Nintendo Fires Employee For Speaking About Job On a Podcast

An anonymous reader writes: You may not have heard of Chris Pranger before, but he's one of the localizers that works to bring Nintendo games over to the west. He recently talked about the localization process for a small podcast, providing Nintendo fans some details about how games make it from Japan to the western world. Nintendo's response to the fan interest in the game localizing process? They fired him, of course. It's unclear what statements in specific Nintendo objected to and Nintendo, so far, hasn't explained its decision.

Comments

This doesn't seem unusual.

[Sowelu]

Most places I've been at have a VERY strict policy of not talking to the media or representing the company in any way without permission (usually only PR or execs can do it). If you want people to follow the policy, you have to enforce it, even for the little things.

Re:This doesn't seem unusual.

[gurps_npc]

I am so tired of people saying "you have to enforce it, even for the little things". That is bull crap. Not true at all. Zero tolerance policies cause more problems than they are worth - ALL the time.

One of the worst examples was the kids school that Disney sued. Disney falsely claimed that by giving away or by charging minimal values, it opened them up to law suits from other locations demanding the same treatment. After it happened, Universal gave that school - for free - the use of their characters - Yogi Bear, Scooby Doo, Flintstones, etc. That happened in 1989.

Funny how Universal never ran into any lawsuits demanding the same treatment. Not a single one in all of 26 years.

Zero tolerance parties never make any sense. You do NOT need to enforce a policy for the little things in order to be able to enforce it for the big things. A mere warning is most often more than enough than actual punishment. A letter written to the Day school - offering a $10,000 donation in kind of a license to use the Disney characters would have been more than enough to maintain their copyright. Similarly, a strict warning and perhaps a one day suspension (no pay) would have let this employee off without endangering the "no press" rule's sanctity.

Other examples are very very common. Cops routinely ignore people traveling at 58 mph in a 55 mph zone. Some businesses routinely let people leave early on the day before a three day weekend.

In most cases where someone/some group enforces a rule strictly it's because some shmuck has an agenda to push, not because it enforcing it loosely wouldn't work.

Re:This doesn't seem unusual.

[bws111]

This is a company disciplinary issue. You damn well better apply it consistently or you open yourself up to all sorts of grief.

Your examples are stupid. Disney's policy is that they only license under certain condtions, and that is their right. And they are 100% correct that if they relax those conditions for one group, other groups are going to demand the same thing, something which they do not want to provide. Universal did give the school permission to use their characters for free, but do you have any evidence that any other school approached Universal for the same terms and was refused? If not, then that would explain the lack of lawsuits, wouldn't it?

Yes, cops let people speed a little. However, they let EVERYONE speed a little.

Yes, businesses let people leave early. However, they let EVERYONE leave early.

Re:This doesn't seem unusual.

[Dutch Gun]

It's not unusual at all. I've worked in the videogame industry for many years. You simply don't talk to the public or media about projects you're working on - ever. We all sign NDA agreements which prohibit us from talking about *anything*. I can't even *name* the current project I'm working on, let alone discuss details. I've written official company blogs about the games I've worked on, but they were reviewed by editors, legal, community managers, PR, and so on before being published. When you're sinking ten to a hundred million dollars into a AAA title, a company wants to be incredibly careful about the message being sent out. This developer was part of that world, and unfortunately didn't understand that.

There's a great temptation to talk to media, because people are interested in what happens behind the scenes of some of their favorite videogames. It's a bit of an ego boost to think that people want to listen to what you have to say. It's unfortunate that Nintendo felt the need to fire him instead of giving him a reprimand, but I suppose that's their policy.

Just recently we saw how an ill-conceive blog from an Oracle manager made the entire company look really bad. You can understand why people who aren't trained to talk to the public or the media shouldn't be attempting it on their own. Things are bound to slip our that you didn't really want to say.

Re:This doesn't seem unusual.

[Derekloffin]

Get it right man, it isn't Zero Tolerance, it is Zero Intelligence. Come on now. Seriously though, that is really what Zero Tolerance is about, removing any form of intelligence from the decision making process and assuming that one solution fits all situations. It truly Zero Intelligence. As you say it just doesn't make sense.

Re:This doesn't seem unusual.

[phorm]

Only in equal situations. If buddy is talking about his job and how interesting it is, it's different from talking about stuff that may be a business secret or slamming your employer.

Re:This doesn't seem unusual.

[Marginal Coward]

Zero tolerance policies cause more problems than they are worth - ALL the time.

I'm sensing that you have a policy of zero tolerance for zero tolerance policies. Maybe it's time for a little leeway in this area.

Re:This doesn't seem unusual.

