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Major Shakeup in Nintendo of America Brass?
Last month Game Informer Online was reporting that Nintendo of America's (NoA) marketing and sales team was being moved away from the company headquarters in Redmond. The likely new home cities for staffers were either New York or San Francisco. Either way, it seems as if that choice didn't sit well. GI is now saying that 90% of the folks in those departments have opted not to move, and instead are taking severance packages. Surprisingly, this includes three of NoA's biggest names: Senior Director of Public Relations Beth Llewelyn; Vice President, Marking and Corporate Affairs Perrin Kaplan; and Senior Vice President, Marketing and Corporate Communications George Harrison. At the moment there is no official confirmation from Nintendo, but if true this would constitute huge change in the message from the company in North America.
Weird. I mean, I can see if they were being asked to move to like Dallas or Detroit or something, but why wouldn't you want to move to New York or San Francisco?
So, where do I mail my resume to? Its-a-me, new hire!
I read the articles and didn't see a reason why they're moving their marketing department away from headquarters.
Marketing seems to me to be one of those departments that would be about as effective regardless of the geographic location of its employees. Is this just a thinly veiled way to lay off a lot of people without making themselves look like the bad guys?
It's about time that corportations got the message that they are not the most important thing in life, that telling everyone to pull up stakes and disrupt the rest of their lives is not a nice thing to do. Maybe other corps will think twice about closing locations where they have people they don't want to lose.
There are Wiis on shelves in your area? Seriously? My brother still regularly calls stores in the area looking for a Wii. So far they are still completely absent from Best Buy, CC, EB, Target and Wallmart in my area.
;)
Maybe my area is the exception rather than the norm. Either case, want to send one my way?
I'll believe in corporations having personhood when Texas executes one... - advocate_one
I don't see how having highly anticipated games like Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Super Mario Galaxy would make the list "a complete disaster".
Didn't Tom DeMarco & Tim Lister tell us that corporations that try to move locations always get massive turnover in stay-put employees followed by moderate turnover in disaffected transported employees with the net result being huge cost to HR and Productivity over time from when the move is announced to about a year after it's completed? This is in Peopleware; it's not like it's a new book.
Why is it that so few managers read books like Peopleware or The Mythical Man Month, anyway? I just want to be a software developer but I swear I'm having to explain to them why they're failing to do their job...
You're aware that neither of those titles have release dates, right?
This is really those people getting fired. NoA has just provided them with an excellent B.S. excuse, that's all.
I'm going to guess N is pretty ticked off that the DS is not selling more units, and that "Brain Age" isn't selling better. Nintendo was hardly impressed by the Pokemon sales, since they could take a dump in a box, slap a Pokemon label on it, and it would sell millions of units.
Yes, but Nintendo has announced them as part of their 2007 titles. Well, at least for Japan. http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid= 24672
CEO: Ok... looks like we're going to have to lose a few people... PR: But... the public will hate us! COO: Let's relocate sales and marketing to Podunk, AL CEO and PR: What a glorius idea!! Seems like it is a nice way to cut your workforce in half...(or in a tenth) Except if.... One week later Stockholder: You dumb #$%@s! We had 5000 people quit and it brought our share prices down Cheers!
Atheist: Buddhist in a Prius
Really? I've got one because I lucked out and found a store that had 2 left, there were 2 other people in line, and one had their credit card declined. My sister tho, is still looking for one at all the stores.
Are you sure you're thinking of the right console? The Wii is a smallish white box and a PS3 is a shiny black box. Be sure you have your colors right, because I've seen loads of PS3s sitting on the shelves, but no Wiis
Ditto for ATL(anta)... There are people who have used it for a few months and then sold it at a $50 markup on craigslist...
