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Why Nintendo's Satoru Iwata refuses to lay off staff

N

Nibel

Member
Riccitellock if old

Many game companies cut their staff numbers to save costs, or reassure investors, but Nintendo chief Satoru Iwata says that's a strategy he won't be using.

Participating in an investor Q&A, Iwata was asked why, given Nintendo's lackluster financial performance recently, he had not cut staff numbers. He replied that such moves might resolve short-term difficulties, but always proved counter-productive in the long-term.

"If we reduce the number of employees for better short-term financial results, employee morale will decrease," he said. "I sincerely doubt employees who fear that they may be laid off will be able to develop software titles that could impress people around the world."
Click to expand...

Read the full article which you can find at the source (Polygon)
 
K

Kai Dracon

Writing a dinosaur space opera symphony
So you mean the pump n' dump practice of the triple-A game industry is a bad thing.

But then, the rest of the industry is focused too much on disposable games and yearly sequels. Nintendo remains concerned with making games that don't lose value over time and sell five years later. I can believe that employee attitude does have something to do with that.
 
B

BigDaddyFatSack

Banned
Wow. Nintendo will go a long way with that attitude just like Ford.

I feel like purchasing a Wii U after reading this just to support them. They need to announce more games dammit!
 
H

Heyt

Banned
It would make no sense when they have to expand to keep up with their buisness.

I love how Iwata chose to give a kind sounding response. He really knows how to create this nice guy persona so people is not too mad at him because of his terrible managing.
 
Eteric Rice

Eteric Rice

Member
His reasoning is sound. Nintendo has never been one for short term profit.

It will probably take them a while to get back on course, though.
 
A

AlphaStriker

Member
Crawl said:
What if the ship is sinking?
Click to expand...

No layoffs, no escape. Everyone goes down with the ship.

iwata.jpg
 
K

Kai Dracon

Writing a dinosaur space opera symphony
JDSN said:
That arrogant ass, Nintendo deserves to go third party just to prove him wrong.
Click to expand...

I bet the people who used to be Bizarre Creations wished they'd have worked for such an arrogant ass.

I bet a lot of people who have gotten burned in the game industry, where so many people give it five years before getting the hell out after being used like cattle, wish they could work for that arrogant ass.

Edit: if sarcasm, my bad. It's impossible to tell anymore with the literally cartoon levels of Iwata hate.

Though my remarks still stand in the abstract.
 
J

Juice

Member
Who's asking for them to lay people off? Nintendo's been understaffing for 20 years or more, and now that it's significantly risking their viability as a profitable venture, he sets up the strawman of layoffs?

Clearly anyone looking for Nintendo to lay people off doesn't know how badly they're screwed in terms of organizational competency. They need probably four or five times as many developers and artists to make the HD transition and keep their console viable, and there are approximately zero ways that's humanly possible in a short period of time without seeing quality take a nosedive.
 
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