[Anonymous Coward]

I talk about old jobs here on Slashdot all the time in the comments under Anonymous Coward.

Reason? Exactly the reason in the OP. If I was still working for said companies (eg if they were still operating, and not being terrible American companies.) I would never do such a thing working for a company that through a process of elimination could determine I'm the one "leaking sensitive information"

A lot of American company policies are asinine to a point where you can't even get an employment reference anymore. So there is a lot of incentive to spill your deadbeat employer's secrets so that they suffer humiliation and hopefully as a byproduct they improve the situation or go bankrupt and someone else takes their place.

However when you work for a company like Nintendo, or Electronic Arts, you end up with this unfortunate situation where ALL talking to the media is reflected negatively, no matter how polite and nice you are. This is because these companies sell products that can be harmed if talked about... regardless of the context. A Nintendo Employee is clearly not an unbiased source of information, so as much as the employee may talk up their companies products, it will be seen as covering for bad choices made by the company.

Hence, why only employers of "services" can ever get away about talking about their company. Your local ISP or services provided by your Municipal government you can talk positively or pooh-pooh all you want, because ultimately your ISP or Municipal government is the only provider of that service. Talking about key staff though? That's a firing.

Re:This doesn't seem unusual.

[ShanghaiBill]

You are assuming that the summary is correct, and he was fired for explaining the localization process. Far more likely, is that his manager has wanted to get rid of him for a long time, and this was just an excuse. Companies don't just ax an otherwise good employee for one mistake. There is almost certainly far more to it than that.

Re:This doesn't seem unusual.

[Impy the Impiuos Imp]

You also are under no obligation to fund or assist your detractors. The corporation, or more accurately, the owners of it, reserve to themselves the right to speak for their company and product. They hire advertising and legal departments to groom these statements and speakers in some cases.

You, an employee, do not have a right to go out and speak on behalf of the company if they don't want you to. It isn't your company.

Presumably he was aware of this. If not, it's an exercise left to lawyers. And any SJW movement of nerds to refuse to buy Nintendo stuff unless they hire him back.

Put your speech where your mouth is!!!!!!!!

Re:This doesn't seem unusual.

[Anonymous Coward]

It seems Chris' heart was in the right place, but unfortunately he didn't seek approval before discussing company policy. Perhaps working for an open source company would suit his personality better. Best of luck, Chris, and don't let this get you down too badly. Sometimes what seems bad can actually be the best thing to happen to you.

Re:This doesn't seem unusual.

[Fire_Wraith]

That was Oracle though. They're probably contractually obligated to make the company look bad.

If they didn't, it just wouldn't be Oracle.

Re:This doesn't seem unusual.

[Anonymous Coward]

Japanese and Japanese controlled companies are all about the hierarchy, in ways almost no Westerner can imagine. They are little feudal empires, and this peasant dared usurp the rights and privileges of his betters. So he's fired, of course. He should be happy they didn't transfer him to India or Iraq before firing him.

I don't know why this would seem surprising to anyone. Did everyone miss the Konami revelations about how the managers treat their employees?

Unexpected?

[plasm4]

Not that I think it's correct, but wouldn't this be considered a normal response? He's not a whistlerblower so he can't say he's acting in the public interest.

He takes responsibility for it being his own fault

[__roo]

I know a lot of us like to blame people for their own problems, but in this case he knows it's his own fault—which, to me, makes the whole situation even more sad and awful. I feel really bad for him, and I hope he can find a way to come back from this.

From TFA:

“I look around my house and see images of my son and feel such intense shame and crippling sadness,” Pranger wrote on Facebook. “I know that if I can’t find a job at least as good as this one, I won’t be able to provide for my family I’ve lost them their health coverage and their security. I also know that I’ve probably lost a good deal of my friends, just because I know how hard it can be to stay in touch with someone when the convenience of proximity is lost. I’m so sorry to everyone. I’ve failed you. You believed in me and supported me and trusted me and I’ve failed you. I’ve failed me.”

Simple rule

[bws111]

Here is a simple rule - unless you have been specifically authorized, don't talk about your companies business in public. Chances are very good you signed an agreement to that effect.

Re:Simple rule

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes the company doesn't care about you. You are only a tool to make money.

Re:Simple rule

[steelfood]

Even without an NDA, you'd be lucky if you didn't screw up somehow. Not only could you be revealing trade secrets, you could also misrepresent your company, or in the worst case, reveal insider financial or strategic information. Best to keep that line drawn, especially on a public forum.

NDA?

[mongothesecond]

Did he sign a NDA when he was hired? If so, the company reaction wouldn't be that surprising.

