Nintendo employees make USD 1.6m each

By Robert Purchese Published 17 September, 2008

For Nintendo. Free tea and coffee though.

The average Nintendo employee will make more than USD 1.6 million (GBP 800,000) in profit for their company this year.

That puts the 3000 permanent staff as some of the top profit generators around the world, according to the Financial Times - ahead, even, of US investment mega-bank Goldman Sachs.

If Nintendo hits its lofty JPY 410 billion (GBP 2 billion) net profit target, the company even stands to rival Goldman Sachs' pre-tax return on equity. Whatever that means.

Nintendo's ability to make that sort of money with relatively low full-time staff numbers was put down to outsourcing (and silly sales of the Wii and DS hardware, plus all the games sold for the systems). All manufacturing of Wii is handled by outside companies, as are titles such as Mario Party, which turned out a bit rubbish.

However, Mario will be keeping the lion's share of the profits to himself.

The average salary for Nintendo staff last year was USD 90,900 (GBP 45,450), while Goldman Sachs employees averaged a whopping USD 660,000 (GBP 330,000).

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (47) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Genji #1 3 years ago

    Wonderful.

  • sailesh #2 3 years ago

    yeee... i see the problem here. Goldman Sachs need to lower salaries.

  • paulf #3 3 years ago

    isn't goldman sachs an investment bank? and we all know whats happening to them at the moment ...

    on another note surely those hard working employees at nintendo deserve some sort of profit share

  • space_ace #4 3 years ago

    isn't this a little misleading? actually nintendo makes $1.6m per employee

  • Mr_Majestik #5 3 years ago

    Mario Party wii might be rubbish but it still shifted 4 million units.

  • PlugMonkey #6 3 years ago

    And this is why capitalism will ultimately fail.

  • Fernando #7 3 years ago

    good fuck me

  • ManicDrunkMonk #8 3 years ago

    Actually as I understand it Goldman has largely got away with things in the crunch. However it's amazing an electronics firm can make money like that.

    The comparison of salaries tells us more about how overpaid city employees are than it does about Nintendo though.

  • peterfll #9 3 years ago

    Yeah, Goldman Sachs used to make that sort of money. Instead, this year each employee will be asked to put some money in the collection can.

    \we're all doooomed.

  • SEVQA #10 3 years ago

    "Goldman Sachs employees averaged a whopping USD 660,000 (GBP 330,000)"

    What the hell, bunch of wankers! The way banks have behaved this past decade is a disgrace and the centralised banking system and federal reserves are a crime against humanity.

    Why don’t they hit the delete button and wipe off a few zeros from first world debt, which would be exactly the same as they did when they lent money they didn’t have by typing fictitious numbers into a computer, and then gambling with it! YOU FUCKERS!
    Edited by 1 at 17/09/08 @ 10:31

  • Xerx3s #11 3 years ago

    "Why don’t they hit the delete button and wipe off a few zeros from first world debt, which would be exactly the same as they did when they lent money they didn’t have by typing fictitious numbers into a computer, and then gambling with it! YOU FUCKERS! "

    Oh dear. Why would we do that? You make it sound as if we are the bad guys here for getting our money back. Hey guys, loan as much as you can because mr left wing genius here thinks that you don't have to repay your debts!

    It must be really easy bossing other people around when it isn't your money, I wonder what your pov would be when it is your money that you will never see again.

  • SEVQA #12 3 years ago

    @Xerx3s

    Yes I think the majority of debts don’t need to be paid back, if the money was never available to lend in the first place how can it be moral to ask for something back! Oh yeah that’s called thieving, and the general public are starting to wake up to what has been the swindle of the past decade. You have centralised banking controlling the economy by charging more for the print and distribution process before the money even gets to us. It doesn’t take a genius to work out where that will leave a country over time, IN DEBT! And the banks behaving like retarded children, because of a greedy few has screwed us all!

    I understand the people are at fault as I am; for accepting the loans, credit cards, higher purchase and in general the so called benevolent love of our banks, that in hindsight would have been no better than borrowing money from a gangster. It’s incredible to live in a day and age where someone walking outside your house could own up ¾ of it! Go figure!

