Social
Capcom is committed to serving as a responsible and trusted member of society. In addition to continuing to promote employee diversity as and training, we utilize our popular game characters to contribute to community revitalization and crime prevention.
(*Edited from Integrated Report 2023)
Relationship with Employees
Providing a Pleasant Workplace
Promoting work-life balance
Creating entertainment culture requires that creators themselves make time for play.
At Capcom, we have established Paid Leave Promotion Days and encourage employees to take extended leave to refresh and look for new sources of inspiration during the year-end/New Year’s holidays as well as during the series of holidays in May. Additionally, we have built a four-story bicycle parking facility near our development studios and encourage our employees to live within a five-kilometer radius to shorten commuting times. This saves time and living costs while giving creators the free time necessary to cultivate their creative powers and imaginations, which is essential for creative work. Moreover, we opened Capcom Juku as an on-site daycare facility in April 2017 to provide a stable workplace environment for creators. As it is located close to work, it provides peace of mind for employees who are married or have children and has been well-received by those who have utilized it.
Supporting employees’ health management
The employee cafeteria was renovated in 2015 when the new development studio was completed. Healthy meals are served for breakfast, lunch, and supper. There is also a massage room staffed by nationally-certified massage therapists at both the Tokyo and Osaka locations to support our employees in managing their health.
Understanding employees’ needs
In order for management to gain an understanding of the needs of employees directly from the source, a total of 20 management briefings and other events for employees were held in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2023, with more than 1,400 employees participating.
Fulfilling employee potential in a cutting-edge environment
The biggest thing when it comes to motivating developers working in a creative field such as games is access to an environment that allows them to bring their ideas to life. Capcom maintains a cutting-edge development environment that includes 3D scanners, a motion capture studio, a dynamic sound mixing stage, and a Foley stage. In this way, we support our creators in fulfilling their vision. In March 2023, we established and launched operations at our new Creative Studio in Osaka City, equipped with one of the largest motion capture studios in Japan.
Capcom Juku
Providing an environment for vibrant childcare combining day care and education
Given the desire to quickly improve the issue of long day care waiting lists accompanying a lack of preschools, Capcom’s top management set its sights on the future, desiring to provide an environment in which employees can raise their children with peace of mind while remaining employed over the long term. We operate Capcom Juku aiming to add individual education and growth to standard day care for children.
Capcom Juku goes beyond caring for infants and preschool children and accepts a wide range of youth, including after-school kindergarten and elementary school students. This helps employees avoid the stress of not being able to find open facilities for their children. Furthermore, by offering educational support in the form of a place for learning English, eurhythmics, art and design, and other subjects, Capcom Juku joins its efforts with employees and fosters the growth of children. Currently, as of March 31, 2023, the school takes care of 24 children a month and accepts as many as 295 temporary pupils a month.
In the future, we will create a learning atmosphere at Capcom Juku that stimulates and broadens children’s curiosity, while also striving for an environment where parents can work with peace of mind so that both they and their families can lead fulfilling lives.
Promotion of Diversity
Initiatives aimed at promoting the improvement of the work environment for women and proactively utilizing foreign nationals
Capcom is currently engaged in initiatives aimed at improving the work environment for women and proactively hiring foreign nationals.
Improving the Work Environment for Women
(1) Paid Leave and Shortened Working Hours
In terms of providing an environment that facilitates women, we introduced systems enabling women to take a leave of absence before and after giving birth, childcare leave and shortened working hours, and promote their use throughout the Company. In fiscal 2022, 42 employees took childcare leave, 30 of whom were men, and 85% of eligible women took childcare leave (fiscal 2021: 41 employees, 20 of whom were men and 100% of eligible women took leave). The ratio of women who returned to work afterwards is also high: 57 (100%) returned in fiscal 2022 (fiscal 2021: 34 (97.8%) returned).
Childcare leave utilization and rates of returning to work
| FY2022 | FY2021 | |
|---|---|---|
| Employees utilizing childcare leave | 42 people (including 30 men) *Utilization among women:85％ |
41 people (including 20 men) *Utilization among women:100％ |
| % Returned to work *Excludes those still on leave |
100％ (57 people) | 97.8％ (34 people) |
Number of Female Managers and Ratio of Female Employees (Capcom Co., Ltd.)
Despite it being said that Japan’s gaming industry is generally dominated by men, women account for roughly 21.3% of Capcom’s workforce, and 29 (11.6%) of Capcom’s managers are women. In recognition of Capcom’s efforts toward improving the workplace environment for women, since 2014 we have earned the "Kurumin" mark, the symbol of a "company supporting childcare," from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare.
