Nintendo's celebrated 10% pay raise actually landed back in April 2023
Hacker News spent a day praising Nintendo for handing staff a 10% raise while rival studios do layoffs. Then someone read the investor transcript: the raise took effect in April 2023.
The celebrated "10% pay bump" is Japan-only base pay that Nintendo actually lifted in April 2023; the 2026 news is a separate, smaller adjustment to starting salaries.
President Shuntaro Furukawa cited it to reassure shareholders. But with the yen near 162 to the dollar, one reader calculated the raise is already down 12% in dollar terms, and levels.fyi figures had others calling Nintendo a below-market payer to begin with.
The raise Nintendo announced was already three years old
Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa told the June 26 shareholders' meeting that the company keeps compensation competitive to hold onto talent:
"…we have increased pay, including raising base salaries by 10%." — Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa, per MyNintendoNews
Coverage framed it as a profitable studio sharing the wealth while Western rivals run layoffs. Two facts complicate that picture. The 10% figure applies to Japan base salaries and took effect in April 2023, with a separate, smaller starting-pay adjustment in April 2026. And the yen sits near 162 to the dollar, its weakest since 1986, so a nominal raise buys less each month.
The thread checked the date and the paychecks
The chief scientist and CEO of Sibylline Software gave the celebratory read:
"All the other major game studios are dying and Nintendo is taking care of their employees."
Then a reader who pulled the earnings-call transcript reset the clock:
"If their last raise was 3-4 years ago, this is a simple inflation adjustment, amazing they get good vibe front page Hacker News credit for this." — a commenter who traced the quote back to the 2023 investor call
A look at public pay data undercut the generosity angle:
"Nintendo seems to pay quite poorly their employees in the first place…" — a commenter citing levels.fyi salary data
Measured in the currency that buys imported hardware and rent, the raise has already gone backwards:
"the weakening of the yen to the dollar reduced the salary by -12% over the last year." — a commenter who converted the raise into dollars
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