I released a small game on itch.io as a weekend project. It made ¥84,000 in the first month. Not …
T=0: The Decision
Seven years at a Tokyo bank. My father worked there for 35 years and considered that a success. I arrived before 8am and left after 8pm. The unpaid overtime was called "service time" — jigyō no tameni, for the good of the business. I played mobile games on the train home because it was the only thing I could do with 40 minutes of brain left.
I released a small game on itch.io as a weekend project. It made ¥84,000 in the first month. Not enough to live on. Enough to understand that something was possible. I resigned in April, told my father by text, and gave myself 18 months of savings runway.
A released game with 1,000 paying players. Not dying of karōshi.
6 Months Out
The creative freedom is real. The financial terror is also real. I am 6 months in, savings are depleting at ¥180k/month, and the game is not finished. The absence of structure is harder than I expected after 7 years of mandated presence.
“Have a released product before you quit. Even a small one. It changes the psychology from "I might be capable of this" to "I am doing this."”