In an industry beset by layoffs and crunch, Japanese publisher Atlus is raising salaries and working to reduce fixed overtime

Yesterday, we learned of layoffs at Warner Bros. Montréal, the latest in a unbearably long list of bad games industry news in recent months. Today, for a change, we have a positive bit of industry news, this time coming from Japanese publisher Atlus (who you'll probably know for Persona, Shin Megami Tensei, and Metaphor ReFantazio).

Via Automaton, we've taken a look at Atlus' latest press release, which focuses on efforts to "foster the creativity and improve the productivity of each and every employee." The Persona developer has been enjoying a fair amount of success in recent times, and following giants like Sega and Capcom, a bit more of that money will begin to trickle down to the employees doing the hard work.

It's no secret things are a bit dire worldwide right now, and Japan has been struggling a lot with the cost of living and basic resources in recent years, which partially explains the bump to salaries the successful enough video game companies are trying to push. The shocker is how Asian developers are doubling down on staff retention and paying attention to the value of having experienced workers accelerate new game projects, which has resulted in certain franchises putting out new entries at a rapid pace, especially when compared to the general slowness of Western triple-A game development.

The "base salary increase" will raise "the starting salary for new graduates from 300,000 yen to 330,000 yen," with the average annual income which full-time and contract employees get increasing by 15% percent as well. Moreover, "fixed overtime hours" are going down from 30 to 20, which is quite a substantial reduction.

"We will continue to support our employees in maintaining stable lives and create an environment where they can work with greater peace of mind," Atlus' statement added. Changes will be applied starting next month, April 2026.