How Nintendo Avoided Massive Layoffs

[@fortimusprime]

I still get emotional when people talk about Iwata. His name was in the end credits of nearly every game I played. No game has left the same impact ever since except BOTW and TOTK. But Satoru Iwata is who made the games I loved the most growing up.

[@MAGACOPP]

Wow. You are a clown.

[@avenged-khaos]

i wont deny that iwata was a great dev and leader but its japanese legal obligation for the ceo to cut their salary or find the money elsewhere before layoffs

[@Abe_Putnam]

And Iwata was heavily involved in the early stages of Botw.

[@Drewkhat]

Nintendo knows the magic and nostalgia their work produces is immeasurably valuable. People write off video games as a waste of time but if you’ve actually sat there and played an OG Nintendo game as a kid, you know they are something seriously special and important

[@21b4ll3r21]

i can never understand why gaming gets such a bad wrap.. it’s a hobby like anything else, yet sitting down and watching tv and movies is normalized while gaming is much more interactive and gets your brain working lol

[@Saixjacket]

@@21b4ll3r21it’s because for most, video games aren’t getting them laid, made, or paid. Simple.

[@Ziegfried82]

@@Saixjacket that goes for most hobbies though. You're not gonna get laid playing chess, highly unlikely to get paid doing it too. Same with camping, or hiking, etc. There's a few hobbies with that overlap but not many.

[@MrVariant]

Lol 2 words: milk mario 😂. Though I am tired with so many Mario games, but I did like the switch online tennis minigame. I got luigi's mansion 3 and paper mario origami king so I'll pass on the upcoming remakes of older stuff. Peach was ok and donkey kong was fun.

[@johnfijnvandraat]

​@@21b4ll3r21video games are an Easy target. Violent events happening in your city oh its the Violent video games, people aren't working as much oh they are just playing games all day while living in their mother's basement. You hear those things all the time because they are an easy scapegoat due to their nature despite the fact that every study on the subject proves that it's associational not causational in both cases

[@skylerparker8871]

Our executive team learned the hard way. After laying off half the company, not only did the best employees not come back, the community learned that our company was willing to cut workers before voluntarily reducing salary and other costs. It turns out our best employees were worth something to other companies, so they had new jobs before the layoff ended. It took offering many benefits and bonuses to get the community to decide we were worth working for again.

[@trumpisgod2535]

You work at McDonald’s stop spamming this comment

[@skylerparker8871]

@@trumpisgod2535 this is the first time I have posted here. You must be a little slow.

[@rumblebeast08]

Unfortunately, there is a shortage of wisdom and morality in the corporate world these days. It really does matter that your company culture is real and not just hollow platitudes.

[@JGComments]

People always learn this one the hard way. We were even dumber, we offered cash incentives to anyone who left voluntarily before our last round of layoffs. Guess who left? The smart useful people! 😂

[@ericolens3]

​@@trumpisgod2535 nice username 😂😂😂 trump is a human and has mortality like the rest of us.

[@ericantone8709]

During Covid, many other companies in our industry cut employee pay or let them go. Our CEO kept everyone's pay the same and fired no one. After things returned to normal, the loyalty in the team to the CEO was unbreakable. We ended up regaining our momentum from before covid and surpassing previous targets.

[@elliottmiller3282]

Satoru Iwata was the 4th president of Nintendo. Nintendo has actually existed for over 100 years and was a family business for most of it. The president of the Nintendo we know, that has focused on video games, was Hiroshi Yamauchi. Iwata is notable because he was the first non Yamauchi president, and the one that spearheaded Nintendo's transition to dominance in the Wii and DS era. The wii was not a failure, and sold over 100 million units. The pay cut Iwata took was in response to the 3DS's initial sales. Initially the 3DS sold for 250$ but was later cut to 170$. This was a huge hit to margins. However, Nintendo makes money from game sales as well. The 3DS sold a respectable 75 million units and 388 million software titles. So the decision was a smart one in the long run.

[@cooleobrad]

Dave meant Wii U when he said the Wii was a failure, probably thought the U was just a typo since it is such a strange name, especially to a non-gamer

[@elliottmiller3282]

@@cooleobrad you are probably correct

[@CmoIsDaNam3i]

​@@elliottmiller3282Was about to type that actually. But yeah, that was 1000% one of the reasons the Wii U flopped, terrible name all around. There is actually a really good video from a guy named Nerrel on KZbin explaining on why it was a flop if you are interested. If you type his name in along with Wii U you can find it. Its really a video on that and one of the few games that flopped from Nintendo, Star Fox Zero, since that game is heavily tied to the Wii U in all the worst of ways. Entertaining video and informative, also hilarious as heck too. lol But yeah, that name is a bad one, I don't expect anyone who doesn't follow games to really get it. It wasn't a good era for Nintendo.

