Sony and Bandai Namco have abolished employee bonuses in Japan in order to raise base salaries.

As reported in Nikkei Business and spotted by Automaton, the winter bonus – one of two yearly bonuses typically shared with Japanese workers – has reportedly been folded into monthly compensation, effectively increasing salaries.

According to Automaton, the starting salary for certain entry-level positions at Sony Group has increased by around $330 per month. For Bandai Namco, starting salaries increased from around $1500 a month to $1980 in 2022, and have recently increased again by another $100 per month.

It’s thought the salary boost comes as companies compete for talent.

Bandai Namco reportedly shed over a hundred staff between April 2024 and February 2025. The news follows reports that last October, the Tokyo-based company took a “traditionally Japanese approach to reducing staff by sending workers to rooms where they are given nothing to do, putting pressure on them to leave voluntarily”.

At the time, it was alleged 200 of its then 1300 employees have been moved into these “expulsion rooms” – or “oidashi beya” – and almost half of these have since voluntarily resigned.