Time for another updated to my OP analyzing the number of employees at the Nintendo.
Year ended March 31, 2006: 3,150 employees
Year ended March 31, 2007: 3,373 employees (+7% YoY)
Year ended March 31, 2008: 3,768 employees (+11% YoY)
Year ended March 31, 2009: 4,130 employees (+10% YoY)
Year ended March 31, 2010: 4,425 employees (+7% YoY)
Year ended March 31, 2011: 4,712 employees (+6% YoY)
Year ended March 31, 2012: 4,928 employees (+5% YoY)
Year ended March 31, 2013: 5,080 employees (+3% YoY)
Latest full-year financial statement: http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/pdf/2013/130424e.pdf
The increase in number of employees at Nintendo has slowed down considerably in 2013, and that trend will probably continue in the 2014 full year financial statments report. The Wii U is struggling, and the company has so far had two consecutive annual losses with an almost-certain third one on its way. At the same time HD games demands more developer resources than former-generation games, which I believe makes the current headcount a necessity despite the lower revenues. My projection for 2014 is to end with about the same headcount as the year before.
