Japanese devs aren't facing the same layoff crisis because their executives are paid an order of magnitude less, 'they didn’t get swept up in the live-service trend,' and their teams are smaller, says industry expert

In an interview first published in Edge Magazine issue 428 and shared online via its Knowledge newsletter, former Tencent Games business development director and inaugural Game Awards Game Changer Amir Satvat offered his take on why the now-yearslong games industry layoff crisis has been so uneven in its geographic distribution. A 2019 CEDEC report—discussed in English in 2022 by consultant Serkan Koto—put the average salary of Japanese game devs at $37,000. More recently (so a less relevant, but still worthwhile comparison with the 2019 CEDC data), the 2025 GDC Salary Report put the average pay at $142,000 from a survey of 500 games industry professionals. Back to the layoff crisis, Satvat estimates that the industry is still growing when it comes to new positions, but at a rate that barely covers attrition and pales in comparison to its growth at the end of the 2010s (the following figures were provided to Edge by Satvat or are based on his data): - 18,000-25,000 new jobs per year - 14,500 total layoffs predicted for 2026 - 58,000 total layoffs from 2022-2026 - The industry grew by 32,000-67,000 new jobs from 2022-2026 - Compared to growth of 150,000 new jobs from 2017-2021 "It is hard for me to foresee a picture where the industry doesn’t eventually contract from its current size," Satvat said." If I’m being optimistic, there is some number that is not a ghastly decrease from where we are now, where things can stabilize out.