• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

NOA localizer insists Xenoblade too risky, defends Wii U naming

Effect

Member
e073068558d612e983daa5f3c09fe00e.png


That really sucks. No one wanted that at all. That Nintendo would give the okay for something like that podcast appearance always felt iffy and it looks like he clearly misunderstood that position and is now paying the price. I hope he can land on his feet. :(

Don't think this should be a fireable offense but if NoA has a no tolerance rule for something like this then it makes sense why he was fired. People can not blame gaf and others on this. Ultimately he was wrong in his judgement that this would be okay. Perhaps had it not gotten attention he might still have his job or maybe not. We don't know. It might not even be the fact that he made the appearance but what he said and how it made Nintendo look regardless of the attention it got.
 

Reallink

Member
He seems like an overall good guy, but sometimes people just don't understand that when they work for a corporation and speak "publicly" they are, by extension of their employment, the face of the company.

Really didn't think the guy would get canned, though. More like being barred from going on podcasts and such. Hope he lands on his feet.

Didn't listen to the podcast, what was said outside of the OP stuff? There has to be more, cause the OP excerpts, he's really just parroting what is demonstrably the NoA corporate culture and mantra. Reggie has made the same kind of comments when pressed about stuff like white 3DS's or games passed over for localization. I guess it was strictly the Simpson's comic book man impression that did him in?
 

Owensboro

Member
Was a dumb move in hindsight, but I don't think he should have being fired imo.

Welcome to the internet age where anything you have said can blow up and get you fired in less than a week.

I assume the reality of the situation is that Nintendo had to prove a point more than they "wanted" to fire the guy. This is a hell of a way to drive the point home to other employees to not go on podcasts. Is it right? Probably not, but I sure as hell wouldn't speak candidly on a podcast about my job if this had happened recently.
 

Leatherface

Member
Hey GAF, can we use the power of the internets to get this guy his job back? We all screw up sometimes, I don't feel this should have cost him his job though. I feel like his dreams have been destroyed. :(

Petition!!
 

Shenmue

Banned
I dunno but maybe management already wanted to fire him and this was just the perfect opportunity to avoid an unlawful termination suit. Happens all the time.
 
D

Deleted member 47027

Unconfirmed Member
Hey GAF, can we use the power of the internets to get this guy his job back? We all screw up sometimes, I don't feel this should have cost him his job though. I feel like his dreams have been destroyed. :(

No, you can't undo this shit.
 

Verger

Banned
It's too bad. He gave us some insightful commentary on Nintendo's reasonings for not localizing some games. And they do make perfect business sense.

I have no idea why people got offended by this.
 

Mael

Member
I'm sure this narrative driven drivel of a thread had nothing to do with. I'm suuuuurrreeeee.

I spent the last week in a miserable place once the podcast began getting coverage. I was instantly scared when a coworker poked me and said, "Hey, you're on GoNintendo." Suddenly article after article began appearing in game sites of all languages. Comments sections painted me as an idiot and the like. My Twitter started giving me hourly reminders from people meaning well and otherwise. It seemed unthinkable that I'd be let go for a single moment of poor judgment and my own misunderstandings, but here we are.
It got spin so bad in Japan
very very bad spin

http://blog.esuteru.com/archives/8288093.html

and I known it gotta be big deal there (at nintendo)

but as big as firing someone is very sad

Even if Gaf stayed silent he wouldn't have kept his job.
 

Kanann

Member
I read it through auto translate but could you give me a better idea of how it got spun?

He talking about Xenoblade, but all there show and main interest in comment are about Xenoblade X

the direction they want to lead is "Xenoblade X is failure and don't deserve localize"

「ファンはローカライズして出せって言うけどそんなに売れない。ゼノブレイドクロスも赤字確定」
Fans want game to get localize but don't buy it
Xenoblade X is "red letter" too
 
I don't have the time currently to read through all 11 pages of this thread, could someone sum up why people got mad? I read the OP and I can see why some of his comments were controversial but what was the internet blow up and why is it being seen as part of the reason the guy got fired?
 
D

Deleted member 47027

Unconfirmed Member
I don't have the time currently to read through all 11 pages of this thread, could someone sum up why people got mad? I read the OP and I can see why some of his comments were controversial but what was the internet blow up and why is it being seen as part of the reason the guy got fired?