[@evalangley3985]

Dave talked about the Wii U, which he didn`t realize it was a new system.

[@elliottmiller3282]

@@evalangley3985 even hardcore nintendo fans didn't know that lol

[@Whatisthis195]

I hate how layoffs happen in favor of stock prices. The business could still be profitable, but because it didn’t make even more, they lay off. It’s such a terrible way to do business, and one aspect of the stock market I absolutely hate. The way Dave ran his business was amazing, “hey guys, we’re still making money, not as much as we’d like but all is okay for the storm”. Respectable is an understatement, kudos to you and your team Dave👍

[@katiegarcia8255]

I don’t know why it made me teary eyed as he shared how he kept his live event employees and how he explained everything to them. That must have been such a huge relief during such a scary time for everyone.

[@butteryflakycrust4864]

When you are self funded, make sound decisions, and are a person of integrity you can be “outrageously generous”. He lives what he teaches! Just on a larger scale than the rest of us will likely get a chance to do

[@DSLightning21]

Nintendo and Ramsey?! 2 of my favorite things!!! 😊🎮💵 2:57 - Dave intended to say "turbulent WiiU era" since the prior Wii/DS era was successful. But no worries, Dave isn't a gamer so we'll let it pass. But then again, Rachel said in an episode of SMHH that they had a PlayStation... 😉

[@rwdplz1]

Another perfect example of the Wii/Wii U naming failure, that should be taught in business schools.

[@fortimusprime]

It was such a flop despite it being a fantastic console with amazing games.

[@freshfishbowl]

His confusion illustrates exactly why the Wii U failed.

[@fortimusprime]

@@freshfishbowl Agreed. It was a poor choice of words in marketing.

[@priestesslucy]

​@@fortimusprimeEven wiiwii would have been better, at least it's memorable

[@dilbert627]

And then after the failure of the Wii U, they introduced the Switch which is one of the top selling consoles of all time. RIP Iwata

[@Saixjacket]

The switch really changed the game when it felt like Nintendo portables changed the game a few times already. Wizards.

[@creekandseminole]

It's close to outselling the PS2 which will make it the highest selling console of all time

[@cat-pat8310]

Small correction about Iwata. He took a pay cut during the "Wii U" era, not Wii era. The Wii was a massive hit selling 101 million units, while the wii u sold 13 million units. Part of its failure was due to its naming because it sounds like an variant of the wii instead of a brand new console, which is hilarious because you prove that case by making the mistake calling it the "wii" in this story. No one will blame you for that. 😅

[@DavidTheCastle]

In his defense he did have to read a bunch of new terms and words he’s never heard before lmao.

[@der.Schtefan]

It's not only the naming. The whole concept was flawed. They wanted to make the Nintendo Switch, but technology was not yet there.

[@jsward96]

He probably thought the “U” in “Wii U” was a type-O.

[@talyahr3302]

I forgot about the Wii U 😂 I had two Wiis back in the day. Love my Switch 👍🏾 The DS was the best days.

[@evalangley3985]

I am soo surprised to see Dave talking about Nintendo. As a millennial, I am also looked at the Nintendo generation. That company did a lot of good, and Iwata was sure one hell of a President, and my favorite quote from him, referring to what make a game great... "But, is it fun...?!"

[@brandoncarbaugh7994]

In videogames, morale is actually 100% essential, because it's an extremely cutthroat competitive business with extremely high risk / high reward products. Barring exceptions, generally speaking, games have to be AMAZING to turn even a little bit of profit; "good enough" is equivalent to death. And when you're making a creative product, employees simply doing their job, according to your design will only ever produce Good Enough (if that). If you want great, you need all of those employees to be fully jazzed and enthused and giving 110%, taking personal ownership of the game, thinking about the game's shortcomings while they're in the shower or walking the dog, waking up in a cold sweat at 2am with ideas they're excited about and eager to share with their team the following morning. Nintendo understands this. When your product is joy, exceedingly high employee morale is not an idle luxury; it is flatly necessary.