(2) General Employer Action Plan
(as of April 1, 2024)
In accordance with the execution of the Act on Advancement of Measures to Support Raising Next-Generation Children and the Act on Promotion of Women’s Participation and Advancement in the Workplace, we have formulated the General Employer Action Plan.
Toward this, by the end of March 2029 the Company aims to achieve
(1) a ratio of 85% or better for male employees taking childcare leave (66.7% at the end of March 2024) and
(2) a ratio of 88%* or better for female to male wage differences among permanent employees (83.8% at the end of March 2024).
(*Ratio calculated by dividing the average salary for permanent female employees by the average salary for permanent
male employees.)
(3) Proactively hiring non-Japanese
Further, regarding the proactive utilization of its foreign national employees, Capcom is working to strengthen its capabilities in expanding content globally by providing Japanese language education programs, career advancement support, and actively promoting foreign nationals to management positions. We currently employ 204 foreign nationals (representing 6.7% of our employees). Going forward, we will create a system for improving motivation and work on promoting diversity, including support for securing housing when foreign nationals move to Japan, and the introduction of special leave for temporarily visiting their home countries.
Number and Ratio of Foreign Employees (Capcom Co., Ltd.)
Improving employee engagement
| Fiscal year (ending in March) |
2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | Target |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Work engagement (Non-consolidated) (t-score) (Note 1) |
51.2 | 51.5 | 52.6 | 51.8 | 54.4 | 55.0 |
| Turnover (Non-consolidated) (Note 2) |
4.9% | 4.3% | 3.9% | 5.4% | 3.5% | – |
| Of which was for personal reasons |
4.3% | 4.0% | 3.6% | 4.7% | 3.2% | about 3.0% |
-
- *1. Engagement represents our t-score in the results of a survey conducted by an external vendor of our employees (excluding short-time workers not covered by social insurance). The specific method used for the survey had an external vendor calculate our t-score as compared to other companies using the results of employee answers of "not at all applicable," "not very applicable," "fairly applicable," and "very applicable" to multiple questions.
- *2. Turnover is the ratio of the number of employees who left during the period (excluding employees who joined and left during the same period) to the total number of employees at the beginning of the period. Only full-time employees are included in the calculation.
The Capcom Group is committed to preventing employee turnover and improving employee engagement by creating a comfortable work environment. Specific measures for this include ongoing improvement and expansion of the working environment and facilities, an internal commendation system to recognize contributions to the company, enhancement of anti-harassment training and establishment of a globally accessible hotline, provision of recreational facilities for employees, and continuous expansion of other benefit programs.
As a result of these efforts, work engagement, a measure of initiative and positive feelings toward work, was higher than in previous years, and employee turnover decreased from the previous year. The main contribution was from the revision of the compensation system and efforts to create a comfortable working environment. To give specific examples from the survey, the percentages of employees responding "fairly applicable" or "very applicable" to the following questions are provided below.
| I come up with original ideas on the job. | 88.7％ |
|---|---|
| When necessary for work, I go above and beyond my role. | 76.0％ |
| I experience joy in my current work. | 70.9％ |
Additionally, to give specific examples from the section on employee engagement, which is an indicator of loyalty to the company, the percentages of employees responding "fairly applicable" or "very applicable" to the following questions are provided below. The results were positive.
| I feel a sense of familiarity and loyalty to my current company. | 77.5％ |
|---|---|
| I am very glad that I am able to work for my current company. | 85.6％ |
| Working for my current company has been a positive experience. | 86.2％ |
Capcom Voices
Marketing Strategy
Hikaru Ikeda
Manager
User Analysis Team,
Data Analysis Section,
Marketing Strategy Department,
Planning and Strategy Divisions
I joined Capcom in 2018 as a mid-career hire and was immediately put in charge of integrating business intelligence (BI) tools in the digital marketing department, before transferring to the digital sales department, where I was responsible for planning and analyzing digital promotions and user response analysis. By introducing BI tools, I was able to contribute to streamlining operations by unifying sales data that had been separate up until that point. At the time, the push for digital strategy within the company had grown stronger, and I was impressed by the progress that had been made in digitalization.
As manager of the User Analysis Team, I supervise a group that is responsible primarily for market research, community analysis, and brand marketing, while overseeing the budget and collaborating and coordinating with other departments. We work to analyze and develop strategies for Capcom’s IPs in countries around the world, including measuring awareness, understanding what kinds of people are buying our games, and what should be done to expand brand communities.
