I can 100% find this believable. I worked for ActivisionBlizzard for 2 years as a contractor in the US. Asked to sleep at my desk, told I should be grateful for the low quality pizza they would feed us days on end, and hanging the ‘Hey your in the video game industry now!’ over your head. But seeing that’s not the case for anyone upstairs. It reminds me of the whole unpaid internships thing in the early 00’s trying to convince you that being in the industry of your choice but being treated poorly was better then not being there.
I am in no way defending their treatment of employees, but the truth of the situation is that despite having an American headquarters, Nintendo is a Japanese company and operates as a Japanese company even here. Japan has a huge issue with its work culture and massive amounts of crunch and inequality in the work place. It is not unusual for employees of companies over there to have to sleep at the office just to be caught up to expectations.
Yeah man I agree💯 the Rockstar games crunch sounded way more worse than this Nintendo thing. nobody knows the truth on how that building is being handled inside, maybe the employees who get the luxury EARNED IT… people are too quick to cancel anything 💀🤦♂️
@@0zbrian dont get me wrong, nintendo definetely has a reputation of not being great to work for, but having grown up a 5 minute drive away from the headquarters, ive known that for a long time and this really isn't anything new for them.
What I love about Nintendo is their games, games made by artists, workers. The company, the corporate entity known as Nintendo, does not make games, it makes money. It does this by selling games made by the people it employs. If all of those workers left, you’d be left with a corporate entity still known as Nintendo, but there would be none of the things that make us care about what we understand to be Nintendo. I hope this will wake a lot of people up to the understanding that Nintendo, Disney, Sony, etc. are not friends to anyone. They do what they have to do to make money. We should never feel a sense of loyalty to a company over the individuals working there who are creating the things that give us the reasons to care about what the company does in the first place.
@poorangus8584 I'm a Nintendo fan myself and I definitely agree with you. All these things you mentioned above about the games, characters, artists, game creators etc. That's what I love about Nintendo. I just can't believe how things played out during this video. By the way, God bless you for making that comment.
I am really glad you are bringing to light what is going on at Nintendo. I saw several articles about this on the news recently. They should be held accountable that Nintendo holds a healthy work culture.
Sega needs to learn a lesson about respect too when I heard what Sonic Team dealt with it gives you a whole different perspective. Konami is guilty too after what they did to Hideo Kojima. Sony just sucks at so many things. Microsoft just monopolized themselves. These 4 but mainly Sega and Konami need to learn something from this and so does Nintendo.
Sadly most of this is pretty typical. Contractors get different color badges due to policies they cannot be given gifts or taken on work outings. It can be hard to make it to full time and seem hopeless for some. I have seen this in several bug companies in the engineering space but finally made it full time after 5 yrs as a contractor with a fortune 500. It is possible
Almost every company in the world treats their workers like shit at times which is just a huge shame because everyone just deserves a job where you get treated normally no matter what gender, race, sexuality, beliefs or handicap people have.. It's sad to hear even Nintendo doesn't escape the disrespectful way of working :(
God this is sad that my favorite game company that I've treasured and cherished as a child is doing this. But you know what I'm not surprised because all companies do this. Amazon does this too but worse. Nintendo needs to step it up and get there act together.
I've been having this thought for awhile now. My thought is what if people had enough of Nintendo? Like employees and us customers. What if Nintendo climbs so high up in the gaming world just to fall all the way back down?
You’ve heard the stories about Amazon employees being forced to pee in bottles because they aren’t allowed to take the time to use the bathroom and yet everyone still orders their crap from Amazon to save a few bucks. No one cares. No one will do anything and customers won’t do anything about it as long as they keep creating the products we want.
this is just heartbreaking. if I ever get to the point where I can be the CEO of Nintendo, or any other company for that matter, I would try to actively avoid this type of abuse as much as possible.
The sad thing is people don’t become rich or high up in businesses by being nice. They exploit their workers, and once they’re rich why would they stop? (Ex. Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, etc.)