Re:I don't get Nintendo.

[gcnaddict]

Literally billions of dollars in cash on hand.

Literally.

Re:I don't get Nintendo.

[ArmoredDragon]

Pretty much all that's holding them afloat is exclusivity for the NES era intellectual property, which they keep re-hashing over and over and over again and their die-hard fans (of which there are a lot) keep buying.

Kind of a wonder how well them and a lot of other Japanese based games developers are holding out. Japan used to be the source of some very good games, especially during the late 80s and 90s, but over the last decade especially they've been crap. That is to say, companies like Square, Konami, Capcom, etc, haven't put out any good games in a LONG time.

Re:He takes responsibility for it being his own fa

[Anonymous Coward]

Holy shit. Sounds like Homie is ready to eat a shotgun. I hope someone is keeping a close eye on him.

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Why is this news?

[steppin_razor_LA]

This is a common and reasonable policy.

Re:Why is this news?

[quintessencesluglord]

Is it? I've noted this blind acceptance of this particular meme, while in the same breath demanding every iota of information (Facebook passwords, credit history, etc.) from prospective employees. And especially in this instance, no actual harm was done to Nintendo, so where is the justification?

People talking shop about their jobs is as old as the hills. The fact that this encompasses new technologies is maybe slightly different, but it is that gray area that the web inhabits between journalism and hobby.

And again, no harm was done by his disclosure.

But now Nintendo gets to look like paranoid control freak even more.

Well played.

Re:Well.

[AuMatar]

No such thing in the US- most employment is at will and they can fire you for anything except a small number of reasons.

Re:I don't get Nintendo.

[gcnaddict]

Seriously, literally over a trillion yen in net assets, also stated as literally billions of dollars.

Re:Well.

[bobbied]

Chances are it WAS in the agreements he signed the first day of work.

With few exceptions, every place I've ever worked had boiler plate non-disclosure agreements that everybody was required to sign their first day. Most places even followed that up with training that explained what could and could not be said.

IMHO, it's NEVER a good idea to discuss work on ANY social media forum in any way. Stuff like this tends to come back to haunt you when you least expect it. It is an especially bad idea to complain about your work, past or present. It is just way to risky and could cause you trouble like this guy is in.

Re:Well.

[JackieBrown]

I have never worked for a company (even when I was an usher sweeping up trash at the movie theater) that did not have a very strict "do not talk to any media about the company" policy.

It's always been a very public and documented rule.

And that was working at a place with no IP or trade secrets.

Re:I don't get Nintendo.

[RogueyWon]

They eked out profits in the N64 and Gamecube generations despite generally poor sales by keeping unit costs down and managing good first party sales.

They basically won the lottery with the Wii - between the quick-fix appeal of Wii-Sports, a very friendly media narrative (portraying them as the plucky underdog) and some well timed first party exclusives in the first 2-3 years of its lifespan, they made an unfeasible amount of money, most of which they banked.

Since then, their luck has run out and their output has generally disappointed. From the last 2-3 years of the Wii's life-span, through the Wii-U's launch and into the present, their gaming activities have generally been loss-making (sometimes startlingly so). However, they've been doing a lot of currency trading on the side, which has meant that some years/quarters they have shown an overall profit based on that. Just as pre-bailout General Motors was sometimes described as a pension fund that made some cars on the side, Nintendo has somewhat become a currency-trading house that makes a few games on the side. For the time being, they aren't going anywhere (and the Amiibo range has given their gaming revenues a boost, though this looks set to be temporary).

The longer term future for the company is more clouded. They've been able to sit on the takings from the early part of the Wii generation for a long time, at least in part because they've been paying out very small dividends to shareholders. The longer term risk is that shareholders will start to wonder what exactly is going on with the management of a company that is sat on a huge pile of cash, but not particularly good at earning more of it.

Shareholder revolts are generally rare in Japan (which hasn't really had a true Eisner-moment yet), but there are already signs of discontent coming out of reports of their shareholder conference calls. Their hesitant move into the mobile gaming market is almost certainly a reluctant sop to shareholder pressure.

Re:This isn't "Tomato" is it?

[Anonymous Coward]

Tomato was Clyde Mandelin. I don't know that he was ever directly under Nintendo's employee, but he was a well known localization expert, working on things like Kingdom Hearts II and Dragon Ball. Too lazy to find proper references, so wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

Nintendo is a weird company...

