discussion IGN writes huge Nintendo expose!

[tiagol88]

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Inside the Growing Discontent Behind Nintendo’s Fun Facade

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In contrast to the ultra-modern facilities nearby, many of the workers are toiling away on outdated equipment and software, with software that looks like it's running on Windows XP and a database that dates back to the 90s. Until just a few years ago, it was still possible to find bins of old VHS tapes filled with bug recordings in the PTD area. Secrecy, constant software crashes, and the ever-present need for translation of messages from the Japanese headquarters frequently slows work to a crawl.

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A large percentage of the workers inhabiting this building are contractors, many of whom increasingly see themselves as second-class citizens with no hope of earning one of the coveted red badges that can grant them unfettered access to the building just across the way (or even just the soccer pitch, which is also off-limits). That building doesn't just represent more comfort; it stands for job security, career progression, and even a basic professional respect that many contractors don't feel in their day-to day life at the company.

 

The contrast between the two buildings reflects the difference in how Nintendo likes to present itself – a technological imaginarium that puts "smiles on people's faces" – and the less glamorous reality. Outside of carefully controlled marketing moments, NOA has rarely afforded a glimpse of what it's actually like to work for one of the most famous video game companies in the real world. But recent reports have former employees and especially contractors finally opening up, and their stories reveal a Nintendo that can be very different from its cheery marketing

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They talk about the bureaucracy involved with being a contractor at NOA, describing how they would have to account for virtually every minute of their day on a timesheet, breeding paranoia about leaving their desk for even a minute lest Microsoft Teams mark them as idle. At one point, tired and ill amid a strict schedule, they attempted a tried-and-true trick from The Simpsons — using a household item to depress the insert key to keep the idle message from appearing.

 

"It was like Homer with the bird, except I didn't cause any problems at the Nuclear Plant... You couldn't even really go to the bathroom without someone noticing you were away from your desk," they remember.

 

"It was to the point that I was very surprised to see [threads criticizing Nintendo] because I didn't think there were that many people who would be willing to talk about it," IGN's source remembers.

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One source estimates that demand for localization writers and editors has nearly doubled over the past three years – particularly as Nintendo has forged its way into areas like the mobile space – but that there have reportedly been no full-time hires within Nintendo's localization team in that period. Instead, NOA has relied more and more on contractors, known internally as "associates," who make up nearly half the English localization staff.

 

It has put a strain on not just contractors, but on full-time employees as well. With associates required to take a two month break between 11 month contracts, project managers have to scramble to organize and reorganize workloads in order to account for the varying resources and bandwidth.

 

Another hidden cost of relying on contractors is a higher rate of turnover. At just 4.7 percent, Nintendo of America has notably lower turnover than other tech companies, which average closer to 13 percent. NOA employees are known for staying for years or even decades at a time – many of the people that IGN spoke with know at least one person who had been around since the NES era. By comparison, contractors are far more likely to leave after less than a year with the company, leaving full-time employees to start from scratch in terms of experience and training.

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Jenn, meanwhile, left for very different reasons, though it was no less bittersweet. After years of pursuing a full-time position at NOA, she finally gave up after being declined a position. Jenn had been earlier forced to return home in the midst of the interview process due to the death of her sister, leading the interviewer to tell her that she had “attendance issues.” 

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Jenn remembers the battle to allow contractors to march with Nintendo of America in the annual Pride parade.

"Here I am ⁠— transgender, bi, and on top of that, Mexican…I'm sitting there with a straight white woman and a straight white man discussing the Pride parade, and yet I was the only one there who was qualified to be in it," she says. "My manager at the time actually asked about it and took it to a fight with upper management, and that is the only time I’ve ever seen where the associates were allowed to mingle with the NOAs [a colloquial term for full-time employees] was the Pride parade. Because he had fought for it, and he had fought for that hard apparently. And even then as far as I know it was only the one time…and several of my gay, and bi, and lesbian friends were amazed that happened at all… and so was I, honestly."

 

In areas like customer support, the attendance policy is so strict that it's possible to be fired for missing three days of work. Jenn describes an incident in late 2019 in which a sick employee came to work so they wouldn't be fired, sending their illness sweeping through the call center.

 

 

This is a huge ass expose...i have yet to read it all but wow. 

Usually japanese companies (even their western HQs) are quite...secretive...but this is interesting.

 

Anti-lgbtq (we knew that already), outdated...

[Comedor]

TLDR

[ChapelHooker]

A multi-billion dollar company exploiting their employees and not seeing them as human beings? Well, this is shocking!!

 

 

[Sesame]

24 minutes ago, tiagol88 said:

In contrast to the ultra-modern facilities nearby, many of the workers are toiling away on outdated equipment and software, with software that looks like it's running on Windows XP and a database that dates back to the 90s. Until just a few years ago, it was still possible to find bins of old VHS tapes filled with bug recordings in the PTD area. Secrecy, constant software crashes, and the ever-present need for translation of messages from the Japanese headquarters frequently slows work to a crawl.

You know this is real because they’re only making products that look like it only runs on said software/hardware. 
 

Anyways, Nintendo is a disgusting company wbk, people who stay funding them are enabling it. 