[@iExploder]

To be fair, though, Japanese working culture ALSO encourages you to literally work yourself to death. Nintendo seems to moderate this somewhat, as they must recognize that their employees are an essential and not interchangeable resource.

[@razahrtelvanni2018]

Counterpoint: The tomb raider series was created by running the programmers into the ground. Some even went through divorce but stayed with the horrible work load because the royalty sales would give them a very good salary.

[@brandoncarbaugh7994]

@@razahrtelvanni2018 I did qualify what I said pretty heavily -- "barring exceptions", "generally speaking", etc. And in the case of what you're point out, the cost they paid was in long-term team sustainability. Which is why after a certain point, the Tomb Raider games became the ship of Theseus, all the original minds behind it moved on, and then they all started sucking and the franchise entered a creative coma for about 15 years.

[@razahrtelvanni2018]

@brandoncarbaugh7994 well said.

[@the.danielmason]

As a life long gamer, Nintendo fan, and budding Entrepreneur, I have to say you addressed this extremely well. Nintendo makes some dicey decisions regard their hardware and software, but there Executive Leadership not just in Japan, but globally as well, is an example of how to lead a company. Dave, I might not agree with a lot of your financial advice, but your business advice and leadership is top tier.

[@dannyboots]

Agreed man

[@Walrus286]

Nintendo’s IP will get them through any lows throughout the course of the company’s history and future. The CEO knows that despite lows, the team that makes Mario Kart (for example) is a team that makes a game that people aged 5-70 can play, and will want to play. That’s one of an almost unlimited amount of powerhouse IPs that Nintendo has in their pocket. Mario is the Coca-Cola of video games.

[@the.danielmason]

@@Walrus286 exactly. Nintendo might make some questionable decisions regarding the consumer experience (paying for cloud backups comes to mind) but their IP is where the money is. The Super Mario Movie boosted sales for Mario games by a ton in 2023. They capitalized on that film’s success and it paid off big time.

[@stephenpetersen354]

This is the one of the takes that Dave has that I admire.

[@normILL]

Japan culturally is actually *very* averse to laying people off. Being laid off or fired is very shameful, so it's like being rude, which they're also very averse to. I imagine many Japanese companies would rather fold than lay most employees off if voluntary pay cuts weren't enough

[@objective7042]

On the other coin, if they want you "fired", they'll reassign you to do menial jobs or "the desk in the corner" to the point that you quit the job. Since you quit, and is not considered "fired".

[@noseboop4354]

That might have been true 30 years ago, but today japanese companies employ a majority of part-time contract workers who can be let go at anytime and get much worse benefits than legacy employees. Nintendo is an exception, job security is no better in Japan than the US.

[@josephhood1591]

Sony lay

[@sadbravesfan]

But their work-life balance is even worse than in the U.S.

[@sly2792004]

Keep in mind Japanese companies by law have to cut executives pay first before they can even consider layoffs

[@fauxwarpentertainment5781]

Well crap! That's an interesting tidbit of information I did not know lol.

[@spectre3492]

Imagine that in america

[@darrylbrownstone2553]

Honerable

[@LuisVelazquezLV3]

yep, this is exactly right.

[@stevenc2149]

bushido effect

[@GenerationRx]

Iwata was such a saint, Nintendo in general does it soo well and it shows with their development. Zelda ToTK is a great example of developer retention, the fact that game even runs half as good as it does is pure magic brought together by long retained talent.

[@Gamevet]

Nintendo's problems occurred during the Wii U and 3DS generation. That is when Iwata took the pay cuts. It was the 1st time that Nintendo was taking losses.

[@Richie3Jack]

That's what George Jenkins always felt. He worked for a store and had great ideas that he told corporate about and corporate didn't care. He then started his own business with the mentality that the employees were the most the important people in the business for a variety of reasons, in particular if they were treated far better at his company compared to other employers they would be more loyal and dedicated to his company and that would translate to servicing the customer. The company he founded was Publix.

[@sneakyquick]

I worked at a fortune 500 bank for almost a decade. There were constant layoffs. The first two times they did get rid of some dead weight, but after the third time, they were laying off worker bees who did alot. I had six people leave my dept through attrition and layoffs. I ended up doing six peoples jobs over that time as they left and no one was hired to replace them. I eventually got burned out with no prospects to move up in that company as I was a male and not a minority background, and left for a much better management level position.

