Last week we reported that both Sony Computer Entertainment America and Nintendo of America were saying GAME OVER to a few employees. In the case of Sony the staff reductions are part of a global restructuring, and over at Nintendo it seemed that a portion of the staff wasn’t so interested in being relocated from their Seattle digs.
Today we’re hearing word that the numbers were a bit “off base.” Instead of 80 to 100 employees being laid off at SCEA only a mere 50 or so individuals will have to worry about how they’ll pay their rent, buy food and come up with $600 for a PS3. And as for Nintendo, President Reggie Fils-Aime has stated that last week’s number of 90% of the company’s sales and marketing team departing is also way high. Only 60% of the total workforce in that department is leaving. Fils-Aime did not comment on the whether that 60% does in fact include key executives George Harrison, Perrin Kaplan and Beth Llewelyn.
Additionally, in an interview with the San Jose Mercury News he also said about 55 of those jobs will move to a new office in Silicon Valley, while another 25 jobs will be moved to New York City, and both moves will take place in September.
Articles okay…But I like the picture.
There has been a continuous out flow of experienced employees for the past decade (5000 in 1996, 3400 in 2006); mostly through attrition and severance packages combined with NDA’s. That is saving them a bunch in retirement contributions. Even though the cost of living is high in CA and NY, fresh labor does not cost as much. The labor cost has just gone too high in the state of WA for those who have worked there for over one decade. Nintendo knows how to cut corners. Employees are dispensable commodities. Come and work for the greatest videogame maker ever! A number of us were fired after over decade of services. We had one hour to vacate the premises (they were afraid that we would be disgruntled and steal/delete/destroy, whatever). They gave us a 3-month severance package and that was it. Nintendo shines because of the sweat of fans like me that incompetent middle managers took advantage of. They hide their hanafuda cards pretty well. They morph like pokemons. They’ll deny everything including that John Bauer, former EVP of finance, fucks under age teenagers. They don’t seem to mind molesters. Tell them about it and they’ll deny it. Everything is a rumour there. It’s secrecy from top to bottom. Nintendo has a lot of dirty laundry, but no soap. Somehow when Mario or Miyamoto show their faces, it’s magic to most. Parents, employees, customers forget how rotten the core is.