Former Sony Interactive Entertainment executive Shuhei Yoshida stated in a December 4, 2025 Automaton Media interview following WePlay Expo 2025 that Japanese game developers are unlikely to replicate the production efficiency of Chinese studios like miHoYo due to fundamental differences in work culture and legal environments. During discussions with miHoYo representatives, Yoshida acknowledged the difficulties Japanese developers would face emulating their model, especially considering the legal hurdles involved, pondering whether there are certain elements of the development process that Japanese studios might struggle to replicate. He attributed part of China’s gaming success to an environment that allows for large teams working extensive hours, stating this seems to be a major factor in their achievements. The comments reference China’s notorious 996 work culture (9am to 9pm, six days per week) that has enabled companies like miHoYo, ByteDance, and Tencent to achieve rapid development cycles and massive content output but sparked employee protests and government crackdowns for exploitation.
The 996 Reality
The 996 work schedule refers to working 9am to 9pm, six days per week, totaling 72 hours weekly compared to standard 40-hour weeks in most developed countries. This practice became widespread in China’s tech industry during the 2010s boom, with companies like Alibaba, Tencent, and game studios explicitly or implicitly expecting employees to maintain these brutal hours. The system enables rapid iteration, constant content updates, and massive production output that competitors working normal hours struggle to match. However, it comes at severe human costs including burnout, health problems, destroyed work-life balance, and occasional deaths from overwork.
China’s government officially banned 996 in 2021 after widespread protests and negative international attention, but enforcement remains inconsistent with many tech companies continuing the practice through informal pressure and company culture expectations rather than explicit policies. The gaming industry particularly relies on crunch culture to maintain live-service games requiring constant events, updates, and new gacha characters that keep players spending. Genshin Impact’s six-week update cycle delivering new regions, characters, quests, and events represents the kind of production volume that Yoshida suggests Japanese studios can’t replicate under their labor regulations.
Japanese Labor Law Context
Japan implemented stricter overtime regulations in 2019 following the karoshi (death from overwork) crisis that saw numerous high-profile employee deaths from exhaustion-related heart attacks and suicides. The reforms capped overtime at 45 hours monthly and 360 hours annually for most industries, with special provisions allowing up to 80 hours monthly for limited periods. While still permitting significant overtime compared to European standards, these limits prevent the sustained 72-hour weekly schedules common in China’s 996 culture.
The reforms also mandated that companies ensure five days annual vacation are actually taken and provide health consultations for employees exceeding 80 overtime hours monthly. Violations result in fines and reputational damage in an industry-conscious culture where labor scandals can destroy recruitment pipelines. Japanese game developers certainly still crunch during critical development periods, but the legal framework prevents institutionalized 996-style permanent overtime that Chinese studios exploit. This regulatory difference directly impacts production capacity when comparing studios of equivalent size and budget.
MiHoYo’s Production Scale
MiHoYo exemplifies the Chinese gacha game industry’s production capacity that Yoshida references. Genshin Impact maintains a six-week update cycle delivering new playable regions, multiple characters with full voice acting in four languages, story quests, world events, and gameplay systems that would take Western AAA studios years to produce. The company employs over 5,000 people with massive art, programming, and content design teams working simultaneously on multiple projects including Honkai: Star Rail, Zenless Zone Zero, and the upcoming Varsapura built in Unreal Engine 5.
This scale enables parallel development where separate teams handle different regions, characters, and systems simultaneously rather than queuing tasks sequentially. The content volume consistently impresses industry veterans including Yoshida, who praised miHoYo’s work and theorized Varsapura represents their attempt to see how far they can take realistic high-end graphics breaking from their anime-styled tradition. However, this production capacity relies on workforce exploitation that Japanese labor laws specifically aim to prevent, creating the competitive disadvantage Yoshida acknowledges.
The Uncomfortable Subtext
Yoshida’s comments inadvertently highlight how modern game industry competition increasingly relies on exploiting workers in jurisdictions with weak labor protections rather than innovation, efficiency, or creative excellence. The implication that Japanese studios can’t compete because they’re legally prevented from working employees 72-hour weeks frames labor protections as competitive disadvantages rather than basic human rights. This perspective treats worker wellbeing as negotiable overhead costs rather than fundamental values, suggesting the only path to matching Chinese production output involves either lobbying for weakened labor laws or relocating development to countries willing to sacrifice employee health for corporate profits.