[@borrellipatrick]

Mass layoffs in japan is actually difficult to do, it's against the law unless you take other measures first. Nintendo also has a 98% employee rate. People that get in there want to stay for their entire careers 💪

[@y2kcompliant1987]

I would be extremely surprised if Dave would support laws like this in America. At the end he says “it’s called business ethics.” Capitalism in america goes against the very nature of what he describes as “business ethics”.

[@sadbravesfan]

On the flipside the work-life balance is even worse there than it is in the U.S.

[@ramsenn2680]

Great insight. What’s also missing is the retention. Nintendo software does a lot with very little hardware because their engineers and devs have been around 40+ years. They truly appreciate their talent and it shows.

[@scott4825]

Seems like the biggest problem with US corporations is the focus on short term stock values and CEO compensation for such gains. There's a tendency for established corporations not to invest in the long term future (or to do so poorly) and then to get rid of employees because it looks good on a spreadsheet. The CEO shoots up the stock value, gets the stock options, sells their stock and let's the next guy take over the house of cards. Then the company's failure after he leaves only proves how great a leader he was.

[@johnmartin4641]

Stock options typically have a 3-5 year vesting period. If the stock is worth less when it vests than it is now, then the options are worthless if it doesn’t become worth more during the window to exercise those options after they vest. They’re not doing it for their stock options. They’re doing it because they’re either shorting their own stock secretly, they secretly work for a rival, or they’re just plain dumb.

[@Chris-Stewart711]

Never though I would hear Dave talk about league of legends lol

[@SpoonHurler]

Who do you think Dave mains? 😂

[@theninjaofmusic]

​@@BobrystotelesFasting Senna could be another option. He calls it the beans and rice build

[@nick69420lol]

@@theninjaofmusic😂

[@BrooklynRunner11]

Wii era was one of the most profitable eras… this happened in the Wii U era. Also he wasn’t the original CEO; he was the CEO at the time.

[@JCpNK]

Dave talking gaming lol! To be honest this makes me want to buy Nintendo products even more now. When companies treat their employees well I respect that 👍

[@talyahr3302]

I not only like Daves philosophy on this, I love that he was so open about communicating with his team and keeping them updated.

[@sweetfeathery]

Rest in Power Iwata.

[@fernleafmedia]

Now he's playing with super power.

[@micmikhail]

Nintendo has so much CASH on hand that its impressive. They have enough cash reserves to tolerate poor sales for a long time without laying anyone off

[@troygowan1901]

This is a fairly well-known story in the video game world. What is often missed is that it is required by Japanese law for upper management to take paycuts prior to mass layoffs.

[@focusonrevenues]

Never underestimate the incompetence of management. If it makes sense, it is logical, it will save time and money, and makes sense to anyone with logic. DON'T DO IT. On the other hand if it will cost more money, take more time, makes no sense to anyone with logic, DO IT, do it now, and get it done now DAMNIT.

[@coderider3022]

My last employer, 2019, CEO took 350k on 10m turnover with 220 staff. 2024, ceo pay was 480k, 6m turnover with 120 staff. He will sack everyone down to the cleaner to ensure he gets his 5-10% pay rise every year regardless.

[@TheOddOddish]

I cannot beleive that I am seeing Dave Ramsey and Nintendo in the same Title!!! ❤🎉😊 This is awesome!

[@Chussles]

Someone should send this to Phil Spencer.

[@ryukirito2616]

This is why I love Nintendo

[@marie-joseepaulzak1936]

Like Baptist looking for a casserole! 😂😂😂. That’s a new one for me!!

[@JaredKauffman]

Same!! I laughed so hard when he said that! 😂

[@ericchan5055]

Respect to Dave. If I have a company, I’ll do the same

[@CJG1419]

I worked in oil for over 25 years and they do it all the time. I asked an engineer I worked with that was from overseas what the biggest difference was between American companies and European companies and he said greed.

[@HooktonFonnix]

I was laid off while working for Xbox, and now I'm much happier and working at Nintendo. Such a better culture

[@DeadricSummoner]

From my many disagreements with the Ramsey channel on how people’s attitude’s towards work, I finally understand Dave’s perspective and I wish most companies treat their workers like The Ramsey family and Nintendo does. Most companies will just layoff their staff and reopen their positions at a cheaper rate (happened to my mother in the ‘08 crisis). Executive and Senior leadership does have access to resources that often times pay more than their job or in positions where it will not hurt them. I get the channel and I hope more businesses adopt this philosophy. Cutting corners to get put on Mars will only turn it to a gravesite.