    Xerx3s if you work for a banking institution and are taking huge wages, bonuses and were involved with the greedy and irresponsible action of the past 10 years for your information and so its clear for you, YOU ARE THE BAD GUYS!

    “It must be really easy bossing other people around when it isn't your money”

    You’re lying moron or one of both, it wasn’t the banks money to gamble with either was it!!!

    banking should return to small collectives within community’s run by the people and the money! NO MORE CENTRLISED BANKING AND NO MORE LIES AND THIEVES LIKE YOU!
    Edited by 1 at 18/09/08 @ 17:01

  • Slamhound #13 3 years ago

    I'm sorry, must've got my RSS feed mixed with Eurobanker's.

  • penhalion #14 3 years ago

    What a fracking stupid headline!

  • ManicDrunkMonk #15 3 years ago

    I think Nintendo need to be regulated in a much more tough manner! Also, we have to stop bailing out the other fat cats like SEGA and Atari.

  • BiscuitBase #16 3 years ago

    But, but the Wii is just a fad!! There's no good games on it!!!!

  • kinky_mong #17 3 years ago

    However, Mario will be keeping the lion's share of the profits to himself.

    "WAAHOOO! I'm-a raking it in again! I'm-a gonna do lines off Peach's back-a tonight!"

  • kangarootoo #18 3 years ago

    @SEVQA

    "Yes I think the majority of debts don’t need to be paid back, if the money was never available to lend in the first place how can it be moral to ask for something back! Oh yeah that’s called thieving, and the general public are starting to wake up to what has been the swindle of the past decade"

    I actually agree with you when it comes to the principal of writing off third world debt, but not for the reasons you seem to think it should. I'm sorry dude, but that quote above is just complete and utter nonsense. Writing off thirdworld debt has nothing whatsoever to do with the concept of trading in "real" money. Nothing. At. All.


    Seriously, your sense of care for those less fortunate than yourself is admirable, but you need to inform yourself a little better about how these things work quick smart, 'cos you neither do yourself nor your cause any justice by spouting misunderstanding and calling anyone who disagrees with you a liar and a thief.

    Start here.
    [link url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Developing_countries%27_de bt
    ]http://en .wikipedia.org/wiki/Developing_...[/link]
    [link url=http://www.globalissues.org/issue/28 /third-world-debt-undermines-development
    ]http://ww w.globalissues.org/issue/28/thi...[/link]
    [link url=http://www.prosperityuk.com/prosperity/articles/cantw d.html
    ]http://ww w.prosperityuk.com/prosperity/a...[/link]


    @Xerx3s

    Cancelling third world debt is not the same as just taking a legitimate loan such as you or I might take out and saying "go on then, you can keep it". Third world debt is not a legitimate loan in any kind of moral sense. If you disagree with suggestions to write it off then that is cool, but again some better understanding of the issue would be of value to you I think. And I hope you haven't dug your heels in as a response to SEVQA crazy ranting.

  • BartonFink #19 3 years ago

    So I wonder will the reinvest some of these bajillions in hmmm let's see ... Games? Go on Nintendo we know you want to. Oh and sort out the mess that is NOE while you are at it too.

  • SEVQA #20 3 years ago

    @kangarootoo

    Where did I mention third world debt? Please dont mis quote me.

    I’m not talking about third world debt I’m talking about first world debt! Which is even more incredible to be talking about removing billions from third world debt when the first world owes trillions?
    Edited by 1 at 17/09/08 @ 12:48

  • SEVQA #21 3 years ago

    "you need to inform yourself a little better about how these things work quick smart,"

    [link url=http://www.opendemocracy.net/globalizat ion-americanpower/article_1463.jsp
    ]http://ww w.opendemocracy.net/globalizati...[/link]

  • team_evil #22 3 years ago

    Hey SEVQA, how does it feel to be so incredibly wrong?

    Seriously though, spend some time in the real world and stop screaming like some kind of lunatic communist arts student.

  • rhinoxious #23 3 years ago

    Stupid statistic, the profit per person figure is meaningless, the staff at the outsourcing companies got paid by nintendo as well, just indirectly.

    Similarly the staff at investment banks make huge profits per person, but the actual work is done by millions of others around the world - working, and investing, in the worldwide finanacial system.