Many on my team are women, including myself, and I feel that Capcom’s push to invest in human resources in recent years has enhanced the work environment for both women and those with children. For example, paid menstrual leave was introduced this year, which allows women to take time off for this unique need so they can prioritize their physical well-being without worrying about how much personal time off they have remaining. Some employees are also balancing work and childcare by making good use of shortened working hours and staggered working hours. I’m very grateful that we have an environment where women can choose to continue pursuing their careers.
Animation
Yoko Kinoshita
Senior Manager
Animation Section,
R&D Department 3,
Consumer Games Development Division 2
Among the departments that work with visuals, my section specializes in animation. We produce all the animation necessary in building titles, such as character movements and event scenes. As the Senior Manager, I strive to ensure that everyone can work with a sense of wellbeing, both physically and mentally, taking care to assign people to positions while considering their personalities and career paths. In addition, I am responsible for hiring and training new staff, and at times I work as an animator on our titles as well.
I’ve loved animation and games since I was a child and longed to work for Capcom, as I felt this was a place rich with creators capable of not only producing appealing characters, but who could also combine enjoyable game feel with truly imaginative visual designs. After joining the company, I was amazed by these exceptional people, just briming with expertise in their fields and giving their all to create games.
Delivering high-quality games to the world is our motto, which requires top-notch results from game creators. I could really feel Capcom’s intent to reward such results and develop globally competitive products when the company restructured its human resources investment strategy in April 2022, which both revised our compensation system and introduced a stock compensation system.
Game development is a very rewarding job in that the fruits of your labor remain in the world as a work of art. Creating a great game involves not only those who work with graphics, but many other people as well. I hope to continue working with my colleagues, who bring imagination and passion to life, to create games that will leave a lasting impression.
Localization Production
Marco Bombasi
Manager
Localization Team
Localization Production Section,
Production Division
I was always a Capcom fan, but after joining my eyes were opened to the challenging reality of global game development. Having been given a role in management, I’ve gone from producing localizations myself, to providing a team with the resources they need to delight fans in every corner of the globe. Now, as Localization Team Manager, it’s my responsibility to guide our team in delivering the best quality, on time and under budget, in a dozen different languages.
Our mission is to ensure that our games feel natural and appropriate in each market, and beyond translating the games, we contribute broadly by advising on cultural or political perspectives, working with overseas partners, and even assisting with international promotion. We dedicate ourselves to maintaining close communications across divisions to ensure that we spot issues in advance, and can nimbly course correct, contributing to overall production efficiency without compromising on the quality that fans expect.
Living in Japan has many great aspects, though it’s not without its difficulties. Even preparing meals can differ widely from back home, and visiting family is now both costly and time consuming. Capcom has been making changes to its work environment for employees from outside of Japan, such as additional paid leave to visit home. Regular meetings where employees can speak directly with upper management also give the sense that the company is listening to our needs.
I can’t help but view games through a professional lens now, though I’m still a fan at heart. Everyone on our team gives their all to recreate that sense of joy and excitement that made us love games in the first place. We hope you look forward to what we have in store!
Foundational Technology Developmen
Yuki Sekino
Foundational Technology Development Section,
R&D Foundational Technology Department,
Technical Research Division
I work in the Foundational Technology Development Section, which implements and supports features that sustain game creation, including the development of Capcom’s in-house game engine, RE ENGINE. In my work, I oversee requests from game creators and implement features or troubleshoot issues that crop up.
I joined Capcom when MT FRAMEWORK, our in-house game engine at the time, was announced. While casual games for mobile phones and other devices were growing in popularity, I was impressed by Capcom’s policy of focusing on high-end games for home video game consoles. After joining, I was awed by how the state-of-the-art expressions and experiences in the games are made through the knowhow and ingenuity of the developers, and sensed that high quality is maintained by constantly searching for improved development methods. Working in such an environment, when I develop new features to support fresh game experiences, and when those features are appreciated by the creators, I feel both a special kind of elation and that I’ve grown.
In my personal life, after my child was born I took a month of childcare leave and have since become more conscious of family time as well. I make use of the bicycle parking and onsite daycare known as Capcom Juku, and am very grateful for such support, which is essential for balancing childcare and work. At Capcom Juku, I had the chance to see a different side of my child, playing freely inside the tidy daycare center. While the number of children there is small, I feel that my child is learning social skills and have great peace of mind in using the service.
