Report: Japanese Developer Salaries Average $57,590

Japanese video game developers earn an average salary of ¥5,184,995 (US$57,590) across all disciplines, according to a new Digital Content Association of Japan report collecting various employment-related data. The study, which was published on Hachimaki and translated by Andriasang, also found the average age of Japanese developers to be 33.79 years and the average time in the game industry to be 6.59 years. That average salary is about 27 percent lower than the average American game developer salary of $79,000, according to last year's Game Developer Salary Survey conducted by Gamasutra sister organization Game Developer Research. The Digital Content Association found producers to earn the biggest paychecks, averaging ¥6,925,000 (US$76,915). By contrast, programmers were the highest paid group among U.S. developers (not counting business personnel, who were not included in the DCA's data), with an average salary of $85,024. Unsurprisingly, testers were the lowest-paid workers in both regions, earning ¥2,583,333 (US$28,693) in Japan and $39,571 in the United States. Other Japanese salaries by discipline, in descending order, include ¥5,636,279 (US$62,602) for directors, ¥5,590,625 (US$62,095) for audio staff, ¥5,225,000 (US$58,034) for network engineers, ¥4,641,390 (US$51,552) for programmers, ¥4,238,588 ($47,078) for artists, and ¥4,096,340 (US$45,498) for planners (designers).