    /gets coat before this turns into socialist rant.

  • SEVQA #24 3 years ago

    But I am a 'lunatic communist arts student'!

    And let’s all see the real world a year from now when the majority of people posting on this site don’t have a house to live in, and families and the communities from which you grew up have all but vanished! Media frenzy I think not!

    Gullible ill informed middle class consumers that have been essentially propping up the entire economy, YES!

  • Oh-Bollox #25 3 years ago

    Your Commie has no regard for human life, not even of his own.

  • ruckus #26 3 years ago

    wtf?

  • GamesConnoisseur #27 3 years ago

    With Nintendo about to surpass or already surpassed Goldman Sachs, and with their average wage vastly different (£45k to £330k). That begs the questions where do all the Nintendo excessive profits go into?!!

    I only pray that as a serious gamer, and long time Nintendo purchaser, THAT they bloody will use the money to invest in proper next gen machine and enough hardcore games as well as the massively popular casual to appease us long time supporters!

  • chronom4n #28 3 years ago

    and nintendo won't drop their prices on the ds and wii! fuck me, IMO they are greedy businessmen. they make so much money off so little hi-tech stuff, its a wonder why they do not drop their prices. It has been one of the primary reasons as to why I do not like nintendo. At least Microsoft and Sony, even though they have taken a hit still reduce their prices and nintendo just will not drop their retail prices. Someone please explain to me why that is.

  • bangz #29 3 years ago

    "IMO they are greedy businessmen."

    That's the way the world works I'm afraid. Ultimately all these companies need to keep their stockholders happy, and to do that they will do whatever is required to maximise the total amount of profit.

    "At least Microsoft and Sony, even though they have taken a hit still reduce their prices and nintendo just will not drop their retail prices. Someone please explain to me why that is."

    Because people keep buying it for that price. They have no direct competition, they're in a different market to Microsoft and Sony.

  • Oh-Bollox #30 3 years ago

    "At least Microsoft and Sony, even though they have taken a hit still reduce their prices and nintendo just will not drop their retail prices. Someone please explain to me why that is."

    Because people keep buying it for that price. They have no direct competition, they're in a different market to Microsoft and Sony.

    I wish people would make their mind up. They're not competing, they are competing, they're not, they are, they're not, they are. It's quite bloody obvious they are competing. How often have MS suggested consumers might like to buy a Wii "as a second console" recently? They haven't, because MS are getting their fucking head kicked in by Nintendo.

    The Wii sells perfectly well at its current price. If sales slacken, Nintendo will drop the price. Just like MS and Sony have already been forced to.

  • bonker #31 3 years ago

    "Why don’t they hit the delete button and wipe off a few zeros from first world debt"

    Cos it would be back to where it is now within 10 years per chance?

  • bonker #32 3 years ago

    "Xerx3s if you work for a banking institution and are taking huge wages, bonuses and were involved with the greedy and irresponsible action of the past 10 years for your information and so its clear for you, YOU ARE THE BAD GUYS! "

    I dare say that such people were actually looking out for themselves, not for others, which everyone has the right to do and 99.9999% of people do in practice. Some people are just better at it than others. Life's a bitch, huh?

    If that's not understandable to you then come back in 10 years (hopefully after you've lived a bit and smelt some coffee etc) then maybe you'll get it ...

  • kangarootoo #33 3 years ago

    @SEVQA

    Ah, sorry. Got my wires crossed a bit there. Your "liars and thieves" comments irked me a bit, and I went off on one :)



    ""IMO they are greedy businessmen."

    That's the way the world works I'm afraid. Ultimately all these companies need to keep their stockholders happy, and to do that they will do whatever is required to maximise the total amount of profit. "

    We are still talking about games here right? Games, not air, not food, not education... games.

    What do you think this is, some kind of homeless charity?

    Games are a luxury item. They aren't a right, they aren't a need and they aren't a vital service like a transport system or a health service. Are people SERIOUSLY suggesting that games companies should make less profit PURELY so that gamers can buy thse luxury items for less... OUT OF THE GOODNESS OF THEIR HEARTS?!? And that if they don't, they are evil greedy businessmen?

    What are you, addicts? Does your metabolism only allow you to extract carbohydrates from video games? Do you have an air prufication machine that only runs on 3D artwork?