The gacha game model particularly incentivizes this race to the bottom because revenue directly correlates with content volume and update frequency. Players expect new characters, events, and story content every few weeks or they migrate to competitors offering more consistent content pipelines. This creates pressure on developers to match the fastest content producers regardless of how they achieve that speed, normalizing exploitation as industry standard rather than unethical outlier. Yoshida’s comments don’t endorse 996 culture explicitly but acknowledge it as competitive reality that Japanese studios must somehow address.
Is He Wrong Though
Yoshida’s observation about production capacity differences is factually accurate even if the implications are uncomfortable. Chinese gacha games objectively produce more content faster than Japanese or Western competitors, and workforce scale plus hours worked directly contribute to that output. Japanese mobile games like Fate Grand Order, Granblue Fantasy, and Uma Musume maintain successful businesses but can’t match Genshin Impact’s production values and content velocity. Whether this represents sustainable competitive advantage or unsustainable exploitation depends on whether China enforces labor protections or continues tolerating 996 culture.
The counterargument suggests that better tools, more efficient pipelines, and smarter development practices could close the gap without requiring Japanese developers to work brutal hours. However, Chinese studios also invest heavily in technology and efficiency while simultaneously leveraging workforce scale, creating compounding advantages. The realistic assessment might be that Japanese studios should focus on different market segments where production volume matters less than creative uniqueness, design polish, or niche appeal rather than competing directly with Chinese gacha giants in their content treadmill model.
FAQs
What is 996 work culture?
996 refers to working 9am to 9pm, six days per week, totaling 72 hours weekly. This practice became widespread in China’s tech industry including game studios, enabling rapid production but causing severe burnout and health problems.
What did Shuhei Yoshida say about Japanese developers?
Yoshida stated Japanese studios struggle to replicate Chinese developers’ production efficiency due to legal hurdles and work environment differences, specifically citing large teams working extensive hours as a major factor in Chinese gaming success.
Who is Shuhei Yoshida?
Shuhei Yoshida is a former Sony Interactive Entertainment executive who served as President of SIE Worldwide Studios and later headed PlayStation Indies before leaving Sony in 2025 after 31 years with the company.
What is miHoYo known for?
MiHoYo (now HoYoverse) develops Genshin Impact, Honkai: Star Rail, and Zenless Zone Zero, massive gacha games with six-week update cycles delivering extensive new content including characters, regions, quests, and gameplay systems.
Are Japanese labor laws stricter than China’s?
Yes. Japan implemented stricter overtime regulations in 2019 capping overtime at 45 hours monthly, while China’s 996 culture involves 72-hour work weeks. China officially banned 996 in 2021 but enforcement remains inconsistent.
Can Japanese developers compete with Chinese gacha games?
Japanese mobile games like Fate Grand Order remain successful but can’t match Chinese production values and content velocity. Competition requires focusing on creative uniqueness and niche appeal rather than content volume.
What is WePlay Expo?
WePlay Expo is one of China’s biggest indie game conventions where Yoshida spoke in December 2025, discussing his impressions of the Chinese game industry and interactions with developers like miHoYo.
Conclusion
Shuhei Yoshida’s comments about Japanese developers struggling to match Chinese production efficiency expose uncomfortable truths about how modern game industry competition increasingly relies on labor exploitation rather than innovation. The fact that a respected industry veteran acknowledges 996-style work culture as competitive advantage rather than condemnable practice demonstrates how normalized overwork has become in discussions about game development. While Yoshida doesn’t explicitly endorse brutal hours, framing Japanese labor protections as obstacles to competitiveness implies that worker wellbeing conflicts with business success rather than being compatible through better management and reasonable expectations. The gacha game industry’s content treadmill model particularly incentivizes this race to the bottom where companies compete on update frequency rather than quality, creativity, or respect for employees. Whether China’s 2021 ban on 996 culture eventually levels the playing field or remains largely unenforced window dressing will determine if sustainable development practices can compete with exploitation, or if the gaming industry continues rewarding companies willing to sacrifice employee health for production volume. For now, Yoshida’s observation remains accurate even if the implications are depressing for anyone hoping the industry can succeed without burning out workers.