When you think of Nintendo of America, the first thing that might come to mind is their well-known Redmond, Washington building, which effectively serves as the headquarters for that branch of the company and is where all the localizations take place. You might not have known that Nintendo also has a number of other buildings dotted around the United States and Canada, which serve as sales and marketing offices. In a sudden decision, however, Nintendo has closed two of those offices--the ones in Toronto, Ontario, and Redwood City, California specifically. The news appears to come as somewhat of a surprise, not just to the public, but also to the employees at those respective Nintendo locations, as an anonymous source at Kotaku claims that the now displaced staff--about 100 former employees--are upset at this decision. According to a statement from Nintendo, some of that staff will be kept on and instead moved to the Redmond and Vancouver locations.

The office closures also come with the resignation of Nintendo of America's SVP of Sales and Marketing, Nick Chavez, a role once held by the current president of NOA, Doug Bowser. An update to Chavez's LinkedIn profile shows that after years of working at Nintendo, he will be moving to Yum! Brands, where he'll be in the sales and marketing department for Kentucky Fried Chicken. With his departure, Devon Pritchard will be the new SVP of Sales and Marketing.

Nintendo of America headquarters are in Redmond, WA, and Vancouver, BC. We are moving more of our employees and operations into those headquarters and will be closing small satellite offices in Toronto, ON, and Redwood City, CA, over time.

Devon Pritchard, Executive Vice President, Business Affairs and Publisher Relations for Nintendo of America (NOA), will assume interim leadership of Sales, Marketing and Communications following the departure of Nick Chavez. Ms. Pritchard will oversee strategy and execution of sales, marketing and communications across the U.S. and Canada.

Source

 

[SAIYAN48]

I had no idea that Nintendo had an office in Toronto.

 

[the_randomizer]

That's a dick move, to not give employees heads up

 

[djnate27]

”an anonymous source at Kotaku claims that the now displaced staff--about 100 former employees--are upset at this decision”.

Sounds kind of redundant. As someone who has been apart of a few company downsizings…I can’t remember a single displaced employee NOT being upset at losing his job!

 

[M7L7NK7]

That's a dick move, to not give employees heads up

That's how businesses work

 

[XDel]

Yep, welcome to the Great Reset, aka Switch!

 

[the_randomizer]

That's how businesses work

Still a dick move

 

[driverdis]

I had no idea that Nintendo had an office in Toronto.

Neither did they it seems

 

[x65943]

Misread the title as Redmond for a split second and nearly had a heart attack

 

[JeepX87]

Misread the title as Redmond for a split second and nearly had a heart attack

You aren't alone, I got massively shocked when saw on FB but it was Redwood City, not Redmond in Washington.

That's mysterious moves by Nintendo.

 

[DonCaballero]

You guys shouldn't have pirated Dread this hard you know!

 

[slaphappygamer]

Ok. Lay off as many employees you need to meet a money line. Then you have so much work (because you cut your staff, remember?) that you have to pay the existing staff overtime to pick up the slack.

NOTE: It’s better when you do this before the holidays. People love it!


‘NOTHER NOTE: Remember, this MUST be done before the start of the 4th quarter!

Also, I think Sony may be hiring.

 

[RHOPKINS13]

Sounds kind of redundant. As someone who has been apart of a few company downsizings…I can’t remember a single displaced employee NOT being upset at losing his job!

You'd be surprised. Since the pandemic, some people have started secretly working multiple jobs from home - simultaneously! You can read more about it at overemployed.com. Not only are they able to rake in a lot more money by being double or even triple employed, but it also means it's not the end of the world if they lose one of their jobs. Rather than working on being proficient at a job skill, these people try to earn skills at acing job interviews and getting hired.

And some of these people will actually jump at the opportunity for a layoff. They'll negotiate a nice severance package, which at that point is more like a bonus to them, and then start applying for the next job opportunity.

 

[Viri]

Now purge the Treehouse.

 

[masagrator]

That's how businesses work

Maybe in US. In most European countries shutting down office and because of that laying off at least some percentage of workers (depends on country) without heads up is punishable by law.

 

[ZeroFX]

if wasn't productive that's the right thing to do.

 

[Izual Urashima]

Considering the current state of NoA compared to the other branches of the company, and their recent acts (wrong or bad "localizations" which are just an excuse to fill characters' dialogues with as much memes as possible, censorship through the roof for no logical reasons), it could be a good thing for Nintendo to do that.

So let's leave it at that.

 

[Clydefrosch]

When are employees not upset about being laid off?

 

[Bladexdsl]

this is nintendos payback for the mario party release

 

[Reploid]

Goodbye big N