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[jackal27]

TO be honest it was a really dumb decision on his part. Especially considering that Nintendo is CURRENTLY trying to push a Xenoblade game. Everything he said could easily be misconstrued by the average person as being about that very game.

It really sucks for him, but it was unwise to say the least. Everyone knows that parts of what he said are true, but I doubt that is the image that Nintendo wants out there, especially at this time when they seem to be trying their hardest to help bring games overseas.

 

[SummitAve]

I'm surprised so many people cared about the things he said. I read the thread and his quotes when it was posted, it seemed reasonable, and I forgot about it.

 

[nib95]

I feel like firing him for this is incredibly harsh and unwarranted. But it is Nintendo after all.

 

[Cleve]

It's a result of the fans' reactions as a whole. Those reactions could easily have been predicted by this guy, and he could have avoided the situation, but that doesn't make the ridiculously overblown fan reaction appropriate.

No way. This has nothing to do with the fans. The guy had a job as a trusted insider. He chose to take his opinions about his employer and company decisions to a public forum without approval.

He could have done the same thing at merck or johnson and johnson and he'd have been canned once hr caught wind of it. He proved he couldn't be trusted, so he wasn't someone they had a use for anymore.

 

[JMDSO]

Pranger acknowledges that he made a mistake. He has a small child, a wife... a family to provide for. I hope when at some point in your career when you lose a job that you're shown more sympathy than you (and others in this thread) are showing this young man.

I wouldn't even put myself in a position to get fired.

I have a wife and 3 kids, I do what the fuck I'm told with a smile.

 

[Vena]

The difference being that she was a relatively high ranking employee at (forgot the name of the investment bank she worked at) and she was probably of high value to them. I don't think this guy had such luck (which makes his decision even more baffling to me).

Treehouse are in a league of their own in terms of confidentiality, I don't think most of NoA has authority to even touch them or go into their "wing". They are privy to a lot of insider information, and they're a growing force for Nintendo internal all the way back to NCL (they run the public face of NoA at this point, outside of Reggie).

Heck, if anything, breaking a Treehouse NDA is probably even more extreme because of what sensitive information you are potentially leaking which is in general not available for your average employee at NoA. In such a scenario, there's no much wiggle room no matter who you are. :/

I feel like firing him for this is incredibly harsh and unwarranted. But it is Nintendo after all.

Has nothing to do with Nintendo, and everything to do with NDAs.

 

[Succinct Verbosity]

I feel like firing him for this is incredibly harsh and unwarranted. But it is Nintendo after all.

Not that Iwata would have any connection to the day-to-day hiring and firing of Nintendo employees, I do feel like te general attitude at Ninteno -or any company with an interim leadership- is going to react with a more knee-jerk reaction than an informed one.

 

[JMDSO]

I feel like firing him for this is incredibly harsh and unwarranted. But it is Nintendo after all.

Microsoft and Sony have done the same thing.

 

[Vena]

Not that Iwata would have any connection to the day-to-day hiring and firing of Nintendo employees, I do feel like te general attitude at Ninteno -or any company with an interim leadership- is going to react with a more knee-jerk reaction than an informed one.

This is a week+ old event. At some point, its no longer a knee-jerk.

 

[ShockingAlberto]

Yeah, saw this coming a mile away. It's a a shame but I didn't think this signaled a change in Nintendo's communication policies. There were going to be some results from this.

 

[TheJoRu]

I feel like firing him for this is incredibly harsh and unwarranted. But it is Nintendo after all.

Good luck finding a big company with sensitive information that wouldn't do it.

 

[br0ken_shad0w]

More like the internet never forgets. Once it's known, even if deleted it's still somewhere.

Gary Whitta faints.

 

[Justified]

I'm surprised so many people cared about the things he said. I read the thread and his quotes when it was posted, it seemed reasonable, and I forgot about it.

one of his statment

And we’ll be like “Yeah, we do want money, which is why we know it’s a colossal waste if we ever try to localize that in this current market, because look at you people. You don’t make up a big enough group.

Look at the "we's" in his statement. he official spoke for Nintendo, with out proper clearance. Doesnt matter how reasonable or mild the statements were you dont do that publically.


And the bolded is said in a way that could be easily taken out of context. Nintendo would never officially make that statement with out clearing that through PR a million times (and the still would not). Nevermind the fact that, again, he didnt have clearance to speak as nintendo

 

[Vena]

Yeah, saw this coming a mile away. It's a a shame but I didn't think this signaled a change in Nintendo's communication policies. There were going to be some results from this.

Huh, I think my reading is failing me, but I can't quite understand what you're saying, particularly the bolded.

Sorry for my lapse.

