Re: Interview w/ Pac-Man creator Toru Iwatani

Okay guys, here's the deal.

It is customary for Japanese buisnesses to give small bonuses twice a year.
Even if you are the creator of something that literally changed the world,
you don' t get a bonus for doing your work. They look at it like "why should
we pay you millions for doing the job you were hired to do in the first
place?".

Now if he were in the USA, he could've had kept all the rights to the game
and earned royalties from Bally/Midway and Namco. But unfortunately,
Japanese custom was just not on his side. but don't feel too bad for Toru,
he got bumped up to management of Namco's R&D division. So it evened out, in
a way. But if you ask me, he still should've gotten WAAAAAAY more than a
$3500 bonus.

And if you guys think Iwatani-san got screwed, check out the story of
Yoshiki Okamato - the guy who came up with Time Pilot and Gyruss! That guy
got shafted several times over...

"Rob Carroll" <robert.carroll30@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1123272063.203556.127580@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> That's not a terrible idea.
>


.