Elden Ring and Armored Core 6 developer FromSoftware has announced it’s raising employees’ base salaries by around 12% starting from April next year, and there’s good news for graduate workers as well.
In a press release on its official Japanese website (for which we’re using machine translation, since the release is, as you’d probably expect, in Japanese), FromSoftware says the decision is driven by wanting to create “a stable income and rewarding work environment” for employees.
The studio says its 12% employee raise, which kicks in from April 2025, is part of creating “an environment where each employee can focus on content development”, presumably rather than worrying about whether they’ll be able to pay rent.
FromSoftware also says it’s raising graduate salaries from 260,000 yen per month to 300,000, so if you’re a Japanese graduate just starting out with the Dark Souls developer, it’s a good time to kickstart your career, it seems.
Since FromSoftware doesn’t have offices outside Japan, this is, of course, just for those who work in Japan. Still, it’s a good sign that FromSoftware is doing alright, which is more than can be said for a lot of studios right now, unfortunately.
Hidetaka Miyazaki’s studio is far from the only Japanese company to raise salaries for its employees in recent months.
Others include Konami, which raised its employees’ base salaries for the third year in a row back in April, as well as Resident Evil studio Capcom and Persona developer Atlus, among others.
FromSoftware’s announcement comes at a time of increasing uncertainty for the gaming industry, with thousands upon thousands of studio employees losing their jobs this year.
By and large, the Japanese contingent of the industry appears to be a little more stable than studios in the West are, although companies like Square Enix have found themselves in a little trouble this year as well.
As for what lies in FromSoftware’s future, we’re not sure yet. The company is likely still basking in the hugely successful launch of Elden Ring‘s Shadow of the Erdtree DLC, but I’m betting work on their next project is already well underway. Stay tuned for more.
