Nintendo CEO goes viral following industry layoffs

While there is plenty to think about with company finances, the former Nintendo CEO, Satoru Iwata made it clear that letting people go didn’t have to be the first port of call.

26th Jan 2024 21:12

Images via Nintendo

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The gaming industry has been hit hard by layoffs recently, with smaller studios closing and bigger companies like Microsoft letting go of hundreds to thousands of members of staff.

Back in the Nintendo WiiU era, Nintendo was facing some of its most challenging times, however the CEO at the time was able to avoid layoffs by taking on some of the financial impact himself.

This has led to the former CEO of Nintendo Japan going viral for his take on layoffs and how he was able to prevent them back in 2014.

A former Nintendo CEO has gone viral for his approach to layoffs

If you look online at the moment you will see countless stories about talented people in the gaming industry being laid off.

While there is plenty to think about with company finances, the former Nintendo CEO, Satoru Iwata made it clear that letting people go didn’t have to be the first port of call.

Instead of reducing staff, Iwata himself took a 50% pay cut, and other senior executives sacrificed 20%-30% of their own salaries.

In 2013, Satoru Iwata said: "If we reduce the number of employees for better short-term financial results, employee morale will decrease, and I sincerely doubt employees who fear that they may be laid off will be able to develop software titles that could impress people around the world."

At the time, Iwata was keen to emphasise the importance of employee contribution to Nintendo.

He said: "At Nintendo, employees make valuable contributions in their respective fields, so I believe that laying off a group of employees will not help to strengthen Nintendo’s business in the long run."

People are praising Iwata’s views on layoffs

Naturally, many people are praising Iwata’s employee-first approach to Nintendo’s financial struggles.

“Satoru Iwata (god bless him) took a 50% pay cut after WiiU's poor sales TO NOT LAY OFF WORKERS and you can't tell me that the higher ups of Riot couldn't do the same and still earn a good salary?” wrote one Twitter user.

Another said: “Satoru Iwata being mentioned a lot right now shows you how badly the industry is crying out for someone, anyone on the executive level to actually give a damn about the staff being ground up at a rapidly increasing rate.”

It is no surprise that people feel strongly towards Iwata’s previous stance, given the current climate.

Microsoft recently let go of 1900 staff following the Activision Blizzard merger which took place last year. Riot Games also laid off more than 500 members of staff and cancelled all of the Riot Forge League of Legends spin-off projects.

Megan Cooke

About The Author

Megan Cooke

Megan is GGRecon's Evening & Weekend News Writer. She has an undergraduate degree in Creative Writing and is working towards finishing her masters in Journalism. When she isn’t writing about games she can be found reading romance novels or playing cosy games like Stardew Valley, Animal Crossing, APICO, and Disney Dreamlight Valley.

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