Atheist: Buddhist in a Prius
First, while I am not a staunch defender of the California bay area (even though I am living here for now), Oakland is the city you move to if you are interested in significantly increasing your risk. San Francisco is not without problems, but the crime rate difference is noteworthy.
m ?c1=Oakland&s1=CA&c2=San+Francisco&s2=CA
m ?c1=New+York&s1=NY&c2=San+Francisco&s2=CA
m ?c1=Seattle&s1=WA&c2=San+Francisco&s2=CA
m ?c1=Berkeley&s1=CA&c2=San+Francisco&s2=CA
_ quarter_NAR_prices/index.htm?postversion=200705151 4
http://oaklandca.areaconnect.com/crime/compare.ht
Of course, New York is a bit safer than San Francisco in a general sense...
http://oaklandca.areaconnect.com/crime/compare.ht
However, you are trading murder for carjacking and other items in Seattle...
http://oaklandca.areaconnect.com/crime/compare.ht
Finally, they could always try to live in somewhere like Berkeley...
http://oaklandca.areaconnect.com/crime/compare.ht
A much better reason though for not moving here is the hyperinflation of the cost of housing has not subsided-the bubble is in full effect here.
http://money.cnn.com/2007/05/14/real_estate/first
Just because you get modded "insightful" on Slashdot doesn't mean you actually are in real life.
Unfortunately, those soon unemployed in the wake of Nintendo HQ's impending exodus are the ones paying the real price. I salute those folks who chose to leave Nintendo rather than just pick up and move.
That said, though, I seriously doubt the suits calling the shots even lose a single night's sleep over it. In an increasingly competitive corporate world, this kind of thing happens all too often.
No release dates, but Nintendo recently stated (explicitly) that these games would be released before 2008.
There was even a slashdot article on it.
Thunderclone: ONE MAN ENTERS! TWO MEN LEAVE! ONE MAN ENTERS! TWO MEN LEAVE!
I'm wondering about how true this "move" is. You'd think with such high profile people being lost there'd be something, well, official?
I realize Game Informer is a major gaming magazine, but it still seems really odd. "Sources" or no, Harrison and Kaplan are pretty important in the hierarchy of NoA, and I find it really weird that Nintendo would silently move/remove all of these people without announcing anything at all.
Not to mention how little sense it makes to move marketing so far away from headquarters.
Thunderclone: ONE MAN ENTERS! TWO MEN LEAVE! ONE MAN ENTERS! TWO MEN LEAVE!
First Howard leaves Nester, and now this...
Slashdot Burying Stories About Slashdot Media Owned
Kind of makes business sense for a marketing office. NY is a center for old media and SF for new. On the other hand, maybe Reggie is getting tired of the rain and wants to live in NY or SF.
[Insert pithy quote here]
Not seen that myself in the UK. In our area when shops to get them they put big signs outside saying "Wii now in stock", they had that outside for a grad total of 3 hours before they'd had to take them down because they'd sold them all.
That doesn't seem like they are struggling to sell them to me.
Also, I just spent the whole of today playing on my wii - so I've not left it untouched for months
*''I can't believe it's not a hyperlink.''
Not suprising they didn't want to go back.
We get a lot of refugees from there and Cali.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
across the street to microsoft...
Maybe the NoA black ops in Redmond have finished their job and they're bugging out to a more sensible location before the "Earth shattering KABOOM?"
Or perhaps it was the other way around? Did anyone else think it odd that Nintendo had named their box the "Revolution" and MS named theirs the "360?"
Think about it.
--
Toro
The best place to get a Wii is a Toys'R'Us. I got one in the ATL a month ago. They get shipments every Sunday morning and open at 11am. I had to stand in a line for 30-minutes, but was number 3 in line. There were 15 units that morning and all were sold by 12:30pm.
Go to the store on Saturday night, ask how many they'll have Sunday morning. If there's more than 10 units, you can probably get one without waiting in line.
Humans aren't social creatures, after all. We're designed to live far apart from each other -- at least far enough apart that you can drive for an hour in any direction without seeing anybody. We also need to get away from all of the physically dangerous things provided in cities such as running water, hospitals, and electricity.
Next time you want to make a completely bullshit claim, though, you might want to back it up with some proof.
To be fair, they *would* have sold more, but they couldn't keep up with demand, even after downing heroic quantities of laxative tablets.
"Slashdot - News and Chat Sites Deviant". (Click "homepage" link above for details).
I personally find this to be quiet intreging that many of you are still having trouble finding a Wii. In my area I can stop by any local BestBuy or Walmart and get a console easily. Reasons for Nintendo to move there Marketing to New York could be a bunch of things. Easy way of removing management hands, or changing there targeted geographic model towards a different market.