    Seriously.

    (I award myself 8/10 for that rant).

  • bonker #34 3 years ago

    "(I award myself 8/10 for that rant). "

    -1 for spelling mistake :)

  • kangarootoo #35 3 years ago

    "I dare say that such people were actually looking out for themselves, not for others, which everyone has the right to do and 99.9999% of people do in practice. Some people are just better at it than others. Life's a bitch, huh?"

    Unfortunately, +1.

    It strikes me as somewhat absurd that people who consider games playing as one of their hobbys can EVER consider themselves to be at the cutting edge of social morality.

    Give a man a games console, and he can sell it to buy enough fish to feed his family for a year. But I don't see your console in the post to Oxfam SEVQA.

  • kangarootoo #36 3 years ago

    @bonker

    Not a spelling mistake, a typo. There is a difference (inside my head there is anyway).

    ... would you believe I nearly put another typo on the sentence above? :)

  • SEVQA #37 3 years ago

    @kangarootoo

    Yes I went off topic a little but given what’s has been in our faces form news papers, tv and so forth the subject of the article played on that! And I am pissed at the present economic climate.

    “We are still talking about games here right? Games, not air, not food, not education... games.”

    Games and the industry are a very important part of our economy and will become even more so in the future, so overall economic situations are very applicable to us who consume these products.

    Yes you are completely correct to say you have the right to do as you please, then that gives me the right to stop you, as much as it does you to behave like an irresponsible child!

    “people SERIOUSLY suggesting that games companies should make less profit PURELY so that gamers can buy thse luxury items for less...”

    I don’t think anyone here said that, but I would prefer more money going to the workers and artist for sure!

    “But I don't see your console in the post to Oxfam SEVQA.”

    My goodness you work for Oxfam? How honourable that is! And for your information I do donate games to charity, you!

  • kangarootoo #38 3 years ago

    @SEVQA

    Heehee. This is fun.

    First off, my comments about games being luxury items was aimed at the chronom4n's suggestion that games companies making profits are evil businessmen, purely because they don't put the needs of the gamer first. The position of games in our larger economic picture is another subject altogether, and not one I was commenting on.

    "I don’t think anyone here said that"

    Well, yes, they pretty much did. I refer to my comment above.

    "but I would prefer more money going to the workers and artist for sure! "

    Me too, and tbh for the most part it does (as much as any other big industry with loads of middlemen). Making games cheaper would fly against that would it not?

    "My goodness you work for Oxfam? How honourable that is!"

    The key thing here is that I never claimed the moral high ground. I didn't start calling people liars and thieves on the basis that they don't give over every moment of their being to a better cause. I am simply a passing observer, and I observe that you don't really hold the moral high ground either. Except you talk as if you do when you hurl insults at others simply because they hold a current account. Do you have a bank account, credit card, mortgage, job? 'Cos if you do, you are part of the exact same system that you lambast others for being part of.

    Edit:
    "But I am a 'lunatic communist arts student"

    Is that true? 'Cos if it is, I can only assume you are still at that fortunate place in your life where you are well supported enough to be angry with people over the things they do to support themselves. I was much the same. Lets see if you still hold the same lofty monochromatic opinions 10 years time.
    Edit ends.

    "And for your information I do donate games to charity,"

    Great, pleased to hear it. It hardly makes you Ghandi, but its a good step. Keep it up.

    Sorry I've been picking on you a bit, but thats kind of what I do to some posters when I see them throwing (what I consider to be) righteous insults about.
    Edited by 1 at 18/09/08 @ 15:21

  • SEVQA #39 3 years ago

    kangarootoo,

    You comments about my righteous insults are probably spot on as my now ex girlfriend said exactly the same thing when she left me! She was damaged goods as far as I’m concerned!

    Anyway where was I, yes coming from a poster whose 6936 post in you clearly must have an opinion on everything, which is not a bad thing! Just means you’re a jack of all trades and really don’t know much about anything specific. I’m just speculating!

    Anyway who are you! Some sort of ‘post’ police, like those moderators in web chat forums who stop you from swearing at 3 am in morning!

