There have been a number of changes to the staff at Nintendo of America in recent times. At the end of last year, Nindie advocate Damon Baker announced he was leaving the company after 12 years. This followed with the retirement of Reggie in April, who was then replaced by the appropriately-named Doug Bowser.
The latest individual to join Nintendo of America is John Vignocchi. After less than a year at Gearbox Publishing as an executive producer on a new franchise, Vignocchi has decided to move across to Nintendo. Before his short stay at Gearbox, he was best-known as the executive producer of the toys-to-life video game, Disney Infinity.
Across multiple tweets on his Twitter account, John explained how he would be "driving developer and publisher relations for North America" so Nintendo could continue to bring great games and amazing content to all of its fans. He's also made it clear he has the company's best interests at heart, stating how he would "continue the tradition of building memories through Nintendo" that will last a lifetime.
Vignocchi himself already has a "lifetime" of Nintendo memories and can't wait to make more in his new role. He considers it to be a "dream opportunity" and promises to give it his all:
"I’m humbled by this dream opportunity and will work tirelessly to bring you the best that I can."
Give John a warm welcome in the comments below.
[source venturebeat.com]
Comments 42
Welcome to Team Nintendo, Johnny V! Don't worry, there isn't a Randy Pitchford to be found here.
congrats and good luck!
Now use your clout and bring BL1-3 to Switch
Hey, the more the merrier.
Welcome Johnny boy! I look forward to what your imagination would bring to us all, and from working with Disney no less!
"Before his short stay at Gearbox, he was best-known as the executive producer of the toys-to-life video game, Disney Infinity."
Oh, I'm gonna like you.
I am concerned by how many times he has changed jobs in recent years. Not that it affects me of course, but it does make me wonder; "Why has he changed positions so often?"
Of course he could just be getting better and better job offers but...
Best wishes to Vignocchi!
@Heavyarms55 Well Disney Interactive went under and I’m sure Nintendo is a better opportunity than Gearbox. If he was getting fired then it would be a different story
Maybe talk to Activision about bringing COD to the switch.
Good on him for getting away from Pitchford.
Hopefully this means good thing will come to Nintendo.
"driving developer and publisher relations for North America"
Well some signs from Nintendo that they need to get people on this.
Coming to NL after visiting PushSquare and PC Gamer last few weeks has been painful. They had one big announcement up after another
@Agramonte I hear that, but fret not - June 11th will be here before we know it.
@KingBowser86 yep... Could be Nintendo is just controlling the news for now.
Ubi has 3 unannounced and so does Nordic. And hopefully by Tokyo we get Sakura and Y's Nox.
Not surprised he left gearbox after a year, when the CEO is a terrible person. Pretty sure any interactions with the CEO were alarm bells for him
Good luck!! Wish you all the best
Best of luck, dood.
@Heavyarms55 Theres a lot of bad stuff coming out about Randy Pitchford so I wouldnt want to stay at that company anymore
I wonder if NOA will star developing games again since they hired this guy.
Good luck and hope you enjoy working for Nintendo
Okay, good luck.
Say, in which position he will take?
@caljr_8760 @hadrian Plausibe reasons certainly. I don't know anything about the guy, just find it odd that an executive type like this would jump through so many companies in so few years.
I'm sure it's been said 1,000 times by now, but nobody wants to be anywhere near Randy Pitchford right now.
@Heavyarms55
Disney Interactive was shuttered and Gearbox is run by a recently scandal-plagued Randy Pitchford, so I can't blame him for jumpung ships twice.
Became friends with him on Switch shortly after he got one. He wanted people to play Mario Kart with. As a massive Disney Infinity fan, it felt like an honour.
Good to hear they are going to have a focus on NA developers and publishers. Hopefully that means some of the big 3rd party publishers and not just the Indie scene.
@Heavyarms55 Disney Infinity.......Anything Gearbox...... I mean odds are every project he's on gets scrapped shortly after he gets hired.
MP4 cancelled confirmed!
@Agramonte It's not like it's PureXBox.......
@caljr_8760 @Heavyarms55 At first I was concerned because he came from Gearbox...but if he had to leave Disney because they disbanded their studio, and he went to Gearbox and jumped ship quickly...that is the mark of a smart person. Gearbox, while appearing "normal" on the outside, is a raging dumpster fire internally. He may not have known this before arriving there...Leaving Gearbox shows signs of being smart.
@roboshort Has NoA ever developed games before? That would be news to me and I'm very interested to know more!
Shhh no one tell Nintendo about Giant Bomb
https://youtu.be/pY9uoAraaaY
A welcome addition to the Nintendo family. I wonder if his background with Disney Infinity will help with amiibo stuff
@NEStalgia He joined Nintendo directly, not Retro Studios. Besides, according to him his role is kinda like an ambassador between Kyoto and Redmond. I doubt he'll have any kind of major role with Metroid Prime 4.
Wasnt this guy on the GB e3 special like all the time,? drinking himself into a stupor if memory serves me right. Anyway good for him. also GB has gone to schijt.
@Heavyarms55
I don't. Look at the positions he's held and projects he's worked on.
Every single toys to life endeavor has failed. Hence why he's going to Nintendo where he can design over priced toys to peddle through toddlers. Everyone else is abandoning it. Nintendos the only place left for product placement crossover revenue.
Toys to life is scummy. Reminds me of 1 season runs of cartoons in the 80s designed to prey on adults' income through their children. Just a 30 minute tv ad for toys.
@aaronsullivan Nintendo of America is the parent company to Nintendo Software Technology which does game development. They haven’t really developed a full game for a while though.
@Agramonte oh seriously? What are we missing out on PS4 and PC? I don’t get to play many games these days, life just gets in the way constantly sadly.
@Heavyarms55 The Disney thing wasn't on him. He had Infinity in a really good position. Disney just decided to go in a different direction as they are apt to do. I didn't think he fit with Gearbox to begin with, and considering the recent news, I do not blame him for reevaluating the company. Plus, who could blame him for leaving anywhere for Nintendo, I'd change careers right now if Nintendo came calling.
May this cripple gearbox even worse than Randy pitchford the third.
Great, now can he speed up Animal Crossing on Switch's development? SEVEN YEARS BETWEEN GAMES IS TOO LONG, AND JAPAN HAS WAITED OVER 7 YEARS BETWEEN RELEASES!!
@Itzdmo Shows how little you know then. While not every toys-to-life thing was successful, Disney Infinity and Amiibo were reasonably successful.
Skylanders very much so, considering it got multiple games in the series that are fun and charming, a ton of characters with customizable stats, upgrade paths and clothes, and was, for the most part, easy to get hold of.
If Infinity was less successful, its because Disney has never done all that well with games to begin with, and tends to pull the plug a little earlier then they ought to. But kids and Disney enthusiasts are likely to eat it up anyway.
If Amiibo is less successful. Its because of the way they under-utilized the figures as actual toys to life, and because they ticked off their consumers one too many times with their scarcity bull and it backfired. But Nintendo merch enthusiasts will grab them anyways.
Can't comment on Lego's attempt. Or that one other game.
Furthermore toytoons are still a thing. Transformers is a darn good example of this.
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