[@robd7934]

Very well said! I work in banking and the corporate greed is horrible. Senior management sees staff as units of production who's jobs they want to automated or outsource to Asia just to increase profits.

[@MrTmenzo]

The cow noises 😂

[@BrandonEvans211]

Great video. Small correction: Iwata was not the original CEO. Nintendo is a 135 year old company!

[@Hammid]

Correct!

[@fernleafmedia]

Before the arcade and 8-bit NES era they were known primarily in Japan for making playing cards.

[@fauxwarpentertainment5781]

Speaking from the consumer side too, Satoru Iwata will be sorely missed. The Nintendo Switch has sold extremely well, but customers are starting to feel a little like a commodity due to recent business models. (Nintendo Switch Online for instance is a big problem for people.) It's interesting because just before Iwata died there was the 3DS and the Wii U which were considered kind of unimpressive to consumers and didn't sell well at all. HOWEVER, customers recieved great deals a lot of times. Even then, a lot work was still put into keeping Nintendo's family friendly brand at that time even though those game systems goals were kind of meant to recatch the adult audience again from the Gamecube era and increase 3rd party game development for those systems. I don't know. I love the Switch, but I think Nintendo has lost a bit of their soul once they decided to abandon some of their values by focusing on size. I think a lot of big businesses start to become a ticking time bomb at that point. (Especially with PC gaming becoming so popular and technical literacy rising.)

[@Alexzw92]

Great video Dave. Fantastic insight

[@GoufinAround_]

The Activision Blizzard deal was initially 68.7 billion but when you look it up it ended up costing 75.4 billion dollars. The era of failure when Satoru Iwata and executives took a pay cut to avoid layoffs was during the Wii U era, not the Wii. Nintendo has also existed since 1889. While you are making a great point, I'd make sure that you're reading correctly, or having correct information to read from

[@chrisashford3379]

Dave Ramsey and Nintendo. Two of my circles I never thought would intersect

[@ripplecutter233]

5:40 here's the problem, people still want to work for these companies despite the layoffs. I see lots of people still applying to google etc because they know that even though layoffs are just part of their culture, no one can compete in terms of compensation

[@ogre706]

Mr. Iwata was a truly rare kind of leader.

[@Berrytenor]

Never thought I’d hear Dave talk about video game companies 😂 I love it

[@Bchew762]

This is a great video. Alot of great points!

[@hi-tych]

Dan price did this too. And gave his employees 70k a years salary. And he was told not to. But then his company was making double by a few years. Also, it was the failure of the wii u, so Mr. Iwata took the pay cut because of it. These are examples of great leaders.

[@zenbyo]

Apple did something similar when Steve Jobs came back. When he was given the option of layoffs he basically said they were going to have to innovate our way out of their freefall. He got rid of a lot of products that we liked in order to really concentrate the mac lines to a few models, killed the mac clones, etc and they really changed their image.

[@Helthurian]

That's one of the better aspects of Japan's work culture. Companies are loyal to their staff in the sense that they avoid layoffs at all cost. Wish our culture learned from that. Used to have a lot more loyalty prior to the greed is good era.

[@nicrules77]

dave are you talking about the sequel of the wii, the wii u? the fact ppl got confused just like that shows why it went bankrupt

[@OrganicGreens]

Nintendo ceos and high ranking employs have always have always taken extremely modest salary's compared to western companies. The greed culture we have is insane. huntaro Furukawa: $2.51m Shigeru Miyamoto: $2.02m Shinya Takahashi: $1.61m Satoru Shibata: $1.19m Ko Shiota: $910,000

[@fsisco1]

Nintendo is GOAT!!

[@Tyler-Clark]

RIP Iwata. You'll always be missed.

[@ludwigvonsowell5347]

A sign of a good company is lots of people who have been there a long time. Ask in the interview when was the last time they had layoffs.

[@TyranBatten]

Love seeing Ramsey give props to my favorite game developers

[@danielleclark6554]

I felt this way at Walgreens, and now they cant keep any staff or find any new staff.

[@tracym8952]

Nintendo's corporate history is amazing to read.

[@rovidrivera5476]

I was interviewed once for a Project Manager position at a private company that does simulators for the government. The owner didn't wanted to let people go during covid and lost all their savings and was forced to sell part of the company to keep the employees. When I hear that, I wanted so bad to be part of them. Even I wasn't selected, will never forget him and pray that more companies can be like that. Corporate America sucks.

