CG/Game companies in Japan

anathen

Hello everyone! 
I'm a 3D CG student from Belgium currently studying in Tokyo, Japan hoping to become a character modeller.
The job hunting season is coming soon and I was hoping to get some info from foreigners working/who worked in japan!
I got a few recommendation from my teacher/mentors but I think there might be some less known workplaces out there.Most people told me to stay away from the big japanese companies such as namco , square enix , konami ,..
I've heard good things about Polygon pictures and Digital frontier but that's pretty much all I got.
I'm looking into Sony and From pictures right now.
Anyone who wants to ask questions about working in japan or share some experiences is more than welcome to reply!
Have a great day!

Blond

''Prepare yourself to work crazy work hours and overtime''
-A Japanese animator when I asked him how is it over there.

Lamont

Some people like it, some don't. It's up to you to decide because it's very different from Western studios. The practices of some studios is downright atrocious and overall anaemic to the game development community, but it's the work culture here in Japan. You don't know until you're in it.

anathen

That's what I've heard too so I'm trying to look for more "international" companies!

Like I've mentionned above polygon pictures and Digital frontier seem to be more on the the relaxed side of things but I just want to get as many options as possible.

Jonas Ronnegard

Having worked at a couple of studios in Japan, big and small, I would say stay away from the big name japanese studios,
To be honest I never had any crazy overtime in Japanese studios compared to western, but 1 minute could feel like an hour.

anathen

you mean that you didn't have a lot of work to do?

Any companies you would recommend?

Jonas Ronnegard

Well that's probably me getting in when it wasn't so busy, buy yeah I haven't seen much of sleeping at work kind of overtime.

I would say try to go for smaller companies with a fresh perspective, but work environment wise, Japan will always be Japan. Another big problem for me was my own skill development, In Japan it's quite rare to find 3D artists working on their 3D at home or even being passionate about it, and the level of skill can be very low, which hinders your own development as well. Luckily character art is very prioritized in Japan, so that might not be the case for you.

I have a feeling I'm not the type to favor in house work, so your experience might be different.

anathen

I'm not entirely surprised, most people don't seem really passionate about their work here..

I've tried to aim for more specialized companies ( mostly doing cinematics for games) because it looked like the level might be higher but it's pretty hard to find and even harder to enter I guess.

I'll keep looking for newer/smaller workplaces then

Thanks for the detailed answer! may I ask what company you worked for?

Jonas Ronnegard

Well I don't have experience with the places you mentioned, so you never know.
But as for many of us here, Love living in Japan, but not so much working here.

cyberconnect 2
iNiS
Capcom
Ubisoft

Lamont

There are some studios that are run by Western people. Those seem to have better environments. I think Q-Games is one of them.

Lamont

Jonas Ronnegard said:

I would say try to go for smaller companies with a fresh perspective, but work environment wise, Japan will always be Japan. Another big problem for me was my own skill development, In Japan it's quite rare to find 3D artists working on their 3D at home or even being passionate about it, and the level of skill can be very low, which hinders your own development as well. 

Jonas is correct. This was the BIGGEST thing that shocked me about working here. The big difference is that in the West, there is an abundance of people sharing info and getting better to do better at their job and personal skill. Regardless of the type of job. For the most this is across the board. We have our slack-offs though...

Where here in Japan, you have guys who put out AWESOME games years ago. Games that many people would say "It's the reason why I got into this industry..". Then when you see their skills today, it's damn near it was when they first got in. The feeling and the way it was for many people here is "Once you're in, you're in.". You have Sr. people and "art directors" holding on to old workflows because they don't spend time to get better to justify their position and to make a better game. You can say "if it's not broke, don't fix it..", but tools are tools, and we need to do our job accurately, faster and on time.

And the "not sharing of knowledge" baffles me. It only hurts the industry. You want to know, you gotta pay.

I've spoken to Japanese artist who, once they got really good, left the country because the work environment can be that depressing if you thrive to increase your skill.

Talking about working here in Japan is a thread in itself.

As for OT. I book the hell outta here at 1800. I get caught sometimes with questions, or I do OT as needed, but usually 1800 hits, I'm like "peace". Jonas can attest to that

anathen

I've never heard this before but now that you mention it..

That's the main reason why I'm avoiding the big companies and trying to get some infos on the small ones!

Japan is an amazing country but the working culture really does need to change and I do think that some companies realise that but sadly not the majority..

the One job for life dream is being less and less realistic and I guess people will have to start being more competitive and driven.