    "But I am a 'lunatic communist arts student"

    No of course that’s not true, The lunatic arts graduate would be more appropriate, I graduated from university 8 years ago and have over 10 grand in debt, and the amazing thing is I sleep well at night!
    Edited by 1 at 18/09/08 @ 15:44

  • kangarootoo #40 3 years ago

    "You comments about my righteous insults are probably spot on as my now ex girlfriend said exactly the same thing when she left me! She was damaged goods as far as I’m concerned!"

    Holy shit dude, that last line nearly made me swallow my teeth with laughter :)

    "Just means you’re a jack of all trades and really don’t know much about anything specific. I’m just speculating!"

    I like to think I know quite a bit about a fair number of things, humility obviously not being one of them. As for 6936 posts (didn't know you could even check), I type very quickly.

    "I graduated from university 8 years ago and have over 10 grand in debt, and the amazing thing is I sleep well at night!"

    I shall consider this your grand unveiling then. I bet you feel a whole lot better now you said it out loud.


    I don't know if I am the post police, I hope not. I tend to see my philosophy as this...

    I wander about in the article threads, opening my mind when the occasion arises, trying to steer conversations onto debate rather than flaming... unless I see someone hurling insults at others (instead of, you know, discussing the difference in opinion that they hold) and then I tend to give them quite a hard time until they implode (fire with fire I suppose).

    The one thing that gets my goat more than anything is when people throw insults instead of information. Call it an allergy. Its the enemy of debate, and I quite like proper debate. People take differences of opinion far too personally a lot of the time (gamers in particular it would often seem - fanboys being the result).

  • SEVQA #41 3 years ago

    Only a fool would expose their weakness!!!

    It’s only going to take someone to say Xbox 360 sux and Ps3 rules mr.Kangaroopoo to get you wound up. That was only an example; don’t accuse me of bullying or anything!

    “I shall consider this your grand unveiling then. I bet you feel a whole lot better now you said it out loud.”

    No it’s my over 10 grand unveiling! It wasn’t that loud really.

    “Its the enemy of debate, and I quite like proper debate. People take differences of opinion far too personally a lot of the time (gamers in particular it would often seem - fanboys being the result).”

    What is a fanboy? It sounds like a homophobic insult! Or complement depending which way you look at it!

    Yes people do take the difference of opinion far too personally a lot of the time, which is why these forums are so great and have become a source of comedy of late! I commend Eurogamer allowing threads to turn into rivers of turds, as it’s very amusing indeed. Keep up the good work everyone.
    Edited by 1 at 18/09/08 @ 16:52

  • MuppetThumper #42 3 years ago

    i graduated 8 years ago too but after the games industry took me in then ruthlessly threw me out, ive been resorting to grad schemes to find new employment. no one likes starting again, but the investment advisory / it / accounting stuff ive gone for and been offered would no doubt delight u sevqa. my time for some greed :D

  • SEVQA #43 3 years ago

    @fragglewhacker

    That puts you on the bad list then with Xerx3s. Good luck with your chosen carrier path, as I’ll think you’ll find out soon enough that no more money is available to be greedy with.

    By the way, moving from an entertainment industry during a time of economic hardship was probably not the smartest move! As when times are hard people like to be distracted with light entertainment.

    When you enter your new office on the first day I strongly suggest you don’t acquaint yourself to much with your fellow workers as they probably won’t be around for much longer.

    This is for you and others who think like you:

    “Greed had once used up all of the lands resources,
    In the process of making his money storage,
    Leaving others without homes,
    Food or protection,

    Greed doesn't care about others,
    Greed is a friend of war,
    The rich get richer,
    The poor become lowly,

    Greed doesn't relise the revamp it needs,
    Greed doesn't relise its weakness,
    Greeds death,
    Would and could only be made by Envy.”

    Edited by 1 at 18/09/08 @ 17:52

  • kangarootoo #44 3 years ago

    Man, you are just all smiles and rainbows aren't you ;) I have to say though, I am still finding your piety a hollow pill to swallow (and I hope we are on better terms now, such that we can discuss without you calling me a twat :) )


    The world is all shades of grey. One mans "greed" is another mans "doing what he needs to do to support his loved ones" (or one woman's, of course).