 

[Alrus]

Not that Iwata would have any connection to the day-to-day hiring and firing of Nintendo employees, I do feel like te general attitude at Ninteno -or any company with an interim leadership- is going to react with a more knee-jerk reaction than an informed one.

lol this has nothing to do with Iwata's passing. The guy went on an unauthorized interview and aired stuff without it being vetted by the PR department, no major company in the world would let that fly. This is a level of naivety that is baffling for me.

 

[espher]

NDAs and even perceptions of a possibility of breaching them can be serious business.

I used to play an MMO with a friend, who ended up getting a job as a CSR at the company that made it, and she suddenly dropped off the face of the planet. I later found out some random person in game (not sure if it was public or alliance or something, was long ago) made a comment in a channel to her boyfriend about her being a CSR without actually knowing she was a CSR (I believe just some offhand comment like how his gf must be a CSR or staffer because of how things always went his way), and they told her to burn everything relating to her character name and to stop associating with us for several months. They thought she had breached NDA and told her friends that she got the job (a couple of us knew she had applied for a job there, and that she recently started a new job, though we didn't know it was there or that she was a CSR) but couldn't prove it and that was the 'prove you're trustworthy' middle ground.

I think she got axed at the end of her probation because of that and because they suspected she was getting co-workers to look at her friends' accounts to get information b/c those accounts had been accessed internally by CSRs (but not by her), and while they couldn't confirm she had breached NDA they couldn't prove she hadn't and there was a trust issue. She was pretty upset as she loved the job, people, etc.

Some crazy stuff.

 

[Archaix]

Huh, I think my reading is failing me, but I can't quite understand what you're saying, particularly the bolded.

Sorry for my lapse.

Nintendo employees are generally not allowed on podcasts of any form, even if they aren't about video games. Some took this podcast as a sign that Nintendo was changing policies.

 

[Calamari41]

Huh, I think my reading is failing me, but I can't quite understand what you're saying, particularly the bolded.

Sorry for my lapse.

He's saying that for the guy to be approved to speak the way he did, Nintendo would have had to change their policies. Which, even at the time, he didn't think was the case.

 

[sir_kevith]

I rolled my eyes at his tone changes when imitating fans. But that post is hard to read because i can imagine losing my dream job.

Was his appearance on the podcast ever sanctioned by Nintendo and they just didnt like what he said? I knew some testers up at Nintendo and they always shut down the conversation as soon as i asked about Nintendo games and they got shit for pay. Nintendo seems very serious when it comes to communication.

 

[foltzie1]

I agree with this list, even the obviously, but Nintendo is now getting bad PR (at least the Kotaku story) from the firing, which I think is fair too. Nintendo could have smacked his hand hard and got the compliance they want. Being draconian is within their rights, but so is being called out for being draconian.

Enforcing Company policy is draconian now?

Are you crazy?, do you know what this would do to the company in the future, they have spent years making sure internal stuff remains internal.
If they let one idiot off the hook for publicly speaking his mind then they are screwed in the future int terms of legal battles.
Nintendo has every right to do what they did, and any company with even the slightest amount of sense would do the same.

And what does any genius do after getting fired? put a long sob story on Facebook to make the company look even worse.
Guy is an idiot who is only digging a deeper grave for himself. Even after termination there are legal company rules to follow yet he continues to break them.

it is not draconian to fire someone for breach of contract...

Draconian - adjective - (of laws or their application) excessively harsh and severe.

I think that word fits in this situation, I chose it specifically. Getting fired is harsh and severe as far as employment related punishments go, even if I agree that it may be justified.

Also, no I do no think a lessor reprimand would have harmed the company. A week or two suspension may have sufficed. It is certainly the approach I would take if I was representing this guy in a wrongful termination suit.

Again, just because I understand the decision, doesnt mean I disagree with Nintendo getting bad PR.

 

[nib95]

Has nothing to do with Nintendo, and everything to do with NDAs.

He made a mistake, and even then the stuff he spilled was minor. There's rules and NDA's and things of that nature, but there's also still room for employer leeway, discretion and compassion. The latter is something I've had to consider myself many times, what with being an employer myself. A simple stern final warning and disciplinary talk would have sufficed, at least given this specific case anyway.

Microsoft and Sony have done the same thing.

With whom, and for what? The only example I can think of off the top of my head is Adam Orth, but that was more because he insulted a large group of people in a more direct way, which as a Creative Director carries more weight.

 

[Neff]

I agree with this list, even the obviously, but Nintendo is now getting bad PR (at least the Kotaku story) from the firing, which I think is fair too. Nintendo could have smacked his hand hard and got the compliance they want. Being draconian is within their rights, but so is being called out for being draconian.

