As if my illustrious career as a journalist wasn't evidence enough that playing an unhealthy amount of video games can indeed pay off in incredibly rare instances, there's a CEO of a major Japanese games studio that pays his employees extra for being extraordinarily well-informed on his company's games.
Level-5 is the Fukuoka-based developer and publisher behind beloved series like Professor Layton, Ni no Kuni, and Yo-kai Watch, but if you're an employee there and you want to get a nice fat raise so that you can take out a loan on a PS6 one day, you'd do well to study up on the studio's other, more obscure releases, like the 2006 PSP game Jeanne d'Arc or my personal favorite Level-5-published game, Attack of the Friday Monsters!
Talking to Famitsu (translation via Automaton), Level-5 president and CEO Akihiro Hino said the company conducts "knowledge quizzes" designed to test employees on their familiarity with Level-5 products. High scores are then rewarded with pay raises that aren't dependent on tenure, with the punishment for low scores being forced playthroughs of Wonder Flick on Wii U (I kid).
According to Hino, the goal isn't simply to reward brand loyalty, it's to increase efficiency. "If their knowledge is insufficient, we'll need other team members to support them or review their work," he said. "On the other hand, if they do have that knowledge, they can take the lead and even streamline the workflow. In other words, I consider a person's knowledge of and passion for the company's games to be a genuine skill."
Famitsu was reportedly told off the record the exact amount of the pay raise Level-5 employees get for acing the quiz, and the interviewers were "shocked," in Automaton's words. Hino said in response that the increase in efficiency you get from having knowledgeable employees covers the cost of the pay raises.
My own mom is one of my most dependable readers, so I know there's a good chance she'll see this, and if that's the case, I'd just like a moment of vindication for the hundreds of dollars I (she) spent on video game strategy guides and history books growing up. Actually, in hindsight and with the context of this article in mind, I should probably sooner say 'thanks mom' and take her out to a steak dinner.
Even if Ni no Kuni didn't make our list of the best JRPGs, it'll always hold a special place in my heart.