Doug Bowser worked at EA from 2007-2015. That's when EA went down hill. He's not responsible obviously but that the work culture in the video games industry that he's experienced. I'm not surprised that NOA is having similar issues with someone that helped run the ship at EA at the helm of Nintendo of America now. I'm not one to blame a single individual for a companies issues, but it's definitely a big red flag I see.
This doesn’t surprise me at all. I have known people in the computer/game developers community for a long time. It’s very rare when it’s done right. So disappointed in Nintendo.
Considering that a lot of companies are also like this, whenever Nintendo or any other company(Disney, Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, Sega, etc) makes a horrible decision, I’m not disappointed. At this point, since it’s happened so many times, it’s not disappointment, but rather numb acceptance.
Contractors are not employees. They are not working with Nintendo, they are working for them. These are self employed persons that have flexibility and tax write offs. Nintendo treats their contractors like you treat your plumber. They’re not full time family members. You pay them for a job. They choose which contracts to sign.
That last bit is overly generous, contractors are often hired through exclusive third parties and leaving or hiring first party is often extremely limited. These aren't necessarily what Nintendo does but they are a real problem in certain industries(look up how contracted commercial trucking works).
Accurate to my contracting experience. As far as I can tell, this is coming from spoiled contractors who didn't understand what that means. Contractors are generally paid a premium to keep the work purely transactional
Exactly.. plus contract workers are usually paid significantly more to do the work, the company is paying them for their skills and expertise, not to smile or play football. It is like having your plumber play football in your garden... my sister did contract work for a few years and was raking the money in. She went back to full time during the pandemic for a significant pay cut but wants to go back to contract work because the pay is so much higher.
@@marksapollo Yeah, plus it's a great way for introverts to make more money since they're less likely to be promoted in corporate structures, since those promotions tend to require more interpersonal skills and thus favor extroverts. Contractors really only need to communicate what the job itself actually is, then they can typically work on their own on whatever project they're hired to do.
I really appreciate that you discussed this, even though it is a difficult topic. The more this is exposed, the more likely they are to fix the situation.
Unfortunately this is the way most companies tend to treat contractors and people that are viewed on the lower rungs of the ladder. Not saying it’s right or that it should be that way, but I’ve seen it happen at enough places that it unfortunately doesn’t surprise me.
Facebook has some of the worst contractor horror stories I’ve ever seen. Like, the companies they hire are some of the lowest rated in the country and are given a huge amount of work because they work for one of the biggest social media sites in the world. Sadly, the companies hiring the contractors have nothing to do with their working conditions. It’s not inherently Nintendo’s liability. But still, Nintendo should at least try something like negotiating or improving their contract in order to maintain a healthy working environment, even if they don’t directly control their operations
Unfortunately, in a sense, Nintendo is becoming the "Disney" of video games in the sense that they just want money and find ways to capture all the money from the consumer.
@@theelementai8823 i prefer steam to be honest, at least it's free but if i have to pay to play online with randos, i prefer Nintendo, and the lack of chat means i get to destroy 12year olds without destroying my ears with their screams.
That's so very sad... I've been so excited to try to apply for Nintendo, as they had an opening in my dream area a few years ago, but I was living across the country at the time. Now I live in Seattle and am constantly refreshing their jobs page to see if it comes back, but that is a huge bummer... Especially since I would have to ask them to sponsor me a work visa, and yeah, now I don't think they would...
I hope Nintendo gets their act up. I've been a fan for most of my childhood, and to see something that I held dearly treat it's workers like crap. It just saddens me. Again, I hope Nintendo gets their act up. Because I rather play games knowing that the company behind them is trustworthy.
That’s really sad. I understand that Nintendo is company and that they are trying to get out a quality product, but people come before product. Something like this was bound to happen eventually, but it”s still heartbreaking. I hope for Nintendo’s sake and for the employee’s sake, they fix this.