They weren't though. They probably didn't even want to fire him. If he's been there for 4 years and gets a space on the Treehouse, we can assume he's a good worker. But they can't allow this sort of thing, because it sends out a bad message regarding company policy, which is worse than a piece of negative PR which will likely blow over in a month or so. They had to fire him. Any multi billion dollar corporation in the world would have done exactly the same thing with a low level employee mouthing off like this.

Was his appearance on the podcast ever sanctioned by Nintendo and they just didnt like what he said?

Given that in-depth interviews and podcasts from Nintendo staff are rare, much less from staff at his level, I'd say no.

 

[soundscream]

This.

Has nothing to do with what I was questioning. Whether he actually has 100k debt wasn't what I was questioning about your post.

 

[Vena]

Nintendo employees are generally not allowed on podcasts of any form, even if they aren't about video games. Some took this podcast as a sign that Nintendo was changing policies.

He's saying that for the guy to be approved to speak the way he did, Nintendo would have had to change their policies. Which, even at the time, he didn't think was the case.

Ahh that makes sense, got it. Thanks!

 

[Kevinroc]

Nintendo employees are generally not allowed on podcasts of any form, even if they aren't about video games. Some took this podcast as a sign that Nintendo was changing policies.

I know I did. I didn't know he went on without approval or anything like that.

Pranger being fired is terrible, but understandable given the circumstances.

 

[Petrae]

Pranger acknowledges that he made a mistake. He has a small child, a wife... a family to provide for. I hope when at some point in your career when you lose a job that you're shown more sympathy than you (and others in this thread) are showing this young man.

It's possible to still sympathize with Pranger but to understand that this is a result of his own doing. When you have a family to provide for, you need to be extra-cautious when it comes to making decisions like these. He wasn't, Nintendo disciplined him in a manner that is not unexpected when it comes to cases like these, and hopefully he will have learned something for the next job opportunity he has.

 

[Vena]

He made a mistake, and even then the stuff he spilled was minor. There's rules and NDA's and things of that nature, but there's also still room for employer leeway, discretion and compassion. The latter is something I've had to consider myself many times, what with being an employer myself. A simple stern final warning and disciplinary talk would have sufficed.

He's Treehouse. He's privy to very sensitive insider info and he broke that NDA, whether or not it was with "big deal" or "small stuff", it doesn't matter. If they don't enforce it, they can face potential issues in the future.

 

[Justified]

Draconian - adjective - (of laws or their application) excessively harsh and severe.

I think that word fits in this situation, I chose it specifically. Getting fired is harsh and severe as far as employment related punishments go, even if I agree that it may be justified.

Also, no I do no think a lessor reprimand would have harmed the company. A week or two suspension may have sufficed. It is certainly the approach I would take if I was representing this guy in a wrongful termination suit.

Again, just because I understand the decision, doesnt mean I disagree with Nintendo getting bad PR.

Harsh yes, but not "excessively" harsh which would be draconian.

Draconian would have been getting fired, and fined $10,000

 

[foltzie1]

They weren't though. They probably didn't even want to fire him. If he's been there for 4 years and gets a space on the Treehouse, we can assume he's a good worker. But they can't allow this sort of thing, because it sends out a bad message regarding company policy, which is worse than a piece of negative PR which will likely blow over in a month or so. They had to fire him. Any multi billion dollar corporation in the world would have done exactly the same thing with a low level employee mouthing off like this.

We on both sides are just saying our opinion, your opinion seems to be that Nintendo had no choice, my opinion is they did, they made it, and they can deal with the consequences (good or ill).

 

[Spinluck]

This is pretty sad, and also silly... Come on Nintendo like seriously? lol, this company hasn't felt progressive for a while.

Also...

$100,000 for an English degree?

This fucking country.

Nintendo employees are generally not allowed on podcasts of any form, even if they aren't about video games. Some took this podcast as a sign that Nintendo was changing policies.

Yikes, did not know this. I'm pretty sure he did though.

 

[GustyGardens]

This will be a PR nightmare for those who don't understand how corporations work, and I'm inclined to believe people outside of the internet get why people don't talk about their jobs in any negative light, especially those who have one.

To be honest, people get fired all the time. The only reason that this is somewhat noteworthy is because this guy was in the news recently, mostly because of his comments on that podcast. There have probably been numerous employees that have gotten the axe from Nintendo and its competitors. There's not going to be a press release, because PR has nothing to smooth over.

NDA's are pretty serious business. Some of the clients that I've worked with have had me and my colleagues sign them. If I had broken any of them, there's a good chance that I would have been fired.

 

[Two Words]

Man, I'm only accruing about 7K annual debt working on my CS degree. And I was feeling like that was a lot.

 

[Jiraiza]

Mixed feelings. I've been working for a year now and whenever I start talking about my job, NDA immediately comes to mind and I just shut up and/or be as generic as possible when describing what I do. Might just be me, though.

