Sony Computer Entertainment is definitely one of the most solid companies in Japan from an occupational point of view, as it also keeps its employees within its loving embrace the longest, as revealed by a research by the statistics firm Gyokai Search.
Gyokay published a chart on the average time (in years) employees spend within each company involved in the production of games, and Sony comes out at the top. Apparently when you find a job at Sony in Japan, you do your best to keep it, while Sony itself seems more than happy to retain its workforce as long as possible.
- Sony: 17.4
- Bandai Namco: 13.3
- Nintendo: 12.4
- Nihon Falcom: 10.1
- Konami: 9.2
- Capcom: 8.8
- Tecmo Koei: 8.6
- Yuke's: 6.9
- Tose Software: 6.6
- Gala: 5.8
- DIGITAL Hearts: 4.6
- Gung Ho Online Entertainment: 4.5
- Marvelous AQL: 4.3
- Eighting: 4.2
- Sega: 4.2
- CyberStep: 4
- Nippon Ichi Software: 4
- Aeria: 3.5
- Nexon: 2.9
- CrowdGate: 2.3
- Square Enix: 2.3
Bandai Namco, Nintendo and Nihon Falcom also seem to offer very stable jobs, while surprisingly Square Enix doesn't exactly have a stellar track record, with average employees staying at the company just a little more than two years.
Gyokai also ranks the 21 companies involved in the gaming industry with the highest net sales (numbers are in hundreds million yen) for 2013.
- Sony (Game Division): 7,070
- Nintendo: 6,354
- Bandai Namco: 2,517
- Square Enix: 1,479
- Konami: 1,157
- Nexon: 1,084
- Sega: 838
- Capcom: 636
- Gung Ho Online Entertainment: 258
- Tecmo Koei: 232
- Marvelous AQL: 175
- DIGITAL Hearts: 68
- Aeria: 61
- Tose Software: 52
- Yuke's: 29
- Nippon Ichi Software: 25
- Gala: 21
- Eighting: 20
- CyberStep: 13
- Nihon Falcom: 12
- CrowdGate: 6.6
Update: initially the article stated that the numbers were in billion yen, but the correct translation is that the figure above are in hundreds million yen. It has since been corrected (thanks to Roy Matsunaga for pointing the mistake out).
The research also reveals that the average Japanese developer is 35 years old, he stays at the same company six years and a half, with an average annual income of 6,470,000 yen, which translates into just north of $63,535.