Square Enix Raises Salaries for Employees in Japan

Square Enix employees in Japan, both present and future, will see a larger paycheck starting from April 2023. The company announced that the Square Enix salary will increase for full time employees of both Square Enix and Square Enix Holdings (the parent company that represents both Square Enix and its overseas subsidiaries). Overall, the employees should see a bump in their average annual income. [Thanks, Famitsu!]

According to Square Enix’s announcement, all employees will get a wage hike of about 10%. New graduates of a four-year university course who’ve been newly hired or are preparing to join the company upon their graduation will receive the largest increase, at about 27%. For the latter cohort, the Square Enix salary increase will amount to about 288,000 Yen (about $2,162 USD). As to why the company is raising wages, the statement announcing the Square Enix salary bump referred to creating “an environment where employees can continue to focus on creating attractive content even amidst external factors like price rises or fluctuations, and to improve the recruitment of new and excellent human talent.”

Here’s the full quote:

We at Square Enix believe that an environment where each and every employee to can maximize their creativity and have peace of mind is essential for sustainable growth. To that end, we have taken various measures over time. This basic salary increase is one of those measures, and is intended to create an environment where employees can continue to focus on creating attractive content, even amidst external factors like price rises and fluctuations, and to improve the recruitment of new and excellent human talent. 

The Square Enix salary increase can be taken as one of the ways the company coping with recent trends in the global economy. Inflation overseas coupled with a historic level of depreciation in the Japanese Yen has raised effective prices for many employees living in Japan or earning in Japanese Yen. As of March 2023, the Japanese Yen stands at about 133.23 JPY to $1 USD, a major weakening compared to 2021 (when it was about 104 JPY to $1 USD). Other Japan-based game companies like Sega, Koei Tecmo, and Capcom have also raised wages in recent months.