130 Jobs To Go In Nintendo Of Europe Reshuffle

".....streamlining process which will allow the company to perform better in the European market in the future".

Why not sack even more staff from around the world and the company will perform 'even' better.

I hope Nintendo helps these people find new jobs.

Sounds more like they are trying to cut back on costs rather than streamlining it. I hope that the laid off employees get help finding a new position elsewhere :C

I hope James Newton isn't one of the unlucky one's.
Shame that had to happen though.

My thoughts go to those effected. Never an easy thing.

I feel sorry those who were in the video game industry. It is way to unstable.

Sad to see. Hopefully those losing their jobs can transition somewhere quickly. My thoughts go out to those employees and their families who are affected.

Still, it's much better than sony and microsoft's studios.

Hopefully they set up an actual development place instead using the same amount of staff.

@Maelstrom Sony sacked something like 3000 people when it sold off it's laptop division.
But it is really hard to go through that.

Jaaaaames!! Nooooooo!!

_{... well, you can always come back here... right?}

@Maelstrom True. Rare has already lost their talent because of stupid Microsoft on the way. Granted they are owned but I want Rare to be like Rare not something that claims to be innovative but rather mediocre.

Wow, that marks the end of an era. Großostheim was practically synonymous with Nintendo of Europe for two decades. While the move is somewhat understandable (I don't mean the streamlining process as such, but the decision to centre it elsewhere, i.e. the decision against Großostheim as future HQ in Europe), I personally find it extremely sad to hear this. Nintendo of Europe without Großostheim will never be the same again.

@MussakkuLaden You hit the nail on the head there, I really didn't see that coming! However it is understandable that changes had to be made

Their other office in Frankfurt is pretty near (40km), in case any one compares this to when NOA marketing was moved to New York (from Redmond) and lost a lot of talent who didn't want to move halfway across the country (but could they gain new talent from that).

But given this is where the warehouses were, are they getting new ones in Frankfurt? They still need to store goods.

I feel bad for some old workmates. :/

@Starwolf_UK Regarding your question about the warehouses, I assume the distribution process has been somewhat restructured, decentralised for quite a while. At this time it is no longer economical to carry all hard- and software (which is produced almost entirely outside of Europe) to Großostheim, and then to re-distribute it from there again. Also the fact that Nintendo set up a new location in Frankfurt quite some while ago, rather than expanding Großostheim, indicated that the significance of the latter was dwindling for quite a while.

That's sad to hear, and it's always a shame when people lose their jobs.

However, not to belittle the situation at all, but if you are to be laid off, then lets say Germany offers the 'softest landing' of pretty much any country in Europe due to a generous welfare system and strong labour laws. My former employer, a German company, shut down an entire UK operation while keeping a less efficient German (really!) site open, simply because it was easier and cheaper to lay people off in the UK. Closing the site in Germany would have required consultation, retraining and redeployment of many employees who could not simply be 'let go'. Nintendo are definitely not doing this lightly, there must be sound business reasons for it.

Suprised Nintendo went so long without any big lay-offs. I recently read a story about why so many jobs are lost in the games industry and I hope these people can get some more jobs elsewhere.

Isn't this just another case of less staff needed, because more digital items are replacing physical products??

Immediately thought of the legendary @James. But he's too talented for Nintendo to let go.

This is unfortunate. I hope @James isn't one of them.

I do hope there is an opened door waiting for @James should he need to return.
Best of luck to those who were laid off.

Im honestly surprised they haven't fired anyone after reporting all their loses. Im glad Nintendo tried to hold out as long as they could but i truly hope everyone that lost their job finds another one soon.

Sad to hear anyone lose their job. Good luck to those who are now looking for new employment.

it sucks that these people lose their jobs but Iwata and Reggie keep theirs

Somebody should tell Nintendo that a fish rots from the head down.

My thoughts to those laid off, but from the looks of things they're getting out while they're ahead.

@Tasuki @Sherman @dizzy_boy @WiiULoveSquid @Knuckles @Aqueous Hi everyone, thanks for your kind messages of concern. Just wanted to say I'm OK

@James Thanks for letting us know.
By the way, you are still one of my favorite editors.

Glad to hear that, @James. Let's hope the less fortunate get back on their feet very soon.

@James - Great to hear you are okay and good to see you again.

@James Good to see you and that you are doing well. I kind of miss your presence here.