Shouta
Member
Well they definitely didn't get the full picture (or purposefully obfuscating info) and making a few suppositions. I dunno if that counts as spin.
Thread title is not the title of Kotaku article though.
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Nintendo lays off an undisclosed ammount of employees from North America Division
Thread title is not the title of Kotaku article though.
SEGAvangelist
Member
Hopefully crappy localizers.
Killjoy-NL
Member
#NintendoToo
Kataploom
Gold Member
They've ruined Japanese games, specially Xenoblade localization so hard the damage is impossible to heal now. Really really hate treehouse.
Dr. Wilkinson
Gold Member
Odd conflation of two things that have zero to do with each other.
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Dr. Wilkinson
Gold Member
HeWhoWalks
Member
No, but layoffs are layoffs. Whether 100 or 1000, someone is losing a job/position. All there is to take from this, as I said before, is no company is immune to something that happens more than people realize. It's only the talk of the town recently because of how many Microsoft laid off and proximity to one another.
Solarstrike
Member
.
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FoxMcChief
Gold Member
But these “layoffs” aren’t the same. This restructuring of contract employees is very different from other companies letting go of employees to stop the financial bleeding of money, due to over hiring during the Covid years.
Dr. Wilkinson
Gold Member
False. Nintendo isn't laying any employees off. In fact they are hiring in a bunch of contractors and converting them into full-time salaried employees. Which is the opposite of a lay-off. Again, per usual, don't read Kotaku. It is digital toilet paper.
According to the Kotaku portal, which was the first to post this information, an unknown number of employees have been dismissed from Nintendo's US division. Following the website's report, Nintendo itself officially confirmed this:
Source
HeWhoWalks
Member
I get that, but I was mainly talking about layoffs overall. What's happening here is, yes, jobs are ending, but contractors are usually made aware before they take the position.
Really not sure why Kotaku chose to make so much noise, but then, it seems to be all the rage these days.
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Kataploom
Gold Member
Well, gotta correct myself: They've ruined Xenoblade localization, incredibly. Some other anime games have been touched by them unnecessarily changing dialogue, censoring designs and in many cases they left out Japanese VA. They may know how to work with Mario and Zelda (the later not always) but they should be kept away from Xenoblade, Fire Emblem and games with those audiences, they really shit the bed. Xenoblade 2 localization is unforgivable.
Solarstrike
Member
Where the heck is Metroid Prime 4 bro
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adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
KungFucius
King Snowflake
You know who's been booted. We told them this would happen.
Nintendo Of America Criticised Over Treatment Of Part-Time And Contract Workers
"I feel like I hit a glass ceiling where my input no longer mattered"www.nintendolife.com
The Nintendo of America Contractors Who Feel Like Second Class Workers
'Associates' at the famed Japanese publisher complain about bad pay and an inability to voice dissentkotaku.com
Nintendo Of America's Testers Say They Faced Years Of Sexual Harassment
Female game testers at Nintendo had 'frat house' experiences within a gaming company known for its wholesome image
If your contractor fills the test department with contracted gender special drama queens who act like they should be promoted to actual Nintendo employees for simply doing the job they are contracted to do and are not not actual Nintendo employees, and run to the woke journalist press crying about how unfair it is.
What is wrong with you? You make up a whole hateful narrative of "gender special drama queens" being bad employees that needed to be let go because they are shitty workers. Get some help.
Lambogenie
Member
What was so bad?
Is it FFVII Remake/Rebirth bad?
WhiteWaterM00se
Member
From the little I read on various websites, it seems that Nintendo is doing away with contract work atm, and bringing the testers they needed on full time. While others were let go and given severance Packages.
The rumor floating around true or not, that Nintendo has no major upcoming 1st party games, seems logical to me.
My theory:
Nintendo knows 1st party games will take longer to develop for Switch 2, and thus we will not be receiving 8-12 1st party games a year any longer. They will likely be around 3-6 1st party games a year. How does Nintendo solve this problem?
More HD remakes, remasters, second party developed titles like Hyrule Warriors. Everyone is saying Wind waker, Twilight Princess double pack is coming This year. Haha. Why would Nintendo give us two games for $80 or less, when they can sell them at $60-$70 a piece? I also believe Nintendo will save both games to fill in for Zelda droughts on Switch 2. Nintendo *could* use less testers as well, as the remaster may not require as much work.
Switch 1 received (4) (Zelda 1st party games)
BOTW (Wii U game / Cross Gen)
TOTK (original new game)
Skyward Sword (HD Remaster)
Links Awakening (HD Remake)
I believe Wind Waker, Twilight Princess will be either saved for Cross Gen games, or strictly Switch 2 titles. Zelda is not alone in this, I believe Fire Emblem may also do the same. A new Zelda or even a re-imagining of say OoT (which I am sure is the next new Zelda game). Likely to release around the time of the movie, sometime around the time NeXt-box and PS6 launch.
SO…if this theory is correct, Nintendo may be saving completed games for Switch 2 to help fill in release gaps.
SO EVEN if Nintendo is truly sitting on completed Wind Waker/Twilight Princess games, they may choose to hold them for Switch 2, as Nintendo allegedly delayed Switch 2 to give a more robust 1st party lineup. Translation: 1st party games are taking longer to develop than Nintendo anticipated.
