Nintendo has just published its annual report for the FY ended 31st March 2023, and it shows just how much money some of the company's biggest names take home each year.
The listing accounts for five of Nintendo's top earners, with president Shuntaro Furukawa at the top (as you might expect) followed by Shigeru Miyamoto, Shinya Takahashi, Satoru Shibata and Ko Shiota. Following the success of the Switch and developments in Nintendo's movie and theme park reach, you might expect these directors to be taking home unfathomably huge salaries, but the reality is quite different.
The report lists the five salaries in yen, so here's how it all adds up in USD (converted using Forbes Advisor):
- Shuntaro Furukawa: $2.51m
- Shigeru Miyamoto: $2.02m
- Shinya Takahashi: $1.61m
- Satoru Shibata: $1.19m
- Ko Shiota: $910,000
To be clear, we wouldn't say no to a $2.5m annual salary — heck, it's still a lot of money — but these numbers are a drop in the ocean compared to what some of the other industry execs are reportedly earning.
Remember, a report published in 2022 by market intelligence firm Games One found that the highest-earning gaming CEOs were getting almost 100x the amount received by the Nintendo directors in compensation in 2020, with Activision Blizzard's Bobby Koltick near the top of the list with $154m and EA's Andrew Wilson with $34.7m.
This was lower for Japanese companies (Square Enix's Yosuke Matsuda received just over $4m in 2020 while SEGA's then-CEO Hajime Satomi got around $3m), but it certainly highlights that Nintendo has a different way of doing things.
The annual report also provides an updated list of the members of the board of directors, notes Nintendo's continued investment in companies such as Square Enix and Konami, and expresses how the company is still researching cloud computing. You can check out all 95 pages of it here.
What do you make of this report? Let us know in the comments.
[source nintendo.co.jp]
Comments 43
Modest!!! are you having a laugh.
Sickening when companies pay big wages to them and then give stock options as well. I’m looking at you Apple.
Yes, this is how it should be. Japanese people are very humble modest people. The would would a lot better financially if it wasn't for a small minority of people being overpaid.
They probably get the bulk of their earnings through bonuses and dividends which may not be reported in this report
This actually tracks well. Remember Satoru Iwata actually took a cut to his own pay during the horrid Wii U era to ensure there wouldn't be any extra layoffs to the employees.
Nintendo isn't perfect, but they do seem like the best gaming conglomerate to work for.
Do these salaries include bonus? Do Nintendo employees earn bonus at all? If they do, some pays would increase quite a bit, like Aonuma's (Zelda producer), Hideki Ono's (Mario Kart producer) and even Miyamoto's (Super Mario movie producer)
Well I'm glad they're money smart. Wouldn't want to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on an underwater trip to...nevermind.
Should be the standard worldwide lol. Nobody needs more money than this to live a very comfortable life. Imagine how many problems would get solved if billion dollar salaries split across entire companies and their employees instead of a single person at the top. That person can still make a few million, I get that, but no one needs or deserves more than that, ever, no matter what they do ...in my opinion.
When there is a salary floor, there should also be a salary ceiling.
These guys need to be paid about 100x~200x times more in order to keep Nintendo competitive by stimulating internal market growth thereby facilitating well-optimised risk-assessed consumer engagement in line with current performance-based results-orientated task-management metrics.
And because we need to send Miyamoto into space in order to make Star Fox Infinity.
@dew12333 Compare this to the heads of Activision, Microsoft, or Sony, who get paid like 20x higher, Nintendo's upper management is getting paid small potatoes.
@Paulo @ozwally I believe these figures do include bonuses. At least, that’s what I assume the ‘performance based compensation’ section in the chart refers to.
And you’re absolutely right that these bonuses seem to make up the bulk of their earnings!
@Maxz most likely beneficial for tax benefits. That’s why I’m always very sceptical when the likes of Bobby Kotick etc take salary cuts, their salary is probably a few hundred k with bulk of earnings from bonuses/dividends etc which attract much more efficient tax rates for income
@Maxz nice EA-speak there! 😀
Any adult in the workforce (mainly western culture, apparently) knows how sickening it is to work for any boss that is pushy for overachieving so they can keep all the extra profit for themselves while you get to keep your average pay with little incentive more than a thumbs up and maybe a "thank you" in the company's message board.
In that sense it's refreshing to hear Nintendo execs have (very nice but) humble salaries. All the money they make is probably well spent, instead of sport cars and trips to Ibiza or the Maldives
@JR150 You took the words out of my mouth, Nintendo is far from perfect, but in some respects, absolutely including this, they're much, much better than other gaming companies!
@dew12333
"(...)Modest For The Industry" It's right there in the title. And if you read the article too, you can even see the comparisons. I highly recommend it!
Bobby Kotick would be homeless in a week on such salaries.