 

[-Horizon-]

Regardless of whether it was a bad idea to do the podcast or whatever, I still feel bad for him

I do understand companies can sometimes be very strict about this kind of stuff and showing any leeway for one employee can undermine the whole policy of keeping things company-only knowledge.

 

[Shpeshal Nick]

He lost his fucking job over defending the WiiU's name and being honest about localisation?

Fucking hell.

 

[diablos991]

This is pretty sad, and also silly... Come on Nintendo like seriously? lol, this company hasn't felt progressive for a while.

Also...

$100,000 for an English degree?

This fucking country.

Not just the country. He is the one that decided to spend $100k on an English degree. He could have undoubtedly found that cheaper,

 

[Imperfected]

Not that Iwata would have any connection to the day-to-day hiring and firing of Nintendo employees, I do feel like te general attitude at Ninteno -or any company with an interim leadership- is going to react with a more knee-jerk reaction than an informed one.

Nintendo has always been hyper-conscious of industrial espionage, employee use of official channels and assets, misrepresenting the company, and so on. This includes during the period of Iwata's leadership, and if anything is even more severe on the Japanese end of the company than in Nintendo of America. This has been the way Nintendo's policy has worked for decades, and has nothing to do with Iwata.

Even in the game development community, everyone knows that if you have any plans to work at Nintendo you should never be involved in even an "homage" or fan-project related to Nintendo assets, because they will most likely label you as a security risk and refuse to hire you in a professional capacity. They are incredibly protective of their image, IP, and assets.

 

[-Horizon-]

This is pretty sad, and also silly... Come on Nintendo like seriously? lol, this company hasn't felt progressive for a while.

Also...

$100,000 for an English degree?

This fucking country.



Yikes, did not know this. I'm pretty sure he did though.

I don't think it has to do with being a progressive company or not when it comes to these kinds of matters.

 

[Ploid 3.0]

Don't cross nintendo... fans.

I read a bit of that thread, he seemed like he was being honest. Big scoop from the podcast hosts though I suppose. I'm thankful every time a game I know won't sell well is made, especially with Sony side. They seem to know things won't light the world on fire and invest anyway just in case a spark connects with something, or to just cover all bases for flavor in their portfolio.

 

[Revolutionary]

Well, he did belittle the fans somewhat with his tone.

A truly grievous error to make towards Nintendo's fanbase.

Shitty situation all around. Hope he lands on his feet.

 

[shadow2810]

I just hope people who are blaming Nintendo for this won't try something similar when you work for big companies.

 

[SteveO409]

He lost his fucking job over defending the WiiU's name and being honest about localisation?

Fucking hell.

have you ever held a job before? NDA exists for some jobs

 

[Justified]

He lost his fucking job over defending the WiiU's name and being honest about localisation?

Fucking hell.

No, he didnt.......

 

[fedexpeon]

This is pretty sad, and also silly... Come on Nintendo like seriously? lol, this company hasn't felt progressive for a while.

Also...

$100,000 for an English degree?

This fucking country.

Are you in college? Stop with this fucking country nonsense.
It doesn't cost that much in the long run.
I went to Texas A&M, room+books+tuition, and I paid off my student loans in 4 yrs.
It shouldn't take someone with his career to pay off 100k in 20yrs...geezus, is he paying the minimum payment amount?

 

[DragonSworne]

This guy loses his job but Reggie is still around?

 

[HerjansEagleFeeder]

Anyone else who read the OP and immediately thought about the German meaning of the poor lads last name ("pillory")?

 

[JMDSO]

With whom, and for what? The only example I can think of off the top of my head is Adam Orth, but that was more because he insulted a large group of people in a more direct way, which as a Creative Director carries more weight.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/sony-employee-fired-for-comparing-ps3-to-xbox-360

In an interview with PS3week, former SOE 3D artist Josh Robinson said: "All I really did was write a few paragraphs that gave my opinion on publicly released information... I didnât reveal any tech info and I didnât reveal different shipping plans. Iâm still in awe at the whole uproar over what amounts to NO information."

 

[Calamari41]

This guy loses his job but Reggie is still around?

Reggie's statements are all approved, and likely not even thought up by him.

 

[Petrae]

He lost his fucking job over defending the WiiU's name and being honest about localisation?

Fucking hell.

Nope.

He lost his job for failing to adhere to Corporate Communications policy when it comes to making public appearances as someone representing his employer without prior consent or clearance. Breaking NDAs is another possible result of his actions.

What he said is far less relevant than his decision to have said anything online at all.

 

[Shining Sunshine]

This is pretty sad, and also silly... Come on Nintendo like seriously? lol, this company hasn't felt progressive for a while.

Also...

$100,000 for an English degree?

This fucking country.

Break policies, get fired, no matter who you are.

And an English Degree is a Masters Degree.