Contractors aren't employees. Their independent agents hired to do a job. It's not an employee relationship. The complaints are probably coming from college grads who didn't know what the difference was between being an employee and contractor when they signed up. All this will do is motivate Nintendo to hire more experienced contractors or pay more lip service to their contractors while changing virtually nothing
Nintendo has been making some bad decisions lately and this just keeps adding to that bad stuff on whole another level (from Nintendo’s standpoint at least). It’s sad to see the company I’ve loved and cherished since a young age turn out to be a displeasing work area for their tired employees
Most corporations are like this. Idolizing companies is a bad idea. You'll always be disappointed. Most of the regular employees are probably largely fine, but contractors always get this kind of treatment. As a contractor, you're relationship with the company is purely cold and transactional. You may get tp go to some company events, but, as much as possible, you can expect to largely be segregated from the actual salaried team. That's the choice you make when you decide to work on a contract. Contracts for hire are somewhat different, but most contracts are this way
Sony and Microsoft ain't the same either. So are Disney, Square Enix, Konami, UbiSoft, Hasbro, Coca-Cola, Walmart, Amazon, Budweiser, Toyota, GM, Fox, Toei, Netflix, etc. In the end you may as well not trust anything.
@@VOAN They've been built to not be trusted. Modern marketing and planned obsolescence have shown that these companies know how to manipulate people to get them to continue to buy their products even when they know they're dropping the quality or doing shady shit. People don't act on it anymore. Even if a vocal group starts to act out, they have such mass market appeal, they can just adjust their marketing a little to make up for a small portion falling off unless they literally already passed market saturation like Netflix recently did (also they're losing numbers cause there is so much more competition now and their original monopoly is gone)
Contractors are not employees, so it is not the same as new EMPLOYEES who are actually hired by Nintendo. This is often how contractors are treated in companies throughout the US and probably many places around the world. I was a contractor working for one of our local utility companies and we were always given the jobs that their own in-house staff didn't want to do. As we are not employees, we didn't get to participate in company functions, too. That's how much of corporate America works. This is not a Nintendo issue. This is a corporate America issue. Full time EMPLOYEES and part time EMPLOYEES of Nintendo shouldn't be treated that differently, but since you're talking about CONTRACTORS, they are NOT employees, so again, this is corporate America. I don't see any problem with this. Contractors are always treated as second class citizens in virtually every corporation. I'm a bit disappointed that lately, some of the videos are a bit "click baity". This is one of them and is really a non-story.
While I agree that it is common for contractors to get that treatment, I still consider it a problem. The company I work for treats contractors almost the same as employees and it makes the work environment much better for everyone.
Unfortunately that's corporate America. I myself work for a major hospital system and they do an incredible job making you feel valued. However at the end of the day we are replaceable
Sounds like a disgruntled worker is sad he didn't get hired full time... I mean... Am I the only one that thinks it's pretty obvious you wouldn't let non Nintendo employees into your main office... Nintendo are notoriously secretive, I expect even within the main building there will be various clearance permissions... This whole story is not really news at all
True. From experience, security in the video-game industry is one of the strictest, way above even financial and governmental institutions. And sub-contractors are often a source of leaks, so for that part, it makes a lot of sense.
Thank you so much for making this video. I know your brand is happy-go-lucky and I think this video hits even harder because it's coming from you. Nintendo's fan base needs a bit of cold water thrown on them sometimes and understand that no large company is their friend.
Contracts and contracts for hire are 2 totally different types of jobs. Regular contracts are paid a premium. My salary job has tighter policies than what you described and I would not consider them unreasonable. If you're paying a premium, you expect premium service and that includes trackable work, off-hour availability, and an understanding that you are not an employee of the company, but a temporary agent who will not be receiving benefits
Ah. I've heard about this. The way you deal with it: Don't take jobs that are temporary. Period. If you're good enough for a full time spot, don't take something with less benefits.
This is just par for the course for businesses in the US. I only hear this coming from their US branch, not their main headquarters in Japan their European or just other buildings they have. This sounds more like a US work culture problem more than a Nintendo problem specifically. Hopefully now these allegations are public they are forced to change for the better.
I also worked at Microsoft, and honestly, it’s the testers and the workers who bring the value, not the company of the company saw their value then they would all have red badges.
