Persona developer Atlus is raising average employee pay by 15%

Atlus, the developer of Persona and Shin Megami Tensei, is raising its average annual salary by 15%.

In stark contrast to the seemingly endless layoffs hitting the industry, Atlus will raise new graduates’ starting salaries by 300,000 yen (about $1,977) and all employees’ annual salaries by 15%. Atlus “promotes global expansion” to attract and retain talent, according to a translated press release (thanks, Game Developer).

In fiscal year 2021, Atlus began offering performance bonuses funded by global profits due to strong overseas performance. The press release says:

“The starting salary of new graduates will increase from 257,000 yen to 300,000 yen, and the average annual income of current employees will increase by 15%. In addition, due to the strong overseas business development, we have been providing performance bonuses based on profits around the world since fiscal 2021.”

After Embracer Group and Epic Games downsized and announced redundancies and studio closures over the past year, it’s good news. This move seems to emphasize employee retention at Atlus, so hopefully more companies will follow suit in the future.

Atlus will release Persona 5 Tactica, a tactical RPG based on the massively successful Persona 5 Royal, on November 16, 2023. We recently gave it a 9/10, calling it a “massively enjoyable sendoff for the [Phantom Thieves]”.