[fountain]

A lot of this is not surprising really, but it's interesting to see it openly talked about. For some reason Nintendo is often looked at with rose coloured glasses, but ultimately it is a company like many others under capitalism that in reality are more often than not truly horrible places to work for the average employee (ironically, IGN themselves are even an example of this). I don't think this strictly says anything unique or compelling about Nintendo itself (other than the fact that people need to realise they are really no different to other companies), but is certainly very eye opening when it comes to looking at capitalist society. 

[LoveInStereo]

The bit about "I'm the only one qualified to run the Pride parade" is so ridiculous. Giving people duties contingent on their gender or sexuality is the definition of discrimination in the workplace. And an exclusionary Pride where the only people organizing it are LGBTQ isn't realistic. Materially, it would suck. That's why we need allies. Guess people forgot what it's like to not have support. If we keep it up with the nastiness, we're gonna remember really fast. I'm sure if there weren't any straight people helping out, they'd twist that into a sign of prejudice too

[FattMatt]

5 minutes ago, Comedor said:

TLDR

not you self dragging your attention span like the nnn reading is fundamental

 

OT: I would have been more surprised if the opposite came out. It's the largest gaming company in the world I would have expected many things before decency towards works on the lower end of the hierarchy.

[SwiftLover]

The checks must've bounced

Faking your sales figures can get expensive 

[Pikachoo]

 

oh please

 

1) girl, sit down with your 'i'm transgender, bi and mexican'. wtf does being mexican have to do with a pride parade?

2) the video game industry is notoriously difficult to be in. anyone will tell you this; it's hardwork for an above average salary. nothing new.

3) this is what working for a Japanese company is like. this is their work culture. doesnt matter if it's the NA office; it's how Japanese companies do things.

 

this is not an expose, this is 'we been knew'

[WildAmerican]

all this, and they still haven't released a good game in years?

[Pop]

shill fanboys running in to defend a literal CORPORATION  love yourselves, losers 

[arceus]

I will still keep promoting and buying Nintendo products  I don't care with some unnamed associates who literally can fabricate this kind of things. 

 

In other news:

Game Freak announces optional four-day work week

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2022-04-26-game-freak-announces-optional-four-day-work-week

Edited May 3, 2022 by arceus

[Hephaestus]

Can’t say that I’m surprised 

[Archetype]

This is more of an expose on how tech companies treat CONTRACTORS, which is a key distinction to make.  Contractors are independent and cannot claim NOA is their employer, and they get zero benefits along with lack of access to the same office perks as full time employees.  They are often strung on for years sometimes with the promise of a full time employee position, but the reality is that these companies often do not want to invest in full time positions for the types of jobs or areas they hire contractors for, and yet, they still need the work to be done.  It's sad.

[Jotham]

I'm not surprised.

[Newt]

Yikes

 

The snippets of information don't surprise me at all. It's obvious they are a hyper-greedy corporation making dated games for children, despite whatever any stan tells you. At the minimum, no better than any of their competitors. Looking forward to the full read 

[manwhore]

Welcome to the real world. These Nintendo fan boys grew up in clouds and in a constant  state of fairy  tale delusion so in their mind landing that  coveted Nintendo internship would be a life long dream. These grown men are now grown and having to clock in and have every single moment of their work life monitored (like the rest of working class/middle class do.) Oh the horror!  

 

They were just immature incels disillusioned by Pokémon not coming in to save the day.  Shocking . It's always the Nintendo hardcores like this that lack self awareness and are so out of touch with reality.  I blame the parents. They probably still got them a GameCube at 16. Instead of engaging the strippers in grand theft, they were tickling baby pokemon and sleeping next to Pikachu plush dolls. Sony and Xbox fan boys never had these problems in adulthood. They understood the context of real life. 

Edited May 4, 2022 by manwhore

[Blue.]

I am not gonna read all that, why doesn’t people know how to summarize lmao

[tiagol88]

16 minutes ago, Blue. said:

I am not gonna read all that, why doesn’t people know how to summarize lmao

It's called journalism. Usually it's more than a tweet.

[manwhore]

4 minutes ago, InventedGays said:

This site always blows me away with the weird & delusional fanfics yall write

Oh sweetie I'm so sorry this is real life. I only spilled teaaa.  Sorry 

Edited May 4, 2022 by manwhore

[RyuHinode]

this is why i am team Sony

[feelslikeadream]

I expected an actual expose from the title  The TLDR of this is that late capitalism sucks for contracted workers. This is not even a Nintendo-specific issue and would only surprise someone who has no idea how contract labor works in the US (which is increasingly common in recent years, across many sectors).

 

1 hour ago, RyuHinode said:

this is why i am team Sony

I haven't heard much about Sony's use of contractors or work conditions. Do you have any sources you could share? I'd be interested to learn more, as both a Sony and Nintendo gamer.

[scenekiller]

3 hours ago, Blue. said:

I am not gonna read all that, why doesn’t people know how to summarize lmao

Imagine openly flaunting stupidity like this

 

ot: as already stated, this is specifically about contracted workers. There’s a lot to be said in support of them, but it hardly says anything about Nintendo specifically as a company.

[Robert]

Unfortunately this probably happens in a lot of companies/industries where they go through contractors giving workers less rights and probably costing them more in the long run because they’re hired via third parties.

[Mr.Link]

I’ll think about it next time I order a videogame, maybe. Not really.