Nintendo has enjoyed a very successful year, with the Switch and various key titles excelling in 2020 and so far in 2021 - the company was able to maintain strong production of hardware, while titles like Animal Crossing: New Horizons sold huge numbers as increasing numbers of players sought entertainment in difficult circumstances. These and various other factors combined to enable the company to make huge profits.
As noted last year, Nintendo's executive pay is nonetheless relatively modest, especially when compared to the compensation packages enjoyed by Western executives such as Bobby Kotick of Activision Blizzard and EA CEO Andrew Wilson, both of whom routinely earn tens of millions of dollars each year.
In Nintendo's annual financial report we are given the exact most recent earnings of the company's three most senior directors - President Shuntaro Furukawa, Shigeru Miyamoto and Shinya Takahashi. We've converted to approximated US dollars below, followed by the original publication in Japanese yen.
- Shuntaro Furukawa - approx $2.9 million ($710,500 fixed, $2.19 million performance compensation)
- Shigeru Miyamoto - approx $2.3 million ($655,992 fixed, $1.64 million performance compensation)
- Shinya Takahashi - approx $1.75 million ($109,332 fixed, $1.64 million performance compensation)
It's worth noting that the base salaries are unchanged since last year, the increases are solely from performance compensation.
It certainly reflects a rather humble corporate culture, with performance bonus increases staying relatively low considering the company made over $4 billion in profit in the last financial year. Nintendo anticipates a drop in profit for the current financial year, though the projections are still very healthy.
Let us know your thoughts, as always, in the comments below.
[source nintendo.co.jp]
Comments 40
Fair dos. I think they earned it lol!
That is modest compared to most western companies. More in line with what they should be making too, compared to the west where they make far more than is justified.
Age of Empires II voice: “give me your extra resources…”
That's a lot of money, but it's understandable, they worked hard, they contributed a lot into the Switch's success, and this isn't too high of a pay.
Activision's CEO on the other hand...what did he do to deserve $155 million dollars? A few million, maybe, but that $155M a year could be invested into other parts of Activision's business, like better game development, acquisitions, not firing 800 employees to "cut costs".
@Heavyarms55 They try to shove a pretentious narrative of how important games are down our throats to help justify their greed. Makes me vomit.
It feels fair considering how much they made for the company last year. If only the western companies had similar behavior....
By comparison, I believe Bobby Kotick's bonus for FY2020 was $200 million, which was later reduced down to $100 million after some shareholder pushback.
@Gwynbleidd NLife reported on this last year. The average salary was 86K I think, and the average term of service was about 14 years. The average pay doesn't tell us much since it includes all employees from all levels, but that kind of average longevity is impressive and speaks to people usually not wanting to leave. Nintendo's CEO salaries are quite modest considering that some western CEOs are making hundreds of times the average of their employees.
That's still far more money than anyone reasonably has any use for. But the fact that this sum is lower than the compensation for the executives of competing companies means that I can still pretend that, as a Nintendo fan, I am morally superior, so I'm sold.
@westman98 He just recently got a swift 100+ mill bonus for no reason and against shareholder wishes. So he made a profit on that cut.
@Heavyarms55 That's also modest compared to some japanese companies. Executives of Capcom, Sega, Bandai Namco or Square Enix make more than that.
Its worth noting that Bobby Kotick’s recent pay package is 23x more than the three of their salaries combined.
Another reason why I care about Nintendo more than other big vg companies. I'll never forget how their executives took a pay cut rather than laying off their workers during the Wii U days. THAT'S how you're supposed to run a business. Around that same time, Sony let go of about 5000 workers, which was around how many employees Nintendo had in total at the time. Those instances were literally a month apart in 2014.
Don't care much about directors paychecks. They're already wealthy. Give me the numbers of the developers and character designers who work under them. They're the ones who actually need the pay increase.
Someone needs to up the budget for the UI and update guy. He's just trying to keep his keep his life and the Switch's OS stable.
@HotGoomba Bobby got that money for firing 800 staff.
That's the con.
A lot of moral superiority in this thread. I wonder how much their developers, who are doing almost all the work, make.
@Calllack
I don't think anyone is denying that the suits at Nintendo are anything but money-grubbing profit-driven capitalists, but I think most are also happy to know that they aren't diving into a Scrooge McDuck-sized pool of money each year, unlike some certain western CEOs.
@GrailUK,
Bit if a severe reaction to all this, but up to you of course.
Lots of moral superiority in this thread - I want to know how much the guy that cleans the toilets and the car park attendant (night shift) make.
@johnvboy yah, the irony being he is helping perpetuate the narrative by buying games 😁
@Richnj The UI and update guy needs a pay CUT, because he hasn't implemented FOLDERS.
@Lordplops,
Yes the thought people make lots of money, just life I guess.
@johnvboy I have my moments. Especially when it's so hot lol.
@GrailUK,
You are right, it's as hot as hell, but no issues with your post.
Does this mean Miyamoto and Furukawa are going to space in a rocket?
Or has the Switch not sold enough units for that, yet?
@Friendly Monk! I need a monk!
No wonder we aren't getting that many new games this year. Most of the games we've seen so far for 2021 have been remakes, remasters, and re-releases. Though I guess you can blame Nintendo themselves for setting themselves up for a reduction in profits.
@The_New_Butler Shame. I’d like to send Miyamoto to space. If he came up with Pikmin while tinkering around in his garden, imagine was what he’d be inspired to create by staring into the infinite expanse of the cosmos.
Star Fox Zero 2, probably.
…Maybe it’s better he stays on Earth.
What about all the actual developers. This sounds like more leaders get real money while the people that actually did all the grunt work get nothing.
Only the corporate world would call it compensation.
@Gwynbleidd Nintendo have never treated their staff badly. Of course infamously seeing Iwata shed millions from his own pay packet to keep everyone staffed and paid during the Wii U failure.
@westman98 Indeed. My original comment came out much more sarcastic than I intended. I just wanted to express my frustration that the article and many commenters were (as I saw it) excusing the enormous executive pay on the basis that it wasn't as much as others'
I had no idea Miyamoto made that much. I can’t imagine him rich. Like what will he do with the money? Maybe a nice house. But other than that I don’t know what kond of luxurys he would want.
Imagine Miyamoto on a yacht. I don’t think so 😅
Nintendo pays all their employees well, even lower-level employees with good benefits, this is how you should run a company.
@Ladasta There aren't many, but there are some rich folks who still lead humble(ish) lives. Keanu Reeves comes to mind.
I'm sure in this case, the money is invested for the future, rather than spent on over the top luxuries.
This explains why the price of the switch oled is so high.
@BloodNinja Considering the fact that Nintendo delays their own games just to ensure their developers health, employees giving the company pretty good ratings on how the company treats them, and the fact that the late CEO of the company took a pay cut just to not fire any employees, I think it’s safe to say that Nintendo’s developers and employees are just as happy as the people on top.
@Donkey-Kong-Fan Thanks, I never mentioned anything like that, perhaps you are replying to someone else?
@BloodNinja You said: A lot of moral superiority in this thread. I wonder how much their developers, who are doing almost all the work, make.
I responded to that comment.
@Donkey-Kong-Fan Oh, ok. You responded with a bunch of unrelated stuff, so I figured it was for someone else.
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