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The growing discontent behind Nintendo’s fun facade

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Re: The growing discontent behind Nintendo’s fun facade

#61

Post by chaostheory »

blintz wrote: post #17

I suppose this is run-of-the-mill for the video game industry, but man, it's sounds so hellish; people deserve not be humiliated like this at work. Isn't the solution unions, akin to the heavily unionized movie / TV business? Short of that, Nintendo deserves some bad PR for this at least; as long as people keep leaking their crappy workplace conditions to the press, the execs will have to keep reading these articles,…

It's gotten slightly better for developers, but the video game industry is horrible for most of the people in it. It's tends to be toxic with lower pay & benefits with much longer hours. I guess that's the price for doing something that you love.

imo The only time it works "well" is with successful indie companies.

Re: The growing discontent behind Nintendo’s fun facade

#62

Post by astrange »

datavirtue wrote: post #58
blintz wrote: post #17

I suppose this is run-of-the-mill for the video game industry, but man, it's sounds so hellish; people deserve not be humiliated like this at work. Isn't the solution unions, akin to the heavily unionized movie / TV business? Short of that, Nintendo deserves some bad PR for this at least; as long as people keep leaking their crappy workplace conditions to the press, the execs will have to keep reading these articles,…

Enlightening as to possibly why their overall UX is worse than the IRS'.

Nintendo's UIs are annoyingly slow but they're better than the average Japanese website, which is a lot worse than the IRS. They seem to enjoy online stores where the checkout process is 10 clicks instead of one.

Re: The growing discontent behind Nintendo’s fun facade

#63

Post by frozenport »

munk-a wrote: post #57
frozenport wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No. Underlying problem is that Nintendo has a non-viable business model combined with a culture that tolerates things like rigid work hours and low pay. They can't make life better for employees because their business model sucks. The correct thing is to simply not work for them.

If Nintendo isn't viable then video games in general aren't viable - I know that a lot of modern Nintendo games don't really appeal to the HN crowd but classic IP like Mario & Link are some of the most recognizable properties out there... additionally Pokemon and Animal Crossing have dominated the casual game space. A union can force better working conditions and an appropriate price increase for their products can m…

The article explains how Nintendo products kept flopping leading to a two tiered employment system designed to cut costs.

"The Nintendo 3DS was released in 2011 and immediately stalled, burdened by the lack of a compelling launch line-up, the rise of smartphones, and a $249.99 price point. Nintendo was forced to move aggressively, slashing the system's price and rolling out special benefits for existing owners. A year later, Nintendo released the Wii U, which fared even worse."

Re: The growing discontent behind Nintendo’s fun facade

#64

Post by t8sr »

frozenport wrote: post #46
blintz wrote: post #17

I suppose this is run-of-the-mill for the video game industry, but man, it's sounds so hellish; people deserve not be humiliated like this at work. Isn't the solution unions, akin to the heavily unionized movie / TV business? Short of that, Nintendo deserves some bad PR for this at least; as long as people keep leaking their crappy workplace conditions to the press, the execs will have to keep reading these articles,…

No. Underlying problem is that Nintendo has a non-viable business model combined with a culture that tolerates things like rigid work hours and low pay. They can't make life better for employees because their business model sucks. The correct thing is to simply not work for them.

Oh look, an internet expert. Since you’re so confident, what makes the business model not viable, exactly? Is a complicated kind of non-viability that’s somehow plastered over by the company’s wild profitability?

Re: The growing discontent behind Nintendo’s fun facade

#65

Post by warning26 »

datavirtue wrote: post #58
blintz wrote: post #17

I suppose this is run-of-the-mill for the video game industry, but man, it's sounds so hellish; people deserve not be humiliated like this at work. Isn't the solution unions, akin to the heavily unionized movie / TV business? Short of that, Nintendo deserves some bad PR for this at least; as long as people keep leaking their crappy workplace conditions to the press, the execs will have to keep reading these articles,…

Enlightening as to possibly why their overall UX is worse than the IRS'.

Some of their older platforms had some pretty questionable UX decisions, but with the Switch I feel like they finally nailed it. It's simple and effective.

Even RetroArch copied the Switch UI, which indicates that at least the enthusiast community feels similarly.

Re: The growing discontent behind Nintendo’s fun facade

#66

Post by abxytg »

You can see this in their offerings. They are consistently 10+ years behind the times in terms of multiplayer and online. That they are still so popular is a credit to how divorced from reality multi national corporate mega giants can be and still succeed. Their games and online offerings, for the most part, frankly suck compared to their competitors. They are alive purely on the strength of the 5% of good games they put out by rehashing the same 3 franchises over and over and over and over.

Re: The growing discontent behind Nintendo’s fun facade

#67

Post by baisq »

teg4n_ wrote: post #40

Some of the attitude expressed in this comment section show just how out of touch a lot of you are. These contractors are not contractors by choice. They are not even contractors in the sense you probably think like sending an invoice to Nintendo and having it paid. They work for shitty companies like Aerotek that provide very little benefits AND they can only work 10 out of the 12 months of the year due to laws tryi…

If anything, this demonstrates that unemployment benefits should be harshly cut.

Re: The growing discontent behind Nintendo’s fun facade

#68

Post by warning26 »

didip wrote: post #22

Isn’t this the reality inside any large companies in America? Contractors will always live in a different world than full timers. It sucks, but that’s what it is.

I've been reading about the "red badge of shame" at Google for at least the past 6 or 7 years. Seems like Nintendo isn't really an outlier in this case.

Re: The growing discontent behind Nintendo’s fun facade

#70

Post by [deleted] »

pjerem wrote: post #55
AmericanChopper wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A contractor is supposed to be a person operating a business that provides services on a contract basis, a contractors business is no different from any other business that provides professional services. A contractor engages in this work knowing that they are exchanging all of their employment rights for better remuneration. This is how I personally manage to get paid anywhere between $200-$500/hour, and the only pe…

You, as an experienced adult contractor, can say this. Now imagine being a naive post-teenager being offered to work in "the greatest video game company of all time" but under the sole little condition that you are hired as a contractor. It works with any big name that you would be personally proud to work for. And what is even more saddening is that the more the brand is loved (Nintendo is part of the childhood of b…

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