[@ReVoltyyy]

Damn Dave Ramsey with the “just get pissed on” Bro should come play Halo with me, he’d be a natural.😂

[@johnathin0061892]

The mentality of the employee-employer relationship is completely different in Japan than America. There is often a mutual loyalty between employees and their company, and sacrifice on both end of the relationship is expected. The employee is expected to work hard and put their work first in their lives, and in return the employer takes care of the employee and offers job security to the employee. American corporations just lay people off and replace them with cut-rate H1B foreigners, illegal aliens or outsource the jobs to countries that hate America. The company has no respect for their employees nor respect for their country.

[@Hammid]

God bless Nintendo. Always. Forever.

[@iFYMxDRKNSFALLS]

capcom also a japnese video game company; for those who didn’t know them. Gave its staff raises if i recall it was around 30% increase.

[@AngryVet44]

Thanks Reaganomics, for screwing society with layoffs, stockbuybacks, outsourcing and short term idolization of short term stock prices.

[@fabioalvesshow]

Because they make great games

[@ps5gurus508]

This is Amazing knowledge!

[@nanky432]

The point of corporations lowering salaries during hard times is to address the reality of the business cycle first by allowing a floating rate before making any long lasting cutbacks to the business. The business cycle is what determines if the economy will go up or down, not corporate accounting departments. So by lowering executives and then middle managers salaries you end up lowering your earnings expectations for the year and adjusting to the new realities of the current business cycle. This keeps the business alive and profitable. Now, when the business cycle finally turns back up and goes to the upside this ultimately allows for salaries across the board to bounce back with a vengeance. This is standard business cycle theory and unfortunately according to most MBA accounting programs is considered borderline heresy.

[@mhurford]

“Like Baptists looking for a casserole” 😂

[@whothou]

Nintendo avoid layoffs because everything they offer or sell they sell at a profit. Where as other companies have numerous sectors or teams that work on things that do not produce profits and count on other aspects/products to subsidize their losses. So it's really just a balancing act to keep the subsidizing from bearing to heavily on their profits.

[@jonathannell3377]

I understand the frustration of employees totally get it it's really sad when these big corporations just lay people off we need to have a new mindset sadly you are a tool to them not a person either find a company that appreciates their employees (very rare now a days I know) or expect to be laid off at anytime and always have a resume out there for companies to be looking at you sadly you have to be ahead of the curb now a days you have to job hop and it just hurts you even more but you need to play the game sadly that's how it is look up how to be honest on your resume just like companies do and look for warning signs of bad company management.

[@helmutzollner5496]

Excellent video!

[@DavidJimenez-tt5ok]

3:00 i had no idea that there was a TURBULANT WII ERA i would’ve never guessed it either the WII being probably their most SUCCESSFUL era i learn something new everyday

[@jimartis90]

It was probably a typo. It was the Wii U and 3DS system that weren't performing well

[@DavidJimenez-tt5ok]

@@jimartis90 the 3ds was doing way better than the wii u

[@Beginningtopeak]

That is really interesting because Nintendo went on to release what is considered by many to be their best console in the Switch.

[@Tea4Texas]

Amazing console all around.

[@williamjohnson1668]

I worked at a software engineering company that works with Oil well reports. The programmer/software engineer programs the software by using a compiler/interpreter, is theorized and is developed. They work in teams because not one programmer can do everything him/herself alone. I have been on strike for 10 years because I had 5 jobs in one year and I have a B.S. in Information Systems Security with Honors. Life is sad- you actually have to tell people respect each other!

[@KanazawaKings]

I work in Japan and this is not entirely accurate. There is a sharp legal distinction between permanent employees and dispatch employees. Permanent employees cannot be legally fired without cause which is hard to prove. That means there are a lot of ‘window watchers’ who are employees with outdated skills or lack leadership qualities that just sit at their desks and do nothing. To be honest, I wish employees would be fired more often here and the salaries be given to high quality employees because Japanese employees now make half what US employees make for the same work.

[@jcoul1sc]

how much does hiring cost too

[@EckerKyle]

Throwing Nintendo in the title will boost the algorithm probably, bc here I am.

