The name Eric Smith may not necessarily ring a bell, but you've likely seen him over the years during the Nintendo Treehouse Live broadcast events.
After "10 incredible years" at Nintendo of America's Treehouse, Eric has decided to call it a day at the company. In fact, this was actually his last week. He started out at as a localisation writer and ended up becoming the lead localisation producer.
In a series of tweets via his Twitter account, he said his favourite part of the job was always the writing and reflected on how the Splatoon series had become one of the "greatest joys" of his life. He's the guy who has written "nearly every English word" ever spoken by Pearl, Marina, Callie and Marie.
it's really hard to walk away from them, and I'm going to miss my girls dearly
Smith gave a shoutout to his colleagues for their amazing writing and translation of the Splatoon series over the years as well. The talented individual was also the lead writer on Paper Mario: Color Splash - which was apparently a dream come true for him. Additionally, he helped out with the story mode and Yamamura's Dojo in Super Mario Maker 2, Palutena's Guidance, Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
He ended by stating how "Nintendo is a great place to work" and informing his followers to keep an eye out for a position on the company's website:
https://twitter.com/DatSmiff/status/1155207217366196225
At the start of this month, Sam Robinson left the Treehouse and moved into a new role at Nintendo. You can read more about this position in our previous post.
On behalf of the community here at Nintendo Life, we wish Eric the best of luck in his future endeavours.
[source twitter.com]
Comments 35
Always enjoyed «Smithy» on Treehouse Live. Good luck to him.
I hope he enjoys whatever future position he applies for, Nintendo or non-Nintendo related!
So, if he enjoys working at Nintendo so much, then why leave?
Often times, unless it's actually mentioned, news like this always leaves us with more questions than answers.
All the best to him for the future. I always dreamed about working at Nintendo when I was a child...
It's none of my business, but I do wonder a little why he left.
More money/power somewhere else, that’s usually the reason.
I find most of the Treehouse people to be extremely cringey and painful to watch, if I'm being frank, but he was one of the few that just felt genuine and entertaining. It's a shame NoA is losing his fine talent, but I wish him the best of luck in his endeavors. Hopefully that includes coming to his senses and returning to the Treehouse where he's needed most.
@ThanosReXXX I have never understood this line of thinking. There are lots of reasons to move on from a job/employer you like working for. More money, better benefits, new job is in a better location, spouse got a job elsewhere in the country, 'dream job' opened up, or even just ready for a new challenge.
Well, creative types often have multiple passions. Sometimes an opportunity to explore another creative passion opens up and its very exciting. It can be as easy as that with your career
Must be moving on to something pretty great to leave Nintendo.
Will we see more people leave Nintendo's Treehouse? If so, what will the future of Nintendo Treehouse Live @ E3 behold? Will we see new faces for the future? Or will there be a return of a full-scale press conference?
Color Splash's writing is one of its best parts. He'll be missed.
I see you left out the #RemasterThousandYearDoor from that tweet, though.
@davey1983 It's not a "line of thinking", I'm genuinely wondering about it. As quoted in the article, another colleague of his moved up towards another position within Nintendo, so that might also have been an option for him as well, but seeing as neither that nor the actual reason of him leaving is mentioned, that leaves us with those very questions, and that was basically all I was saying.
I'm not going to make assumptions or fill in the blanks, out of a list of possible options that might be the reason: I'd rather go for the actual reason, straight out of the horse's mouth.
@JasonLee99 stop ruining the moment
Aww I’ll miss him, he was always one of the better Treehouse ones. He always seemed very genuine and an all-round nice guy. Here’s to the future!
@ThanosReXXX 10 years is often a time were people move on to a new job.
@davey1983 For the record, you just listed 6 possibilities. Any one of them could be true, or maybe it's another reason entirely. All you did was admit that we don't know why he left
Fire Emblem: Treehouses
I'm wondering if he was responsible for the censorship of Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE(It was supposed to be M rated). Can we get an uncensored version on the Switch please? Thank you, Nintendo.
Get your ass back to Nintendo until New Horizons has been localized.
I wonder what job he's moving onto now.
He was honestly a pretty decent commentator, considering how fast pacsed and chaotic Smash and Splatoon can be. If he's responsible for Pearl and Marina's lines, then apparently I'm a big fan of his work.
Hello everyone who is wondering why he left Nintendo!
I also wondered so I clicked on his twitter link. He got a job as game designer
Source: https://twitter.com/DatSmiff/status/1155559407012339712
@Tamara Thanks for posting. That seems sensible enough to leave Nintendo. It stinks he couldn’t move to that position within the company, but he’s got an A+ reference and portfolio for sure now. Hope it works out for him. That’d be like me. I love being an artist and graphic designer, and lets say I’m working at a great newspaper... not as the artist or designer. Albeit fortunate and enjoying the job, there may be more fun to be had elsewhere.
He always came off as a genuine relaxed guy. Definitely one of the more relatable employees over there. Good luck to him!
@ThanosReXXX He said he was studying game design on his own for years and he's taken a job outside Nintendo as a developer.
@SCAssassin Thanks for adding that. Makes sense now. Kinda odd, though, that they didn't think to add that to the article, if the information is apparently out there already.
@Retron You’ve got a problem with Doge memes? Sounds like a YOU problem.
It's always sad to see some of Nintendo's talent go, but it seems like this guy is leaving on his own terms. I wish him the best in his endeavors!
@ThanosReXXX It was a tweet after the fact.
whichever specific lines and descriptions he helped with i could definitely see the charm our nintendo writing has gotten in recent games. wish him the best of luck
It’s kind of funny: all these years of appreciating him for just being an ‘eminently likeable Treehouse presenter’, and then you find out he actually had a real job the other 362 days of the year and is responsible for some of the best lines to ever come out of a Nintendo game.
AND he’s going off to be a video game designer. Ten years writing for Nintendo and then a new job actually making games. It’s a career trajectory I’m sure many of us dream of.
Awww. He is a cool dude. I'm sure he'll succeed at whatever he throws his hat at.
I think if I got a job at Nintendo, the only way I'd leave is through death. LOL. That would be a dream job but as I have no video game development skills, I'll likely never end up there. Best of luck though to him in wherever he goes next.
BOOSH!!! Fun dude. Take care, Smithy.
I love the Treehouse folks, and he was one of my favorites. Sad to see him go, but I hope nothing but the best in his future endeavors.
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