For now, Nintendo may not NEED a lot of 3rd party contractors if there is a Nintendo like drought (Ninten-drought) Until next gen. Nintendo will likely not even let 1st party employees test Switch 2 games until it is announced to avoid leaks. Nintendo would need less employees this way, and can hire additional employees in the future if needed. Contract, part time or full time as needed.
I am sure Nintendo has a couple of games for Fall/Holiday 2024 release. That said, I think it is a smaller amount than any normal year as they are preparing for Switch 2, and on the outside it could appear like a less, but still a (Ninten-drought) By their own traditional output. Thus they don’t need many testers until this October or so anyway.
The rumor floating around true or not, that Nintendo has no major upcoming 1st party games, seems logical to me.
My theory:
Nintendo knows 1st party games will take longer to develop for Switch 2, and thus we will not be receiving 8-12 1st party games a year any longer. They will likely be around 3-6 1st party games a year. How does Nintendo solve this problem?
More HD remakes, remasters, second party developed titles like Hyrule Warriors. Everyone is saying Wind waker, Twilight Princess double pack is coming This year. Haha. Why would Nintendo give us two games for $80 or less, when they can sell them at $60-$70 a piece? I also believe Nintendo will save both games to fill in for Zelda droughts on Switch 2. Nintendo *could* use less testers as well, as the remaster may not require as much work.
Switch 1 received (4) (Zelda 1st party games)
BOTW (Wii U game / Cross Gen)
TOTK (original new game)
Skyward Sword (HD Remaster)
Links Awakening (HD Remake)
I believe Wind Waker, Twilight Princess will be either saved for Cross Gen games, or strictly Switch 2 titles. Zelda is not alone in this, I believe Fire Emblem may also do the same. A new Zelda or even a re-imagining of say OoT (which I am sure is the next new Zelda game). Likely to release around the time of the movie, sometime around the time NeXt-box and PS6 launch.
SO…if this theory is correct, Nintendo may be saving completed games for Switch 2 to help fill in release gaps.
SO EVEN if Nintendo is truly sitting on completed Wind Waker/Twilight Princess games, they may choose to hold them for Switch 2, as Nintendo allegedly delayed Switch 2 to give a more robust 1st party lineup. Translation: 1st party games are taking longer to develop than Nintendo anticipated.
For now, Nintendo may not NEED a lot of 3rd party contractors if there is a Nintendo like drought (Ninten-drought) Until next gen. Nintendo will likely not even let 1st party employees test Switch 2 games until it is announced to avoid leaks. Nintendo would need less employees this way, and can hire additional employees in the future if needed. Contract, part time or full time as needed.
I am sure Nintendo has a couple of games for Fall/Holiday 2024 release. That said, I think it is a smaller amount than any normal year as they are preparing for Switch 2, and on the outside it could appear like a less, but still a (Ninten-drought) By their own traditional output. Thus they don’t need many testers until this October or so anyway.
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Kataploom
Gold Member
Lots of name changes, including all locations and many main characters for the sake of it, also dialogs changes that made no sense to censor spicy Japanese jokes, etc. Like the localization is made for people not fan of anime stuff, they catered to sensible normies or whatever
Angry_Megalodon
Member
Even more shocking is that he brags about it. When I hired people, the first I did was a social media check. That post automatically would discard the candidate.
JRPG localizers are also crazy bad in the Spanish language. I am against AI except for localizers/translators. I want them all gone. Wiped out. Destroyed.
JRPG localizers are also crazy bad in the Spanish language. I am against AI except for localizers/translators. I want them all gone. Wiped out. Destroyed.
PatientGamer
Member
I'm saying that usually it's one rule for Nintendo, and another rule for everyone else when it comes to how they handle their business model, games etc. They're held to a different standard for some reason.
Though if you work as a contractor (depending on the industry), the work could end at any moment in time; therefore isn't categorised as a 'layoff'.
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LiquidMetal14
hide your water-based mammals
Not our precious Nintedno!
Woopah
Member
There are independent partners that Nintendo didn't save (such as Cing and AlphaDream), but I can't think of any studios they closed down.
Its a very weird situation, where for 2024 we have 6 Nintendo published games in H1, and 0 for H2. But we don't know whether that's because they'll be a drought, or because they just haven't announced the games yet.
Either way, I think you're right that Nintendo will save the big new games for Switch 2 in 2025, which is why their 2024 lineup will lean so much on older titles.
tkscz
Member
I said this earlier. It's Kotaku doing what they do best, spinning things for clicks.
Kotaku isn't the one to blame, it's the OP's thread title and people misreading, confirmation bias.
Actual Kotaku headline:
'Big Shakeup At Nintendo Testing Center Ahead Of Switch 2'
'Nintendo of America lays off some contractors while converting others to full-time employees'
OP omitted 'contractors' and people ignored the part about upgrading contractors to full time employees.
Not sure it matters much though, since it's a contract job, and with the Switch 2 launch upcoming, a number of contract roles will be needed. But with the rumoured delay, I guess they aren't needed currently.
Musashipan
Member
Fake news
JackMcGunns
Member
Edit nm, misleading title. So Switch 2 confirmed?
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Woopah
Member
I'm not sure Switch 2 even has anything to do with the changes.