Koichi Miura is an artist who’s been working in the industry since 1999. He previously worked on Ridge Racer V, R: Racing Evolution and Time Crisis 5 for Bandai Namco, as well as Kingdom Hearts HD II.8 and Kingdom Hearts 3 for Square Enix.
Miura is credited as a landscape artist on The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom but, as reported by Automaton, he recently posted on X (formerly Twitter) to say he had quit the company because he felt it was only suitable for people who were abnormally gifted at game devlopment.
“Nintendo is an incredible company, but I wouldn’t lightly recommend it to others,” Miura said (translated by Automaton).
“It was like a haven for geniuses and superhumans, but for an average person like me, it was hell. However, thanks to this, I was able to realise that I wasn’t suited for the role and found the confidence I needed to pursue other goals.
“This was the biggest accomplishment that working for Nintendo brought me. I don’t have a single regret for having aspired to work there , getting the job, and then ultimately quitting it.”
To avoid any misunderstanding, Miura reiterated that he felt Nintendo was “a really good company”, that “the staff were wonderful people”, and that he was “amazed they could produce such great products one after the other”.
In a separate tweet, Miura shared that he earned less than $40,000 at Bandai Namco between 1999 and 2015, that he earned more than $46,000 working at Square Enix, and that when he moved to Nintendo in 2019 he started earning over $70,000.
Miura noted that game industry salaries aren’t often revealed in Japan, but as a freelancer no longer looking for permanent employment, he thought it would be helpful to reveal his salary information to others in the hope that it would improve working conditions and transparency.
Honestly, I’m shocked how low the pay was for the lead artist behind the Zelda landscape. Or is that normal pay for this category?
Salaries in Japan are fairly low. Though that is offset by a comparatively low cost-of-living.
Additionally, depending on when the currency conversions were done, the yen tanked dramatically in the last few years, leading to salaries appearing even lower when converted to dollars.
Uncertain about that.
As a tourist there, prices were equivalent to a small town in America. I live in a big expensive city. Japan, Lunch was about $10 (about $15 where I live).
But also, that artist with all of his decades of experience, working as a prestigious place like Nintendo, was making what we’d pay someone with 3years experience at a no-name company.
Nintendo definitely isn’t compensating people correctly.
¥1000 (usual set lunch in Japan) ≠ $10
As a tourist I found Japan to be the cheapest developed country. I also spent about 4 months total in business trips and I found funny that I’d get ~$120 allowance in Japan but I’d spend ~$30 every day unless I went to a super high class restart
I mean it depends on country. Keep in mind that in the US by comparison you earn a lot but cost of living is high + you need to pay for a lot of things yourself, so the number can be misleading.
I would be more interested in seeing comparisons with other fields of work.
That’s very low. I know a QA game tester who makes that much in California, and $70k is essentially almost poverty income in the Bay Area and LA county.