Seems relatively fair considering the grind and effort. I mean, you have a person on that list who not only invested a majority of their life into the organization, but also invented many iconic characters that are represented in franchises earning billions of $USD.
On the other hand, I am more curious about the average dev salary compared to their cost of living in Japan. Japanese companies, specifically in game development are notorious for paying their employees lower wages and required to work more hours compared to western countries. I’d would be nice to see the whole picture (coverage, mat leave, vacation, avg pay, bonus structure, stock options, etc.)
Their shares are still not doing well but at least they are keeping a lid on salaries - comparatively speaking that is.
Getting paid in Pikmin t-shirts, modest indeed.
Don't Miyamoto owns Nintendo stocks?
@Axecon Comparing bad with worse isn't a great analogy in my book.
@Fiskern I read it thanks. And I am aware of the way it references, I'm not sure if you are aware but there other words that could be used. One's that don't refer 2.2m is in anyway modest.
Japanese per capita income is also lower relative to the West at around $35,000 to $40,000.
Seems fine to me. Decreasing the wage gap is good so everyone gets a fair salary but people also need pay jumps to incentivize working harder and tackling bigger challenges. Kind of a balancing act. I’m no expert in this field but I believe balance is key in this regard.
I don’t know about y’all but even that $910k is still an unfathomable amount of money lol. I don’t even know what I’d do with $910k…
Wtf does someone like Kotick even do with over $150m a year??!! Totally disgusting! Strip at least $140m off that and distribute it around the company as higher wages for the workers!
@smeggysmeg Say what you will about Steve Jobs when he still ran the company, but he only took $1 in Salary. Mind you he did have the most shares of the company, 5.5 million shares to be exact.
@Paulo I believe it does. Bonuses are probably the figure referred to as ‘Performance based compensation’.
In 2021 Kotick made $850,000. Stock compensation is not salary. What has Nintendo execs made in stock dividends and distributions? Most of the money he is making is from the acquisition by MS. He has deferred salary for stock options for the big payoff. He has worked over 10 years to make this singular deal happen. His entire career at Activision is solely to make the company more attractive for a potential buyer. That's it.
We all know that Japanese businesses are more social than American ones. America is missing a lot of fairness within their companies, and these numbers prove that that’s also the case in the gaming industry.
Speaking from personal experience big Japanese companies may pay a lot less in mid to high positions than their international counterparts but they are usually a lot more stable with better insurance benefits. You don't have to worry about getting laid off and they're usually a nicer place to grow into staying long term if you want. It's all trade offs in what's a good place for you though. And I am sure different companies are different. Bet Konami employees are treated differently in some ways than Nintendo for example. Just my experience
It's a high and fair compensation. Assuming the same approach is applied to all employees, it seems like a great company for all the uncles to work for. Also explains why they handle ups-and-downs so well.
"The Industry" is wrong
@dew12333 it is compared to the 150 odd ,million the activision guy gets. Which I believe is what they were trying to say
What I like about Nintendo as well is that, post Yamaguchi, most of the top brass have backgrounds in game and hardware development. Helps keep the company on point.
It’s a crap ton of money still. But yea it’s like pauper compared to some of our ceo’s hauls for sure!
modest like a fox!
@dew12333 It doesn't say that it is modest. It says that it is modest compared to similar positions. There is a difference.
dew12333 wrote:
Most Western CEOs are starting their own private space programs.
So yeah. $2m is modest.
@MontyCircus You have a similar opinion to others.
@Fiskern I can see the difference, but the storey is basically saying we should be patting these people on the back for their generosity, which therefore gives some inclination that this is a modest sum. I'm sure all the world's CEO's love stories that normalise there exorbitant wages, and maybe words like 'fair in comparison', or something that highlights the bad more while highlighting people/companies that pay far less. Then people could draw their own conclusions, but then I guess that doesn't fit with sensationalised journalism.
It’s a fair wage I feel. Miyamoto-dono for instance has helped create sources of revenue within the billions (over the entirety of his tenure) that will last long after he leaves Nintendo. That kind of work is worth high value but isn’t so high that a stockholder feels like funds are being misallocated. Unlike western CEOs who often contribute far less. People should be able to be worth high value if they contribute high value work. They should be able to share in the success they helped create. That is the difference between people that just do a job and others that spend time and money and effort continuing their education (certs, higher education, conferences) as well as networking and bringing new ideas to their companies.
Removed - inappropriate
Nintendo makes some wonky decisions but they sure as sugar wouldn't have been around this long if they weren't great at managing money. And that is absolutely hugely modest compensation for people running the business and creative side of a company with brand recognition that rivals Disney. Get some perspective people. Businesses pulling a fraction of the sales of Nintendo have C levels with higher salaries than that.
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