Two sides of the same coin. While in the West there are layoffs, closures, and cancellations, in Japan the focus is on maintaining the workforce, and the good results obtained are reinvested to ensure quality projects without excessive expectations. In the Asian country, the challenge is not to achieve financial goals at the expense of unemployment, but to prevent developers from leaving for better offers at other studios.
Kadokawa Aims to Retain FromSoftware Employees with an Attractive Proposal
The director of the consultancy firm Kantan Games Inc., Dr. Serkan Toto, revealed the plan that Kadokawa Corporation will implement to retain FromSoftware developers and prevent them from leaving the studio. According to the information, the Japanese company will offer stock options for employees, not just executives, starting next month, so developers can invest in the studio and share in the profits. It is mentioned that 465 investment options will be made available.
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— Dr. Serkan Toto / Kantan Games Inc. (@serkantoto) March 26, 2024
The (obvious) goal is to boost motivation and morale among From staff.
The not so obvious goal is to simply retain talent at From against the backdrop of a local game industry in which competitors such as Capcom, Bandai Namco or even Nintendo increased salaries recently.
According to the analyst, this is due to Kadokawa Corporation's need to protect its staff, as it was announced in recent months that companies like Nintendo, Capcom, and BANDAI NAMCO have increased their employees' salaries, so this option would be offered to motivate them to stay at FromSoftware and not apply for vacancies at the mentioned companies.
On the other hand, Dr. Serkan Toto points out that another goal of Kadokawa is for FromSoftware not to be weakened in any way because its long-term plan for the market is to achieve $2300 million in sales and minimum 10% operating profit margins by March 2028, and they know that it will only be possible by releasing titles of proven quality, which requires having the best workers with attractive job offers.
The next stop for FromSoftware will be the highly anticipated expansion of ELDEN RING called Shadow of the Erdtree which will debut on June 20.
Stay informed, at LEVEL UP.
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