Basically the combo of:

1 - Their dollar is actually insignificant in the company's eyes (and truly is insignificant)
2 - The suggestion Nintendo fans may have nasally voices

Reason he got the boot is he went onto a podcast, representing Nintendo (even if you say you aren't, you are) and dropped privileged information
 
Basically the combo of:

1 - Their dollar is actually insignificant in the company's eyes (and truly is insignificant)
2 - The suggestion Nintendo fans may have nasally voices

Reason he got the boot is he went onto a podcast, representing Nintendo (even if you say you aren't, you are) and dropped privileged information

People got upset that the guy made the fans sound stupid. Also he made nintendo of america sound like they were too scared to spend money and that they hid behind nintendo of europe to save the day. The only reason we got Xenoblade is because Europe took the financial hit to do all the translation work.

Ah ok, thanks. Well, while I feel sorry for the guy he should have known that you gotta be careful with a company like Nintendo. :/ Of course hindsight is a wonderful thing but I hope he lands on his feet.
 
I don't have the time currently to read through all 11 pages of this thread, could someone sum up why people got mad? I read the OP and I can see why some of his comments were controversial but what was the internet blow up and why is it being seen as part of the reason the guy got fired?

People got upset that the guy made the fans sound stupid. Also he made nintendo of america sound like they were too scared to spend money and that they hid behind nintendo of europe to save the day. The only reason we got Xenoblade is because Europe took the financial hit to do all the translation work.
 

Mael

Member
People got upset that the guy made the fans sound stupid. Also he made nintendo of america sound like they were too scared to spend money and that they hid behind nintendo of europe to save the day. The only reason we got Xenoblade is because Europe took the financial hit to do all the translation work.

Again that's not really the problem with Xenoblade, if they have a very full year they can't do everything at once. If they delegate to NoE it's fine.
The part about making an extremely limited release and barely producing the stuffs is where NoA is shit.
 

pizzacat

Banned
You nerds stole his life because of some boring rpg smh




what he said wasn't necessarily wrong tho, I feel bad for him
 
I feel unbelievably bad for the guy but i cant really see how it came as much a surprise.

a non marketing non pr position goes and makes a bunch of statements not approved by a company, and isnt nintendo pretty notorious for controlling messaging?
 

Brandon F

Well congratulations! You got yourself caught!
Didn't listen to the podcast, what was said outside of the OP stuff? There has to be more, cause the OP excerpts, he's really just parroting what is demonstrably the NoA corporate culture and mantra. Reggie has made the same kind of comments when pressed about stuff like white 3DS's or games passed over for localization. I guess it was strictly the Simpson's comic book man impression that did him in?

This. I guess I need to listen to the podcast for more details, because during the operation rainfall period, Reggie stated almost the exact same position regarding localization concerns as the OP quoted.

Even still, just based on the OP quote highlights, absolutely nothing new was gained from that appearance that hasn't been argued or inferred to death already for years. No revelatory insights or damning new information.
 
Didn't listen to the podcast, what was said outside of the OP stuff? There has to be more, cause the OP excerpts, he's really just parroting what is demonstrably the NoA corporate culture and mantra. Reggie has made the same kind of comments when pressed about stuff like white 3DS's or games passed over for localization. I guess it was strictly the Simpson's comic book man impression that did him in?

Reggie in his position is allowed to speak to the press, and is likely still coached by marketing about what topics he should avoid. This guy did not have company approval to talk about internal processes and proceeded to do so anyways.

I'm actually glad he got fired. Any other company should have and would have done exactly the same thing. If you've ever worked for any reasonable company, you know how strict these kind of rules are, and why they are so strict.
 

wrowa

Member
You're glad he got fired? Just what is wrong with you. Him working at Nintendo or not, is in no way influencing your life, so being glad for someone losing his job is just nasty.
 
You're glad he got fired? Just what is wrong with you. Him working at Nintendo or not, is in no way influencing your life, so being glad for someone losing his job is just nasty.

