Bandai Namco, the publisher of the action RPG Elden Ring, has been taken aback by the success of FromSoftware's latest work. Although there was a lot of hype prior to its announcement trailer, and the studio's previous reputation with its Dark Souls series, the PS4 console exclusive Bloodborne, and its past works that include Armored Core, Otogi, and Sekiro, Edlen Ring's critical reception and sales have been higher than Bandai Namco has anticipated. Across the PS5 and PS4 platforms, it's sold over 270,000 copies. Digital sales across the Xbox platforms were as high as 85%, with cumulative sales reaching 1.4 million copies, making this the fastest selling Souls-like game from FromSoftware.

Bandai Namco is very pleased with the performance, and in a press release that was published in late February, which has since been translated, company president Yasuo Miyagawa (also the CEO of Sunrise Inc., producers of popular anime series such as the Mobile Suit Gundam franchise, Cowboy Bebop, and Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion) spoke about issuing ALL employee's monthly average salaries by 50,000 yen, which would be close to $500(US) extra dollars. This pay would boost said average monthly salary from 232,000 to 290,000, or a little over $2,500USD. 

In this statement, Miyagawa also wishes to make the work environment as flexible and employee-friendly as possible by implementing ABW (Activity Based Working), letting staffers pick their times and places to work, depending on their positions. These changes will be implemented starting in April.

"Through this revision, we will realize the new medium-term vision with the basic policy of improving the workability of employees, exceeding the expectations of fans all over the world with high-quality content and various entertainment that can be played for a long time and deeply."

To think, paying your employees more for the efforts they put into company projects will lead to better projects being developed. What a novel concept. In an environment where stories are heard about poor treatment, harassment, unsatisfactory working conditions, and establishing frat boy cultures, this kind of story is encouraging to read.

SOURCES: Bandai Namco, GameRant (sales figures)