Forbes recently published a list of Japan’s richest men and women and, over at NeoGaf, Yottamol managed to spot the games industry folks in said list. You’ll be surprised by who tops the list.
Coming in at number 39 in the list is Yasuhiro Fukushima, one of the founders of Enix, and currently the largest shareholder in Square Enix. His net worth is estimated at $660 million.
At 25 is Hajime Satomi, the founder of Sega Sammy, a pachinko machine and gaming software firm. Pachinko is obviously a massive industry in Japan. He’s also expanding into social games. Net worth? $1.15 billion.
Then, of course, is Hiroshi Yamauchi at 11. Yamauchi is, of course, the largest shareholder in Nintendo, the man who ran the company for 55 years before handing over to Iwata. Surprisingly, he is not at the top of the list. His net worth is now $2.7 billion.
Incredibly the richest man in the Japanese games industry is also the youngest man in the Forbes top 40. That man is Yoshikazu Tanaka, the founder of social gaming company Gree, a mobile company that has become Japan’s biggest online social network. He is 37 years old and his net worth is $3.5 billion.
It’s a sign of the times people. A sign of the times.
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