We need to let Nintendo know how we feel about how they treat people. They are making money hand over fist. They should be ashamed of how they treat good hard working people.
That’s pretty much the norm in corporate Japan. There’s a culture of “being willing to die for your employer” that helped with the economic miracle after WW2 and making them the number 2-3 economy in the world.
I wish they keep covering this , it’s easy just to forget and play there games I mean heck I’m still gonna play Pokémon but doesn’t mean it’s right and I don’t feel right about it I hope we keep getting on Nintendo for this because I’m sure they’re hoping Pokémon scarlet and violet will take our short spanned attention from this
I actually heard about this on my Google notifications a while ago. I hope Nintendo doesn't try to shut your video Down because you are being honest to all of the Nintendo fans. Nintendo treats their workers bad and Nintendo is a money hungry company (FACTS) People are buying the same games over and over on different Nintendo platforms. From Zelda skyward sword on the the Wii, Wii U and now the switch. Zelda twilight princess on the the GameCube, Wii, Wii U and now the switch. Wind waker on the GameCube, Wii U and now the switch. people needs to stop buying these games over and over and tell Nintendo (hey I'm not purchasing these Nintendo brand games over and over for $60 while you treat your workers like crap) I love all of my 7 Nintendo consoles and Nintendo brand games and I will keep buying Nintendo brand games but I'm not letting them dig in my pockets for the same games over and over again. I haven't purchased skyward sword and I'm not purchasing twilight princess or wind waker for the switch. Now if they add new areas, new side story, new weapons and a bunch of new content then maybe I will buy them but to purchase the same game over again on HD which they are already HD on the Wii U isn't worth it. Great video switch force as always.
This is really horrible. I was a contractor until recently before I was made full time. I was treated extremely well. But being a contractor you don't get paid vacation or even holidays. Which makes burn out very real. I can only imagine what these people are going through. It's sickening to me. Happy workers are better workers
Sadly this is how a lot of companies treat their contractors. Maybe not as bad, but I’ve done projects for folks where they never let you forget you are a contractor. And contractors at nearly every company I’ve ever worked for used different colored badges so not sure why this is so “shocking” to people.
This is regular in Japan tho. Jobs are way more strict and people work ridiculous hours just to keep their jobs. I don't think this is just a Nintendo thing
I work for the state government, and even state government uses the same system. Regular full-time employees, and then 'contractors' who also work full time - often are paid a higher amount, but get little to no benefits. While job shopping I avoided the temporary and contractor jobs with the same departments I was applying for because they were decidedly less cared for. Companies use this for scalability, something that is more and more important to facilitate quick changes and to not overextend resources. It is a smart move by Nintendo to utilize this business model, and let people choose for themselves the extent to which they will be 'part of the company'. If people don't like it, they should avoid the quick, easy to get jobs, and hold out for one that is permanent. That could take some time.
That's the entire point of a 'contract' worker, you have far fewer benefits but you are being paid significantly more money then a full time employee is.
This is less of a Nintendo issue in more of a corporate America issue. I experienced the exact same thing working in entry level mental health jobs. Corporations operate from a churn and burn model; but I agree you wish that Nintendo was better.
This makes me so sad. It almost makes me feel dirty for sitting down to play a game on my Switch, or buying a new game. I don’t know if I can support a company that treats its employees in such a way.