It's pretty depressing but I'm in Japan and graduating from a japanese university so I should make the best of it! 

If anything that will be a great experience to add to my CV  

As for recommandations, please keep them coming! Small companies , foreign companies , any kind of information is welcome!

Btw I didn't quite get the last thing you said.What's an OT?

And thanks for your detailed answer!

AtticusMars

OT = Overtime

anathen

oh that makes sense  

Joopson

Maybe a question with an obvious answer, but; do you have to be completely fluent in Japanese to get a job at a Japanese studio? And are they more likely to hire born-Japanese?

I have a dream of living there for a few years, and to learn Japanese as well as I can beforehand (I can't imagine it working out well otherwise), but I don't imagine getting completely fluent before living in the country, but would probably need to get a job there soon after moving, but before getting properly fluent.

Do workers there tend to know enough English for those transitioning?

Lamont

It really depends on the company. Some have support staff who speak English, or someone on your team will. But don't count on it. I didn't get a job until I spoke Japanese. Every company that was interested asked if I could communicate in Japanese. I know people who can't speak any Japanese and landed a job, both programmers and artist. But they are at large studios. But they would expect you to learn Japanese.

I've heard of some companies segregating foreign staff to avoid that issue, others mandating that all communication has to be in Japanese. Again, depends on the company.

Meetings and everything is in Japanese. You don't have to be fluent. Just learn in the proper way. I didn't and it screwed me up.

Prime8

Interesting to read, especially that they are not being passionate about it and keep knowledge to themselves.
Any idea why that is the case? Too many people on the market and worried about their positions?
Or do they just see it as a job like in a factory or fast food shop?
 
In a big Japanese company you will probably start work on a very low level as a newcomer, similar to a CAD Operator in other industries. OT often results from a very low base salary, the people can barely live from that and need the additional money.
Not sure how reliable this site (http://careergarden.jp/cgdesigner/) is, but is shows an average salary of 3-5mio JPY, which is not a whole lot, especially if you live in Tokyo or one of the other major cities....on the country side you won't find many studio anyway, I guess. Since you live here already, you for sure know by now how much money to need to earn in the end.

As you know already, probably the best to not look for a "typical Japanese" company, or however you will call it.

I'm not working in the CG/Game industry myself, therefore cannot help you with the actual suggestions.

Lamont

Prime8 said:

Interesting to read, especially that they are not being passionate about it and keep knowledge to themselves.
Any idea why that is the case? Too many people on the market and worried about their positions?
Or do they just see it as a job like in a factory or fast food shop?

It's pretty much once you're a full-time employee, you're in for life (well the life of the company). So once you're THAT secure in your job, all you have to do is show up and do what is required and collect a paycheck. Twice to three times a year you would get a nice fat bonus regardless of your performance. The whole work industry here is like this. But now things are changing: Companies have cut the bi-annual bonus and asked employees to take a cut in pay to keep their job.

It gets a lot deeper than this as it's starts to get into how the culture treats their allegiance to their company along with ageism/sexism... very big issues here.

As for the salary quote, it's a bit off. Tokyo is easily double and more and Osaka is about 40% more in some cases. For new employee fresh out of school, it's about 2.5 million. The average dual income in Japan is about 4 million yen.

Prime8

That "job-for-live" thing surely gets less and less.
First there need to be an awareness that there issues like ageism/sexism before you can solve it, things are changing as you say, but that kind of stuff takes time.
Salary needs are very individual anyway, some people will probably say that they need at least 20mio because they want to live in a nice modern 100sqm apartment, others are fine with 2mio and stay a in moldy room. 

Don't want to drift off and sound negative here.
Surely you can have a lot of fun at work as well, just need to find a good employer.

Kwramm

Interesting. Sounds a lot like in China, but with less opportunism and flexibility in the mix.

anathen

So much to be said about the working life in Japan! positive or negative it's definitely nice to talk about all those issues.Especially for those who dream of living in Japan.

Regarding the salaries it seems pretty competitive from my point of view.Also, the income taxes are muuuch lower than my country so it's also to be taken in account.

One thing that really shocked me recently was how casual people are about the fact that women get paid waaaaay less than men! One guy did a presentation at my school and showed us a graph where the salary difference is just insane (nearly 50%), the guy was pretty old so hopefully it's not the way most people think but that really surprised me.

I'm sure I can find a company that looks into the future instead of holding to old japanese standarts , surely some people must have realised that it isn't working as well as before ganbarimasu!

Btw anybody has infos about Hideo Kojima's new company?