[alaties]

While there are similarities within the videogame industry, one has to understand that the plight of a developer is no where near as tragic as that of an animator in Japan.

For a developer, the skills learned for working in the videogame industry are highly transferable to better paying jobs outside of video games. Skills learned on the job are also equally valuable outside of industry. When a developer is ready to leave the videogame industry, they have skills that are in demand and are able to get positions equal to their experience.

For a 2D animator, keyframing and tweening are not well-payed skills outside of the anime industry. Skills learned on the job are equally not well payed. When an animator is ready to leave the anime industry, they have to start at the entry level of whatever new industry they're entering.

To find that the last few years of your life are deemed meaningless by the job market after working your ass off day and night... That is a real gut punch.

[YinglingLight]

That's when you market out your skills to satisfying niche fetishes on the Japanese equivalent of Patreon.

On a serious note, there's a slew of skills an animator has on their Talent Stack (https://personalexcellence.co/blog/talent-stack/). Mere fluency of Photoshop, Illustrator, being able to DRAW period, work ethic, are no mere skills at all.

[Bakary]

It sounds like they could make the transition to graphic design or similar industries. They would be jumping into dangerous waters but at least it wouldn't be from scratch