Nintendo is the Disney of video games in so many ways. Mario is Mickey. The corporate offices mirror their Disney counterparts. The products they produce are amazing, but behind the scenes, they are sharks. This isn’t new. It didn’t start in 2015. It started in the 1980’s with their shrewd tactics that both saved and crippled the game industry until the rise of SEGA. We tend to romanticize things and only see the good until we are met with the truth. Japan is beautiful, but it’s not a place that welcomes outsiders to come live. Disneyland is fun and the happiest place on Earth, but is built on a lot of back door deals, hostile takeovers, and politics. War is glorious and full of heroes, but controlled by people with money and power who have never put their lives on the line. Nintendo is no different. It’s the sad truth of the matter. This is how most things in the world work. Hollywood isn’t as glamorous as we see on the silver screen. Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft; they are all the same. It’s the nature of business. Capitalism, communism, socialism, democracy, republics, monarchy…. All it comes down to is this; those with power take advantage of those without. Sometimes it’s fair and honest, but most of the time, it’s ugly. That’s why we shouldn’t look too close, unless we are prepared to take the shit with the sugar. Is it fair? No. But it is the truth. Sadly, you just lost some of your innocence today. Life is full of these kinds of realizations. I’m 44 and have seen it happen. I used to be naive and believe everything was as good as it looked, until the veneer was scratched away and revealed the dingy foundation of many things. My advice, just be the best person you can be and enjoy what you enjoy. If you treat others with respect and love, no one can fault you for being part of the problem. That and try not to let it get to you. Keep in mind, Nintendo used to run “love motels” in the 50’s through the 70’s in Japan. Nothing is sacred and no one is lilly white.
With any job. It is a contradiction to complain about the job while continuing employment at the company. If you don't like it quit and work at a company that you prefer. If you can't get a job that is better then you really don't have it that bad.
I don't get it... Is a COMPANY after all, a job, like my dad says "from the door in you come to work, and if you don't like it That same door is wide open"
I did some contacting work I wasn't included in the office party BUT I was included in the department party. Contractors are there to fill the gap from a few months up to a year.
I can’t believe Nintendo would do this hell not Nintendo, Nintendo is the people that make up the company that gives us these masterpieces. The Nintendo leadership needs to change, i don’t have the ability to change it, maybe we don’t either. We can’t boycott, its been proven time and time again that Nintendo knows we will buy it if Mario is plastered on it. So lets thank the people who did the heavy lifting for developing these games!
It's pretty standard stuff. Heck, my company will let go of an employee who skips 2 days, much less contractors. Missing 3 days is totally unprofessional, that's a high tolerance bar for keeping a low performer on. If they're sick and alert the company, or some other emergency comes up and they do notify them, that's different, but it sounded like it's a 3 day hooky tolerance. That's honestly a lot
Well time to switch gaming platforms, I’m not going to support any company that works like this. I’m worked for too many that work on a structure like this.
When you mentioned the source article being IGN. My mind to this article is like: Press X to Doubt until I see evidence that proves that Nintendo's work culture is like this. And if so, is it Nintendo of America, Nintendo of Japan, Nintendo of Europe or all of them? Or None and this IGN article is just Fake.
I'm not feeling this new nintendo management. Iwata and Reggie were gamers first and business men second. Furikawa and doug are just straight up business men and unfortunately all they really care about are the numbers. I'm afraid the Nintendo I grew fond of is no longer there.
This is why companies have strikes and walk outs because the big wheels way up in the company don't care! P.S> "ITS NOT JUST NINTENDO" There are lots of companies that do that :) What some place you would not think........ Apple , Amazon warehouse workers, and so on. The only thing that it does seem anymore for Nintendo is the bottom line the Dollar mark and dont care how its made as long as its made. Sometimes Companies get these huge tax breaks by letting lots of employees go before the year ends and refilling the positions with enough to fill the position. The bottom line is the $$
Zach what did you expect, they are a giant corporation. Just because they make Mario, doesn’t mean they care about their employees. Nintendo only cares about you buying Nintendo, period.
I’m sorry this is just like everywhere else in the USA... miss 3 days and you are terminated for job abandonment, vacation and sick time are the same if you even get that, must always account for 100 of your time... they aren’t different they are just following the norm... so hard to be sympathetic to just the Nintendo contractors
This is where unregulated capitalism has gotten us. Almost every big studio is doing this, unfortunately. They can't give contractors employment perks because legally that would convert them to employees. So they use this loophole to save on taxes, medical benefits, and employment perk. It's totally a system built to take advantage of employees.
I can 100% find this believable. I worked for ActivisionBlizzard for 2 years as a contractor in the US.
Asked to sleep at my desk, told I should be grateful for the low quality pizza they would feed us days on end, and hanging the ‘Hey your in the video game industry now!’ over your head. But seeing that’s not the case for anyone upstairs.