    I say again that bonker put it best. The bankers are operating exactly the same system and policy as pretty much everyone else (including you SEVQA, as you work to pay off your debt). They just happen to be in a business whose influence extends further than anyone elses, and that pays more at the expense of others (every job that pays, pays at the expense of someone somewhere. That is how all monetary systems work).

    All of us are fortunate. None of us represent the poorest or most vulnerable in the world. All of us have FAR more in common with the evil bankers than we have in common with the starving and wartorn around the world, both in terms of wealth AND in our approach to aquiring it.

  • SEVQA #45 3 years ago

    Have you been watching the news and reading the papers because by the sound of it you haven’t at all!

    I’m not debating the differences between black and white here, I’m just reacting to what is a real issue for those with families, mortgages and any sort of debt that could cost homes and damage communities.

    The irony that this thread has developed over the past 72 hours has seen dramatic actions taken by the regulators to bail out collapsing banks, due to irresponsible behaviour! Though the tip of the ice berg so to speak, but also the proof to the general public and consumers (of games also) of the serious and dire situation that has been perpetrated by the banks and relaxed and nonchalant attitude of the FSA and Bank of England as well as other centralised institutions around the world.

    “All of us are fortunate”

    Now this is the very serious point I’ve been trying to get across, especially to you Kangarooto, as the majority of the population is middle class (and I hate using class in examples for any argument!) and in being so means that we are the ones with the debts who work to pay mortgages, feed our families and on occasion buy a few luxuries such as video games for example. In having done so we have been the majority (and still are) supporting an entire economy that has been nothing more than a fantasy played out at our expense.

    A moral high ground I will take on this is that I am a supporter of capitalism and freedom and what were fears are now turning into fact because of a few idiots in mine and your financial institutions. We could be seeing the dismantling of capitalism and in turn lose the rest of the freedoms that the authorities haven’t already taken away from under our noses. The part that I find could be the nail in the coffin would be due to the circumstances the people are eventually going to scream out for regulation of the highest order which could spell disaster as over regulation could have very serious repercussions on our economy as much if not more so than this bursting brown bubble of bullshit!. For a society to lose all its freedoms the public would be in a situation to happily give them away for a cause they felt was right! Oil, war on terror, global warming, third world debt, crumbling economy… personally I not falling for this anymore because from what I’ve found out its us the first world who are in trouble and have been for a long time. Trillions on a war no one supports for reasons of oil that no one wants to then spending billions on super colliders when we want alternate fuels to bankers taking huge bonuses “While HSBC does not say who the payments went to, it admitted last year that one banker was paid £13.6m, another £7.4m and three others more than £4.6m.”

    We will see a year from now how many of us who could afford luxury items now, can still afford to buy games full stop let alone food or heating.

    I’ll stop at that! Now I off to GAME to buy a game with my overdraft!
    Edited by 3 at 19/09/08 @ 12:02

  • kangarootoo #46 3 years ago

    I agree with most of your points to be honest. I have only really taken umbrage with your insult hurling at people who are really doing nothing you yourself aren't doing.

    I will say one thing tough,

    "While HSBC does not say who the payments went to, it admitted last year that one banker was paid £13.6m, another £7.4m and three others more than £4.6m."

    Those figures a pittance compared to the amounts of cash shifted around by banks. Bonuses paid to bankers are a MASSIVE red herring, sold by the press to outraged but uninformed members of the public.

    Bankers have been acting irresponsibly, on that we can agree. And we shall, so pause for contented thought...

    The practice of short selling, so popular of late, in particular is essentially creating profit from failing markets. That practice represents the short term approach that trading banks have been taking.

    The bonuses paid to bankers, whilst they might make the vocal tabloids angry, are in no way responsible for the imbalance of wealth around the world OR the instability of the various banks we are currently seeing. It is actual amount of money being shifted about in high risk markets by the banks that is the issue, not the wage they pay to their employees. The transactions account for billions, the wages account for "mere" millions.
    Edited by 1 at 19/09/08 @ 14:16

  • SEVQA #47 3 years ago

    At last! we can agree on something! I was also just using those bonuses figures and not wages as an example to the massive gap. Let’s see how this pans out.

    Down the pan is what I predict, just a shame I didn’t put any money on it last week! :)

    Peace,