If this sort of thing was not punished severely (and I don't even believe firing is that severe in this case - they could go after him in court), it would happen more often, and could cause immeasurable damage. It might not be nice if a father of two young children is jailed for 5 years for robbing a store because he was poor, but again, I'm not going to let every father of two rob stores without being punished because it's sad.

Anyone had to have known what they were doing in that position (again, I've worked for very similar companies as Nintendo) was 100% against company policy. It's not like he thought he was doing the right thing and should be surprised.
 
Fuck off with this nonsense. The hell is wrong with you?

Read my earlier reply. Firing is the correct response to this. I am glad because Nintendo took this seriously as they should've. If they threw a huge lawsuit at him for breach of contract or something like that - ok - too far. This is the correct response to a significant breach of company policy. You might not see it that way - but I've worked in large companies, and even worked on these sort of policies, and I've seen the damage that can be done from these sorts of breaches.

If I did the same thing at my company, I would expect to be marched out the door the next day.
 

Shenmue

Banned
Read my earlier reply. Firing is the correct response to this. I am glad because Nintendo took this seriously as they should've. If they threw a huge lawsuit at him for breach of contract or something like that - ok - too far. This is the correct response to a significant breach of company policy. You might not see it that way - but I've worked in large companies, and even worked on these sort of policies, and I've seen the damage that can be done from these sorts of breaches.

If I did the same thing at my company, I would expect to be marched out the door the next day.

You do have a point there. If Nintendo had sued him it would have been a way bigger headache than just losing your job.
 
If this sort of thing was not punished severely (and I don't even believe firing is that severe in this case - they could go after him in court), it would happen more often, and could cause immeasurable damage. It might not be nice if a father of two young children is jailed for 5 years for robbing a store because he was poor, but again, I'm not going to let every father of two rob stores without being punished because it's sad.

Anyone had to have known what they were doing in that position (again, I've worked for very similar companies as Nintendo) was 100% against company policy. It's not like he thought he was doing the right thing and should be surprised.

There are plenty of ways you can punish someone without firing them. Maybe this wasn't his first strike? We can't know. I hope it wasn't, because just even if it is out of line, he didn't do much, if any, damage with what he said. Maybe they have a zero tolerance policy, but it still sucks that a guy lost his job.

What is it konamis doing nowadays, making them clean toilets?
 
There are plenty of ways you can punish someone without firing them.

What is it konamis doing nowadays, making them clean toilets?

Sure, you could. But in any company with valuable secret information, giving unauthorized interviews containing any discussion about company workings is more than enough grounds for instant termination. First strike, second strike - this is the real world. These things don't exist. He broke one of the most serious company policies - what do you people expect Nintendo to do?

I am amazed that there are people here who think that isn't the case. To those of you who think this is harsh - please be careful out in the workforce.
 

Kandrick

GAF's Ed McMahon
Pathetic somebody lost their job over this. This is a part of the reason the gaming community irritates me.

People losing their job over this sort of thing is not a rarity. Also i don't see what it has to do with the "gaming community" because it happens in every industry. That's part of the corporate world.
 
People losing their job over this sort of thing is not a rarity. Also i don't see what it has to do with the "gaming community" because it happens in every industry. That's part of the corporate world.

Im talking about the over-reaction in the gaming community to every small detail.
 

Ninjimbo

Member
Hey GAF, can we use the power of the internets to get this guy his job back? We all screw up sometimes, I don't feel this should have cost him his job though. I feel like his dreams have been destroyed. :(

Petition!!
I'd sign one. Mob mentality probably got this guy fired. Maybe it can get it back.

I sincerely doubt it though. Bending back to outrage isn't a way to conduct a business.
 

Kurtofan

Member
Hey GAF, can we use the power of the internets to get this guy his job back? We all screw up sometimes, I don't feel this should have cost him his job though. I feel like his dreams have been destroyed. :(

Petition!!

It doesn't matter if shit hit the fan overseas.
 
The point of view at NOA is that if the individual project to localize won't make money, then it shouldn't be done. This a very legitimate argument.

The better argument is that they should localize everything, even the niche products because it will make for a bigger and better catalog overall, and will garner them more users. Captain rainbow may tip 10k potential buyers over the edge, at which point they'll also pick up 3 mario games and 2 zelda games, and eventually other games as well.
 
Top Bottom