“Some” contractors will be cut, others will become full-time employees
- by Liam Doolan
It’s been a difficult start for the video game industry this year and now according to Kotaku senior reporter Ethan Gach, Nintendo of America has massively downsized its “small army of contractors” responsible for testing games and hardware.
In an official statement, a Nintendo spokesperson confirmed this change would involve “some contractor assignments ending” as well as the creation of a “significant number of new full-time employee positions”. Nintendo’s American branch will also provide support to the contractors’ agencies during this period. Here it is in full:
Nintendo of America (NOA) has reorganized its Product Testing functions to drive greater global integration in game development efforts. The changes will also better align NOA with interregional testing procedures and operations.
These changes will involve some contractor assignments ending, as well as the creation of a significant number of new full-time employee positions. For all assignments that are ending, the contractors’ agencies, with NOA’s support, will offer severance packages and provide assistance during their transition.
For those contractor associates who will be leaving us, we are tremendously grateful for the important contributions they’ve made to our business, and we extend our heartfelt thanks for their hard work and service to Nintendo.
While Nintendo does not specifically mention how many employees have been impacted, according to Kotaku’s sources (“four current and former employees”), the restructure may affect “over 100 contractors” and “most of those being converted to full-time status appear to be getting moved out of software testing”.
On social media, Gach claims “roughly 120 contractor positions have been eliminated” and mentions how Nintendo wants to internally message this as a move to “better integrate” testing across its offices rather than as a “cost-cutting measure”. The same report says the restructure does not appear to impact existing full-time employees at NoA and suggests there’s been a “lull” in the testing department in recent times – with supposedly no “major first-party games” in the “testing pipeline”.
This latest industry news follows on from mass layoffs and restructures at Xbox and PlayStation in recent months. Various other publishers, developers, and even indies have also experienced some changes.
If we hear about any other relevant industry updates, we’ll let you know.
[source kotaku.com]
Liam is a news writer and reviewer for Nintendo Life and Pure Xbox. He’s been writing about games for more than 15 years and is a lifelong fan of Mario and Master Chief. He’s also got a soft spot for Sonic the Hedgehog.