Japanese game studios are weathering the industry crisis better than Western ones thanks to small teams, the absence of giant live-service games, and more moderate executive salaries, according to expert Amir Satvat.
Satvat maintains the ASGC Games Industry Layoffs Tracker and stated in an interview:
"Japan is a completely different story," though he admitted that the situation there is far from ideal. According to him, Japanese companies are more likely to cut foreign contractors to retain their core staff domestically.
Everyone points to Nintendo as an example, but you can look at Konami or Capcom – in all these companies, employee retention is over 97%. As far as I understand, Japanese teams are usually much smaller and more compact. They haven't succumbed to the trend of live-service games or giant blockbusters with teams of 500 people. And then there are executive salaries. They still make a lot of money, but it's two or three million dollars, not $30 million.
According to his tracker, the industry lost 57,628 jobs between 2022 and 2026. In 2026, 96% of layoffs occurred in North America and Europe. Satvat believes that small teams, moderate executive salaries, and specialization can make the industry more resilient.