Layoffs and studio closures have the gaming industry firmly in their grip, but Nintendo is now making a big statement in terms of employee development and future investments.
Anyone who has been following gaming news in the past few weeks and months can hardly avoid the negative headlines: Exploding development costs and shrinking profit margins are increasingly causing waves of layoffs and studio closures.
A current example? On Xbox it’s coming a real earthquake and studios like Arkane Lyon, Compulsion Games and Ninja Theory are reportedly facing a fight for survival. On the other hand, Bungie’s workforce was hit just yesterday – and parent company Sony followed suit From “Destiny 2” the studio and laid off around half of the team.
In the midst of this ongoing crisis, a recent report from Japan almost seems like it comes from another world: NintendoPresident Shuntaro Furukawa has now officially announced to investors that the traditional Japanese company is increasing its employees’ basic salaries by a whopping 10 percent.
Securing talent instead of a wave of layoffs
Behind the good news there is also a clear, future-oriented strategy. Nintendo not only wants to motivate its talented developers and employees for the challenges of the coming years, but also want to retain them with the company in the long term.
How MyNintendoNews reports, President Furukawa justified the decision to investors as follows: “We are keeping salaries at an appropriate level. We believe it is important to ensure that compensation meets standards. For example, we have increased salaries, particularly by increasing base salaries by 10 percent.”
Like a journalist present on site via the short message service X From the question and answer session, the management also emphasized how important a healthy, fear-free working environment is for the legendary quality of the in-house games.
Investing in the future: The new Technology Development Building
Further news from Kyoto shows that the salary increase is not just a PR stunt, but part of a long-term expansion strategy: Nintendo recently released official details and an initial outlook (via VGC) granted to its new, gigantic development center.
The building, which will be built directly next to the headquarters, is called the “Technology Development Building” and will serve as a new, state-of-the-art R&D hub (research and development) for future hardware and software. And that costs Nintendo a lot: the estimated total construction costs amount to 121 billion yen (approx. 656.8 million euros).
Particularly noteworthy: the project has been noticeably enlarged compared to the initial plans. Instead of the originally planned completion in 2027, the ten-story building is now expected to open its doors in March 2029.
The reason for the delay is the growing hunger for developer resources. President Furukawa made it clear in advance: “The development resources required per software title are increasing. We would like to maintain the level of personnel recruitment of recent years.”
While the competition shrinks, Nintendo continues to build its foundation for the future – in terms of personnel and physical form. With this, the switch manufacturer is bringing at least some of the much-needed positivity back into the gaming industry after the recent bad news.
Links to Amazon, Media Markt, Saturn and some other retailers are usually affiliate links. When you make a purchase, we receive a small commission with which we can finance the free-to-use site. You have no disadvantages.