It reminds me of the whole unpaid internships thing in the early 00’s trying to convince you that being in the industry of your choice but being treated poorly was better then not being there.
Jeez that's BS I hope u got out of that mess and found a better job
I am in no way defending their treatment of employees, but the truth of the situation is that despite having an American headquarters, Nintendo is a Japanese company and operates as a Japanese company even here. Japan has a huge issue with its work culture and massive amounts of crunch and inequality in the work place. It is not unusual for employees of companies over there to have to sleep at the office just to be caught up to expectations.
Yeah man I agree💯 the Rockstar games crunch sounded way more worse than this Nintendo thing. nobody knows the truth on how that building is being handled inside, maybe the employees who get the luxury EARNED IT… people are too quick to cancel anything 💀🤦♂️
Yep
@@0zbrian dont get me wrong, nintendo definetely has a reputation of not being great to work for, but having grown up a 5 minute drive away from the headquarters, ive known that for a long time and this really isn't anything new for them.
Dudes. This is about a third party developer being absolutely terrible to Nintendo.
Welcome to the real world that’s how it works the people who work for the company get all the great benefits and the contracted companies get nothing
What I love about Nintendo is their games, games made by artists, workers. The company, the corporate entity known as Nintendo, does not make games, it makes money. It does this by selling games made by the people it employs. If all of those workers left, you’d be left with a corporate entity still known as Nintendo, but there would be none of the things that make us care about what we understand to be Nintendo. I hope this will wake a lot of people up to the understanding that Nintendo, Disney, Sony, etc. are not friends to anyone. They do what they have to do to make money. We should never feel a sense of loyalty to a company over the individuals working there who are creating the things that give us the reasons to care about what the company does in the first place.
@poorangus8584 I'm a Nintendo fan myself and I definitely agree with you. All these things you mentioned above about the games, characters, artists, game creators etc. That's what I love about Nintendo. I just can't believe how things played out during this video. By the way, God bless you for making that comment.
I am really glad you are bringing to light what is going on at Nintendo. I saw several articles about this on the news recently. They should be held accountable that Nintendo holds a healthy work culture.
Bruh! No one is talking about SJWS's or woke People about this?
Sega needs to learn a lesson about respect too when I heard what Sonic Team dealt with it gives you a whole different perspective. Konami is guilty too after what they did to Hideo Kojima. Sony just sucks at so many things. Microsoft just monopolized themselves. These 4 but mainly Sega and Konami need to learn something from this and so does Nintendo.
This nothing compare to ea
Sadly most of this is pretty typical. Contractors get different color badges due to policies they cannot be given gifts or taken on work outings. It can be hard to make it to full time and seem hopeless for some. I have seen this in several bug companies in the engineering space but finally made it full time after 5 yrs as a contractor with a fortune 500. It is possible
Almost every company in the world treats their workers like shit at times which is just a huge shame because everyone just deserves a job where you get treated normally no matter what gender, race, sexuality, beliefs or handicap people have.. It's sad to hear even Nintendo doesn't escape the disrespectful way of working :(
not epic games
@@Wario_Man Always an outlier, for the most part this is not the case.
@mirmir epic games treats thier employees with respect
@@Wario_Man How long have you been with Epic ?
Tbh I don’t think any big company can’t escape that expectation. Specially considering how conservative and traditionalist Japanese people are
God this is sad that my favorite game company that I've treasured and cherished as a child is doing this. But you know what I'm not surprised because all companies do this. Amazon does this too but worse. Nintendo needs to step it up and get there act together.
I've been having this thought for awhile now. My thought is what if people had enough of Nintendo? Like employees and us customers. What if Nintendo climbs so high up in the gaming world just to fall all the way back down?
You’ve heard the stories about Amazon employees being forced to pee in bottles because they aren’t allowed to take the time to use the bathroom and yet everyone still orders their crap from Amazon to save a few bucks. No one cares. No one will do anything and customers won’t do anything about it as long as they keep creating the products we want.
