Nintendo of America is restructuring the team of temporary workers who help test his games and hardware at its headquarters in Washington state, the company confirmed. Some of the team will be made redundant, while others will get full-time contracts. Nintendo said everyone involved will receive severance pay.
“These changes will result in the end of some contract assignments and the creation of a significant number of new full-time positions,” a Nintendo spokesperson told Kotaku in an email.
The total number is unclear of employees who will be fired or whose temporary contracts will not be renewed. According to four current and former employees, the restructuring could affect more than 100 workers, and it appears that most of those who are converted to full-time will be removed from the software testing division.
THE fixed-term workers of Nintendo of America have long asked the company to hire them full-time, instead of exploiting loopholes in seasonal employment laws. While some of them were finally actually hired, others, including testers with over 10 years of experience, were fired.
The change also comes during a recent “pause” in the testing department of Nintendo of America, three sources told Kotaku. They said that there are no major new first-party games to work on and that none of them were aware of anyone having had hands-on experience with the upcoming Switch 2 (unofficial name).
Furthermore, the sources were not sure of how Nintendo of America can continue to test huge games like The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom now that the team has been reduced.
The full message from Nintendo of America
A Nintendo spokesperson released the following statement:
“Nintendo of America (NOA) has reorganized its product testing functions to drive greater global integration into its game development efforts. The changes will also better align NOA with cross-regional test procedures and operations.”
“These changes will result in the termination of some temporary worker positions and the creation of a significant number of new full-time employee positions. For all terminating assignments, contractor agencies, with support from NOA, will offer severance packages and provide transition assistance.”
“To the collaborators who will leave us, we are extremely grateful for the important contributions they have made to our business and we sincerely thank them for their hard work and service to Nintendo.”
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