Japanese developers are weathering the games industry’s layoff crisis far better than their Western counterparts, according to Amir Satvat, a former business development director at Tencent Games and the inaugural Game Awards Game Changer. The reason, he says, comes down to three things: smaller teams, less executive pay, and a live-service trend they skipped entirely.
Satvat spoke to Edge Magazine, where his remarks were shared via the publication’s Knowledge newsletter. The core argument is straightforward: Japanese studios stayed small, avoided the live-service model, and kept executive compensation down — and that choice protected their staff.
Satvat’s Three Reasons
Satvat named three main factors behind Japan’s better position:
- Smaller teams — Japanese studios tend to be leaner than Western triple-A outfits.
- No live-service sweep — They avoided the trend of mega-blockbusters with 500-person teams.
- Lower executive pay — Japanese executives still make good money, but not the tens of millions common in North America.
The comparison with North America is stark. Satvat said the current crisis is as bad as the 1983 crash for developers in North America and Western Europe, calling that region “ground zero for the destruction.”
The Pay Gap
Satvat’s numbers back up the point. A 2019 CEDEC report, discussed in English in 2022 by consultant Serkan Koto, put the average salary of Japanese game developers at $37,000. In the US, a 2025 GDC Salary Report surveyed 500 games industry professionals and found an average pay of $142,000.
| Market | Average Pay | Survey/Report |
|---|---|---|
| Japan (2019) | $37,000 | CEDEC, via Serkan Koto |
| US (2025) | $142,000 | Survey of 500 professionals |
The gap is real, and Satvat noted it covers more than just CEOs. A 2019 CEDEC report put the average salary of Japanese game devs at $37,000, while a 2025 GDC Salary Report put the US average at $142,000 from a survey of 500 professionals.
Love For Games catalogued 5,966 base salaries offered to H1-B visa applicants at game companies in 2018, with most in the high five or low-six figures and the lowest still above $40,000.
The Job Numbers
Satvat estimates the industry is still growing in new positions, but barely — enough to cover attrition but far short of its end-of-decade boom. The figures he provided to Edge paint a picture of steady but slow growth:
- 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 150,000 new jobs from 2017-2021
Satvat’s take is blunt. “It is hard for me to foresee a picture where the industry doesn’t eventually contract from its current size,” he said. His optimistic picture is stabilization at a level that is not a “ghastly decrease” from where the industry is now.
What Satvat Left Out
Satvat did not touch on developer compensation at all. The CEDEC report from 2019 put the average salary of Japanese game devs at $37,000, while the 2025 GDC Salary Report put the average at $142,000.
There have been mass layoffs at Japanese gaming firms in recent years, but nowhere near the scale of North America or Western Europe.
The job numbers show the industry grew by 32,000-67,000 new jobs from 2022-2026, but the end-of-decade boom saw 150,000 new jobs from 2017-2021.
The Takeaway
Satvat’s argument is simple but satisfying. Japanese studios stayed small, avoided live-service, kept executive pay down, and kept staff — and it worked.
The pay gap is real. The job growth is real. The comparison between Japan and the West is stark.
Source material: “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,” PC Gamer.
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