[__aaclcg7560]

When I became a lead tester at Atari (formerly Infogrames) in 2001, I specialized in Nintendo Gameboy Advanced and GameCube titles for the job security, as none of the other lead testers would touch Nintendo. No wonder. Microsoft and Sony have published standards, but you pretty much have to guess the Nintendo standards as that info was proprietary. It was a constant game of cat-and-mouse in figuring out what Nintendo wanted. I was very good at it. Nine out of the ten titles I tested over three years were Nintendo.

Sigh.

[Anonymous Coward]

freedom of speech (a constitutional right just about everywhere except North Korea)

Show me on the doll what government censored his speech.

Re:I don't get Nintendo.

[the_nightwulf]

Pretty much all that's holding them afloat is exclusivity for the NES era intellectual property, which they keep re-hashing over and over and over again and their die-hard fans (of which there are a lot) keep buying.

F-Zero, Star Fox, Pokemon, Animal Crossing, Pikmin, and Splatoon are examples of Nintendo IP introduced from the SNES through Wii U era that are not related to NES-era IP.

Pretty much all that's holding Sony / MIcrosoft afloat is SUPER 3D SHOOTER CHAMPIONSHIP EDITION 20XX THAT'S NOTHING LIKE LAST YEAR'S VERSION. I don't have any interest in Sony products (I trust I don't need to rehash Sony's shitty anti-consumer policies and products for the audience) but I did buy an Xbox 360 and didn't find much to play that wasn't a sports game or FPS. It collects dust and I'm not finding any attraction to an Xbone, while the Wii U gets frequent use for Smash Bros, Mario Kart, and Splatoon. Hard to understand the hate for Nintendo's "re-hashing" when it's prevalent from every manufacturer, and Nintendo's are actually good.

The other side of the story.

[westlake]

One of the worst examples was the kids school that Disney sued. Disney falsely claimed that by giving away or by charging minimal values, it opened them up to law suits from other locations demanding the same treatment. After it happened, Universal gave that school - for free - the use of their characters - Yogi Bear, Scooby Doo, Flintstones, etc. That happened in 1989.

Disney demanded that the unauthorized 5-foot-high painted figures of Disney characters on the walls of Very Important Babies Daycare, Good Godmother Daycare, and Temple Messianique (all in Hallandale, Florida) be removed for valid business reasons: infringements must be fought in order to keep trademarks intact; other Disney character licensees would have grounds to object if Disney provided inexpensive (or free) licenses to the centers (which are, after all, profit-making enterprises); and the use of Disney characters falsely suggested Disney's affiliation with the day care facilities.

Universal, still smarting from the early opening of Disney's studio-themed park... saw in the day care controversy a way to seize some publicity for themselves and give Disney a bad name in Florida as part of the bargain. Accordingly, Universal Studios Florida and Hanna-Barbera Productions offered the centers the use of characters from their own cartoons, such as Scooby-Doo, the Flintstones, the Jetsons, and Yogi Bear.

Daycare Center Murals

This was a clever publicity stunt for Universal, but I don't think it has ever shown that Universal really allowed their characters to be used without a license.

The day care centers in question all appear to be defunct. Hallandale, FL Child Care Centers

This is what happens when you aren't paying attention to the licensing of your product: Flintstones Bedrock City in Arizona on Sale for $2 Million, Brontosaurus Included

Because I love quirky roadside attractions, I hope someone does make this place nice again. If not, $5 is a fair price for some rabbit hunting.

I dunno, a lot of us natives love the creepy charm. I've only been once, but would love to go again were there less risk of tetanus.

Re:The other side of the story.

[Raenex]

https://encrypted.google.com/s...

Re:Well.

[AK Marc]

NDA is usually between groups sharing trade secrets. NDA would be a NDC, not an NDA for an employee. You wouldn't have a stand-alone Non-Disclosure Agreement, but a Non-Disclosure Clause in the Employment Agreement.

Re:Well.

[farble1670]

No they can't. It's very difficult to fire people even in right to work states.

well, whatever. firing is so 1980. people don't have to be "fired" to get put out of a job. the company just claims a "restructuring" or a "reduction in force" and it's done. big tech companies do this regularly to clear out the bottom feeders.

Nerd support boycott

[Jharish]

I'd suggest boycotting Nintendo but they stopped making anything that interested me in 1995 so I haven't really bought anything from them in 20 years.

I love that people offer insight into things that many gamer benefit from and I often wondered about when I was playing games like Chrono Trigger and wondering how many people were involved in the way Magus talked in English.

I hate that companies that essentially exist because of the fans punish the fans.

Re:He takes responsibility for it being his own fa

[hcs_$reboot]

I'm so sorry to everyone. I've failed you. You believed in me and supported me and trusted me and I've failed you. I've failed me.

Looks like after working a long time with the Japanese, the guy handles guilt the way the Japanese do.