k USD) 
18. KLab – 6,449,000 ($43k USD) 
19. MyNet – 6,339,917 ($42k USD)
20. FuRyu – 6,231,302 ($42k USD) 

 

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