Nintendo's CEO Made $2 Million Last Year. EA's CEO Made $30 Million.

Nintendo published its 2026 annual report on Tuesday, and the executive compensation section tells a story that has nothing to do with game sales. President Shuntaro Furukawa earned $2 million last fiscal year. EA CEO Andrew Wilson took home $30.5 million. That is about five times what Nintendo paid its four highest-ranking executives combined.

After Furukawa’s $2 million, the next highest earner was Shigeru Miyamoto, the legendary creator of Mario, Zelda, and Donkey Kong. He made $1.54 million. Senior executives Shinya Takahashi and Satoshi Shibata earned $1.16 million and $1.03 million, respectively. Both also drew regular employee salaries, bringing their totals to $1.48 million and $1.22 million.

The gap between Kyoto and California is wide. Wilson’s $30.5 million total compensation in FY2025 dwarfed the combined $6.24 million Nintendo paid its four top executives. At Activision Blizzard, former CEO Bobby Kotick’s exit package alone was worth more than all of them put together.

Reddit users noticed. Most expressed surprise that Nintendo’s executives earn so little given the company’s performance. Nintendo has been on a historic run: the Switch sold over 140 million units, and the Switch 2 launch earlier this year added billions more in revenue. Yet its top brass earns less than some Silicon Valley middle managers.

Miyamoto’s salary drew particular attention. As the creative force behind Nintendo’s biggest franchises and arguably the most influential game designer alive, his $1.54 million paycheck struck many as absurdly low. It reflects a Japanese corporate culture that compensates executives far more modestly than the American model.

Some Reddit commenters cautioned against direct comparisons. Japanese executive compensation norms are fundamentally different. The gap between top earners and regular workers is narrower in Japan, and executive pay is less tied to stock-based incentives. But that nuance did little to shift the broader reaction: Nintendo’s executives are genuinely underpaid by global standards, and the public respects them for it.

It’s a rare thing in corporate news, a story about executive compensation that leaves the company looking good rather than greedy. Nintendo’s humility on pay might be cultural, but it’s also a form of brand management. In an industry where CEO excess is routine, modest pay stands out. And in Kyoto, that seems to be the point.