Nintendo of America is reorganizing and cutting jobs within its contractor testing team. Some contractors will become full-time employees, while others are being laid off (some with a significant amount of time as contractors). Nintendo has promised severance packages for all affected workers.
The company is changing to streamline and integrate its product testing functions globally. The goal is a more consistent testing approach across different regions, aligning Nintendo of America with other international branches. The exact number of affected employees is currently unknown. Nintendo has released a statement to Kotaku on this situation.
“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.”
Quote from Nintendo
Nintendo’s testing department has recently had a slowdown in activity, with a lack of new first-party titles in the pipeline. This, combined with the restructuring, makes everyone wonder about the expected Switch successor console. Sources familiar with the situation suggest the console’s release may have been delayed. Previously expected in late 2024, some sources from Kotaku indicate it could be pushed to early 2025.
Nintendo’s choice to downsize its testing team may affect its ability to thoroughly test big games. This is worrying because Nintendo is known for putting out high-quality and technically impressive titles like The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.
The changes at Nintendo of America come as part of a larger trend of job cuts in the video game industry. Nintendo’s restructuring focuses on contractors instead of full-time staff but still affects those who have helped the company. The impact of the restructuring on Nintendo’s game testing standards is still uncertain, so we’ll have to wait and see how things play out.
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