Nintendo is a "haven for geniuses" but "hell for an average person", former worker says

ManaByte said:
Click to expand...

OMG gurl! Working a full time job is a privilege! Boo hoo you can't work out and lolly around all day. Look at all the homeless and the poor. Be glad you have an education and life structure. Makes me furious to see people of privilege not being appreciative of the wonderful things they have right under their nose.
 
Alexios said:
Dudes ridiculing people pointing out the obvious probably would have ridiculed the men and women fighting and dying at the hands of corporate defending police and other government forces to establish the 8 hour "standard" that nowadays keep getting stretched further further away from that.

Or the good ol, I suffered (naw I just loved my job so much that I didn't have time for anything else, I was good at it, I'm proud of it, lul) and so should everyone else.
Click to expand...

Definitely.

But I've seen enough "wfh" or similar arguments on here, I know where this is probably going to go.

Like you said, you'll get the people who waste however many hours at work defending corporate practices. Or using shaming tactics and acting like you're a loser or immature if you don't accept that. Or giving some stupid ass suggestion oversimplifying the issue (i.e. "well if you don't like it then [insert some useless suggestion, that is far easier said than done]")

People complain because there's not much else that can be done. That's all they have left, as all agency has been taken away and they don't have enough influence to change anything.
 
Last edited:
ManaByte said:
Click to expand...

This is how we all probably feel, but going on social media and crying about it isn't going to fix it. This is capitalism unfortunately and I'm not sure if there's a better system. From looking around the world at other countries this seems like the best we can do and we are all very lucky in the grand scheme of things.

Work life balance is fucked up in general though and especially in Japan.
 
With a company in the midst of generational change from the Miyamoto generation passing on everything to younger generations, anyone joining Nintendo has big shoes to fill. You're literally talking about the gold standard/ masterclass software publisher and developer, the envy of the world. Anyone joining has a lot to live up to, but they also recently raised all their starting salaries for their developers, and let's be honest Nintendo doesn't have an issue with finding good talent.
 
Last edited:
Kenneth Haight said:
This is how we all probably feel, but going on social media and crying about it isn't going to fix it. This is capitalism unfortunately and I'm not sure if there's a better system. From looking around the world at other countries this seems like the best we can do and we are all very lucky in the grand scheme of things.

Work life balance is fucked up in general though and especially in Japan.
Click to expand...
I agree with your post. In Europe it's a lot better, with work life balance. Also Getting taxed more if you work two jobs and free health care. Meaning you can't get forced into stuff. Usually better workers rights and a shed more holiday and maternity leave than the USA. But yeh nowadays shit is expensive.

I feel sorry for a lot of workers in the US with the crap they get forced to do.
However
I do feel we are not meant to be stuck at a desk for hours at a time.

But we have to do what we have to do to provide. You shouldn't make work the be all and end all. Work to live. Not live to work.
 
Last edited:
ManaByte said:
Click to expand...

The reality is I think most of us had these thoughts when we started workking, we just didnt have narcissistic social media to cry about it.

She is a pretty young woman who has a way out the workforce if she wants it, but that's a whole other kettle of fish and this is how it is for working people. If she's not willing to do the work then someone will.
 
Last edited:
The employee: "Nintendo is a great company full of smart and creative individuals. I managed to accomplish a goal in working there for a while but moved on to something I excel at."

People in this thread who just read the headline: "Why is the employee whining about needing talent in a field where talent is necessary?"

Me: "I didn't see any whining? They had a moment of self-realization, then did the right thing and left without complaint."
 
His statement was very vague, I wish he had elaborated more.

What would have been his difficulty? High work demands and commitment? Long workload? Overly ambitious goals? Too much competition and pressure? What do you think his problem was?
 
Last edited:
Murdok said:
His statement was very vague, I wish he had elaborated more.

What would have been his difficulty? High work demands and commitment? Long workload? Overly ambitious goals? Too much competition and pressure? What do people think?
Click to expand...
Yeah definitely, he doesn't say anything in the end.
 
Murdok said:
His statement was very vague, I wish he had elaborated more.

What would have been his difficulty? High work demands and commitment? Long workload? Overly ambitious goals? Too much competition and pressure? What do you think his problem was?
Click to expand...
Someone ate half of his thanksgiving leftover turkey sandwich and now he'd rather put those days behind him, live a quiet life and forget all about its moist maker.
 
Last edited:
Hardensoul said:
Nintendo sure knows how to pick them and they seem to like working there. The Employee retention and longevity of working at Nintendo is well known. Also, we have not heard much about disgruntled employees but we've heard the opposite and many people have confirm the pay at Nintendo is above industry standard(even in this article). It's not like Koichi Miura is an unknown, he's been in the industry for a very long time.

Not saying Nintendo developers are the greatest but it's more proof of high quality of developers working at Nintendo.
Click to expand...

Japan on the whole is unique for employee retention, once you become seishaine (permanent employee) it's very difficult to fire somebody and people see a good company as a job for life.

However even given that Nintendo is unique. It has the highest retention rate amongst major companies in Japan, it's retention is close to 99%. Which is amazing. It's also the reason it's practically impossible to get a job there, people do not leave.
 
What he said makes complete sense and it's not a snipe at Nintendo. You might be a good fit and meet qualifications at an employer but if they are working at a level that just isn't natural to you, it's going to be stressful.

The stress comes from yourself, not necessarily from bad culture at the employer. If you truly care about the business, your teammates, etc. you're going to want to be on their level and if you aren't, it would be "hell" for yourself because you'd feel like you're not contributing as much as you should be.

People who aren't at the level and don't care that they aren't would love being at Nintendo, let everyone else do the heavy lifting while you skate. It wouldn't be hell for them.

