With the games industry today looking increasingly volatile due to higher costs and mass layoffs of personnel, Games Radar has picked up on a statement by the late Satoru Iwata back in 2013 when the Nintendo 3DS didn’t launch as well as the company had anticipated. Mr. Iwata told investors back then that “layoffs might offer “better short-term financial results” but “employees who fear that they may be laid off” will never produce the same results. Here’s what he told them at the time:
“Regarding why we have not reduced the number of the personnel, it is true that our business has its ups and downs every few years, and of course, our ideal situation is to make a profit even in the low periods, return these profits to investors and maintain a high share price. I believe we should continue working toward this ideal. If we reduce the number of employees for better short-term financial results, however, employee morale will decrease, and 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. I believe we can become profitable with the current business structure in consideration of exchange rate trends and popularization of our platforms in the future. We should of course cut unnecessary costs and pursue efficient business operations. I also know that some employers publicize their restructuring plan to improve their financial performance by letting a number of their employees go, but at Nintendo, employees make valuable contributions in their respective fields, so I believe that laying off a group of employees will not help to strengthen Nintendo’s business in the long run. Our current policy is to achieve favorable results by continuously cutting unnecessary expenses and increasing business efficiency. Thank you for listening.”
What a boss.
I found the article about when he passed away and it had 500 comments. I wonder if there are any articles with more comments. But rest in peace, I still miss him every day.
I took a break in posting a while back to do other things and traffic naturally slipped. It’s doing a-ok now, but those days are gone and the internet is a different place really.
I miss the guy myself and back then after the 3DS first launch worldwide, time was very simpler.
It’s crazy to see how different this site used to be. It feels like world wars were a regular thing in the comments sections back then. I like how I can just talk to people about Nintendo without getting cremated by trolls. I feel bad for you back in the Wii U era, those comment sections are nightmares.
The man who was able to fit Kanto in Gen 2 Pokemon.
He’d probably be ashamed to see how buggy and unfinished the Switch era of Pokemon games was. I mean, forget game design and graphics and whatever… at least the Pokemon games used to run.
I don’t get why those games are so buggy. Like I am shocked with how scarlet and violet turned it. Thousands of people work on those games, I don’t see why they couldn’t optimize them better. I hope wind and waves won’t be a train wreck, I want to be excited for it but with how previous pokemon games turned out, I am scared for what it might be.
It’s not thousands of people. Game Freak is not THAT large.
It’s been a few years now, but I found a video of someone who reviewed a Japanese employer review site and Game Freak was on it. A lot of messages describe outdated tech and senior employees who are more-or-less comfortable with the way things are from their perspective. There were some positive reviews but there were definitely quite a few, “This seemed like it would be my dream job but…”
I have no idea if they’ve modernized a bit or hired more fresh talent. That non-Pokemon game they are developing seems to suggest that have some level of modern capabilities now. I mean, maybe. I guess it depends on how it plays and performs.
I hope that Palworld might actually wake the heads at Gamefreak up and offer something fresh.
Scarlet and Violet suffer so many problems including glitches, rough frame rates and of course they reused the same graphics once again from Sun and Moon instead of using new ones.
Maybe that games are not so buggy and you are talking about stupid sith campaigns you where trapped in internet. I say this after +1400h Pokémon Violet on Switch.
A gem.
Current management is still coasting on his final guidance as president. I don’t have as much confidence in Nintendo’s calls since. They’re fine, but with Iwata they’d be better, doubtless
Spoken like a true boss. Many people and fans was shocked about his upsetting passing and his rare condition in his chest.
❤️
Xbox and Sony don’t seem to understand this ” integrity” concept.
I still remember the story of him cutting his own pay by half to make sure that the company didn’t have to do layoffs when things in the early 2010s were bad. Mad respect for him- you’d never see an American CEO do that.