[@misterlexx2721]

Let's a play. In my Mario voice 😆😆😆😆

[@BadBrad119]

Yes, nintendo did that. That sort of thing speaks directly to the generations that grew up with their products

[@brucewayne2955]

The Wii wasn't a flop. You probably mean the Wii U. That was definitely a flop

[@Andy-Christian]

By the way, every company I have ever worked for, tried to avoid layoffs. The difference between Activision and Nintendo, is that Nintendo wasn't bought out. It's easy for the CEO to say what he said, and try and to stick it out, and end up not having mass layoffs. It's complete different thing if the company is bought out by another company, and the CEO isn't actually in charge anymore. If Nintendo has been sold to another company, I guarantee they would have had layoffs. I know this for a fact, because Japanese companies have in the past, bought out American companies, and laid off thousands of Americans. AST Computers in the 1990s, 3rd largest computer manufacturer in the world. Samsung bought AST Computers, and things worked out for a bit, and then they laid off everyone and closed the company. So comparing Activision, a company bought out, to Nintendo which was not bought out, not the same.

[@jacobhholt]

Coming from an American view, Japan across all industries uniquely have pretty consecutive executive salaries generally speaking. I think if your pay is tied up in stocks to the extreme as most CEO's in America have been for their leadership you get these toxic layoffs. The gaming entertainment industry has been fleecing their labor for over a decade plus and it's a real shame to lose talent.

[@adanos4]

I have to disagree, my experience from working in small businesses is totally different. Owners were only interested in lining up the own pockets instead of keeping employees.

[@ludwigvonsowell5347]

Knew a restaurant owner that pulled crap like that. Which I get staff is high turnover, but that guy is so stressed out he’s likely going to drop dead a 15 years earlier than he otherwise could.

[@sprint7412]

It varies a lot. Some small business owners will cut their own pay to keep things going but others would rather protect themselves. There was one couple who bought a loved small restaurant in my town. Months went by and things seemed normal, but then one day it closed with no warning. Not even the staff knew until they went to work and found it closed with a sign on the door. They spent a few hours there telling the regulars who came that the place was closed and they didn't know why. Apparently the new owners were not paying the old owner what they owed. But oddly they had bought two new cars and moved into a nicer house during those months. They were getting sued and had to close the doors.

[@jamiemarshall8284]

How can u claim this? Maybe the market is retracting and they're over staffed. Maybe its just attrition that will result in a higher caliber work force.

[@pieman7997]

And worth noting Nintendo went on to release the Switch and enjoy massive profits after this!

[@jaredalbin5658]

The Wii U was a flop, not the original Wii.

[@yujiro424]

The Blizzard/Activision acquisition layoffs are an entirely different scenario. It was mostly eliminating redundant positions. You don't need a Head of Marketing when you have a Head of Marketing.

[@goofusmaximus1482]

The Yamauchi family that founded it had the original CEO's of Nintendo until Satoru Iwata. Currently, its Shuntaro Furukawa.

[@Eagleknight815]

Well said to all this! Probably a good reason why I still have my Nintendo today and I don't participate in Blizzard/activision / Xbox / Microsoft.

[@arcticredpanda4598]

Wasn't "no layoffs" a requirement of the Paycheck Protection loan?

[@DericAnslum]

...right...that was the entire point of it...

[@tyg-zw7nn]

Nintendo works with 1 generation/2 generation old specifications which makes things way cheaper. They also fill their timeline in with tons of short spinoffs that sell based on name alone. They don't invest in a ton of big games sadly per gen. Fans are okay with being dripfed little games while waiting for the big releases. They obviously budget well and they work with graphics that are like 2 generations old..so they make hella profit on everything.

[@zultriova89]

I rather they do it like that than layoff or sold the company just because one game not meet sales expectation..

[@tyg-zw7nn]

Yeah it's smart. I just think Nintendo can afford to invest more into games. Which they apparently did... so we'll see. They are building a new building same size as original building. Idk if this will translate into higher output.@@zultriova89

[@Vub.]

Hey Phil Spencer is no where near Bobby Kotick. Phil helped save Xbox.

[@TS6815]

This is great as always, but seeing Dave airdrop into a passion /hobby of mine and not only treat it with dignity and respect (when it's really easy to go for the easy manchild etc jokes) but to validate much of what I see and love from NTDOY and resent from others, is just the icing on the cake!

[@aaronbushue499]

My employer laid of 25 percent the work force the day everything closed

[@itchycroe411]

That actually explains the quality of games and online play the last few years

[@larrye]

NCR is the example Dave is talking about. Corporate greed practically every year causes layoffs.

[@OpenTheWindow]

Larian studios said this pretty recently.