This guy is just being thoughtful and people shouldn't read into it as something negative. He's being critical of himself, not Nintendo.
 
Last edited:
That's great. Some jobs require special talents/skills.

If you are an average person there are tons of jobs that don't require you to be a genius or have special skills.


ShadyAcshuns said:
OMG gurl! Working a full time job is a privilege! Boo hoo you can't work out and lolly around all day. Look at all the homeless and the poor. Be glad you have an education and life structure. Makes me furious to see people of privilege not being appreciative of the wonderful things they have right under their nose.
Click to expand...
I hate my day job too. Most do.

Now, i won't cry about it on social media but i do cry inside.

Now, you are free to lower your standards and compare yourself to the less fortunate so you can feel better.
 
Last edited:
nkarafo said:
I hate my day job too. Most do.

Now, i won't cry about it on social media but i do cry inside.

Now, you are free to lower your standards and compare yourself to the less fortunate so you can feel better.
Click to expand...
Or, maybe you're just being ungrateful and entitled? Look outside your windows and see the state of the world we live in, and then re-assess your thoughts.
 
if I worked at nintendos I would do good decisions

chris-farley-smirk.gif
 
Sounds like he had Impostors Syndrome. It is pretty common in software development. I had it early in my career until I realized I wasn't as dumb as I had originally thought.
 
kiphalfton said:
What she says is true though...

Who fucking cares if she's crying, it IS a big fucking deal. When you think about having only like 4 hours to yourself, that's not a great feeling.

And I don't know how the whole "9-5" schedule keeps getting perpetuated, as that shit doesn't exist anywhere I've ever seen. It's always 8-5, with a mandatory lunch break. But I can see why people like to say 9-5, as it better fits their narrative; as well as ignoring commute time, traffic, etc. that also lends to more time wasted.
Click to expand...

I worked a job 18 years that was 9 to 5.
 
T-0800 said:
I worked a job 18 years that was 9 to 5.
Click to expand...
And I worked at at a restaurant for 8 years of my life all through college and a bit after working 50+ hours a week very often. But I am not going to shit on her for voicing about a situation that is stressful and sucks. Granted I just did what I had to do, but it doesn't mean everyone else should have to tough it out with a smile
 
Looking at the results, ie. releasing banger after banger and the Switch being on track to become the best selling console of all time, it's hard to really argue with the results of the Nintendo meritocracy. If I was Shuntaro Furukawa, I would change very little in how the business is run.
 
Sojiro said:
And I worked at at a restaurant for 8 years of my life all through college and a bit after working 50+ hours a week very often. But I am not going to shit on her for voicing about a situation that is stressful and sucks. Granted I just did what I had to do, but it doesn't mean everyone else should have to tough it out with a smile
Click to expand...

Huh? Did you mean to quote me because that doesn't make any sense in response to what I said?
 
Great to see that some companies still value meritocracy and excellence and don't hand out participation trophies to pink and blue haired snowflakes. This is why i love Nintendo.
 
Last edited:
That's seems common everywhere. I've never been good at school and I suck at learning and man I've tried. Thankfully I found a job at a large production facility that pays a living wage with great benefits. I can handle that. But the smart guys there do waaaay better.
 
NikuNashi said:
Japan on the whole is unique for employee retention, once you become seishaine (permanent employee) it's very difficult to fire somebody and people see a good company as a job for life.

However even given that Nintendo is unique. It has the highest retention rate amongst major companies in Japan, it's retention is close to 99%. Which is amazing. It's also the reason it's practically impossible to get a job there, people do not leave.
Click to expand...
Their new buildings and massive expansion should help with that.
 
Last edited:
March Climber said:
The employee: "Nintendo is a great company full of smart and creative individuals. I managed to accomplish a goal in working there for a while but moved on to something I excel at."

People in this thread who just read the headline: "Why is the employee whining about needing talent in a field where talent is necessary?"

Me: "I didn't see any whining? They had a moment of self-realization, then did the right thing and left without complaint."
Click to expand...
People just love making drama out of nothing. Reading too much into something that isn't there can be a detriment.
 
Last edited:
Not really seeing all the drama,
Dude had a job, wasn't cut out for it and found a new one.

Everyone's had that one job where no matter how good or bad you are, something just doesn't work there for you personally at the company, maybe its a boss or a work culture or just the area itself the office is situated in and you leave to find something that suits you better.

Also there are different departments and so on. We don't really know this guys story, he doesn't elaborate much, but he may of had a hard time where he was but working in a different branch or department at Nintendo is probably a completely different experience. You can't really paint these things with broad brush strokes.
 
Last edited:
One of my good buddies worked at the Nintendo Canada division during the Wii years. He hated it.

He was in Sales and unlike other big companies with lots of support roles and departments, he (a sales guy) had to do everything himself. Financial analysis, category analysis etc.... like each sales guy is one man show.

And the bosses were all lackies who had to listen to what Nintendo Japan dictated. Iron fisted with zero regional autonomy.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Former Nintendo employee says retailers know "nothing" about Switch 2 price
21
1K
Davey Cakes replied
Nintendo site says estimated battery life for Nintendo Switch 2 is 2-6.5 hours
News 
43
3K
Bernoulli replied
'Loading Screens in Bethesda games are necessary' says former SKyrim Lead
News  2 3
126
2K
Three replied
Former Xbox Boss Says He Knew Sony's Killzone 2 E3 Showcase Was BS
News Trailer  2 3 4 5
227
228
kevboard replied
  • Locked
Reburn (Former 4A Games Ukraine) Announces new Sci-Fi first-person shooter La Quimera for PC
1
350
CyberCali replied
Top Bottom