So not only does Nintendo treat their fans like hot trash, but they treat employees like shit?
this is just heartbreaking. if I ever get to the point where I can be the CEO of Nintendo, or any other company for that matter, I would try to actively avoid this type of abuse as much as possible.
The sad thing is people don’t become rich or high up in businesses by being nice. They exploit their workers, and once they’re rich why would they stop?
(Ex. Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, etc.)
@@ExtremeCacti yeah, I know its not unavoidable, but I'd try to avoid it regardless.
And fix the @#£%ing Joy Con Drift issue!!
Doug Bowser worked at EA from 2007-2015. That's when EA went down hill. He's not responsible obviously but that the work culture in the video games industry that he's experienced. I'm not surprised that NOA is having similar issues with someone that helped run the ship at EA at the helm of Nintendo of America now. I'm not one to blame a single individual for a companies issues, but it's definitely a big red flag I see.
I wish I could say i'm surprised but big companies do this often...some more than others😞
This doesn’t surprise me at all. I have known people in the computer/game developers community for a long time. It’s very rare when it’s done right.
So disappointed in Nintendo.
I agree
Considering that a lot of companies are also like this, whenever Nintendo or any other company(Disney, Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, Sega, etc) makes a horrible decision, I’m not disappointed. At this point, since it’s happened so many times, it’s not disappointment, but rather numb acceptance.
Wtf? Why should anyone ever accept this?
Contractors are not employees. They are not working with Nintendo, they are working for them. These are self employed persons that have flexibility and tax write offs. Nintendo treats their contractors like you treat your plumber. They’re not full time family members. You pay them for a job. They choose which contracts to sign.
Thank you for explaining.
That last bit is overly generous, contractors are often hired through exclusive third parties and leaving or hiring first party is often extremely limited. These aren't necessarily what Nintendo does but they are a real problem in certain industries(look up how contracted commercial trucking works).
Accurate to my contracting experience. As far as I can tell, this is coming from spoiled contractors who didn't understand what that means. Contractors are generally paid a premium to keep the work purely transactional
Exactly.. plus contract workers are usually paid significantly more to do the work, the company is paying them for their skills and expertise, not to smile or play football. It is like having your plumber play football in your garden... my sister did contract work for a few years and was raking the money in. She went back to full time during the pandemic for a significant pay cut but wants to go back to contract work because the pay is so much higher.
@@marksapollo Yeah, plus it's a great way for introverts to make more money since they're less likely to be promoted in corporate structures, since those promotions tend to require more interpersonal skills and thus favor extroverts. Contractors really only need to communicate what the job itself actually is, then they can typically work on their own on whatever project they're hired to do.
I really appreciate that you discussed this, even though it is a difficult topic. The more this is exposed, the more likely they are to fix the situation.
Knowing Nintendo, they won't be bothered to fix anything.
Unfortunately this is the way most companies tend to treat contractors and people that are viewed on the lower rungs of the ladder. Not saying it’s right or that it should be that way, but I’ve seen it happen at enough places that it unfortunately doesn’t surprise me.
Facebook has some of the worst contractor horror stories I’ve ever seen. Like, the companies they hire are some of the lowest rated in the country and are given a huge amount of work because they work for one of the biggest social media sites in the world.
Sadly, the companies hiring the contractors have nothing to do with their working conditions. It’s not inherently Nintendo’s liability. But still, Nintendo should at least try something like negotiating or improving their contract in order to maintain a healthy working environment, even if they don’t directly control their operations
Unfortunately, in a sense, Nintendo is becoming the "Disney" of video games in the sense that they just want money and find ways to capture all the money from the consumer.
True
They all are, Nintendo is disney xbox and Sony is hollywood, you're pretty much choosing the lesser of two evils
Disney is much worse
@@theelementai8823 i prefer steam to be honest, at least it's free but if i have to pay to play online with randos, i prefer Nintendo, and the lack of chat means i get to destroy 12year olds without destroying my ears with their screams.
@@raptros ???
That's so very sad... I've been so excited to try to apply for Nintendo, as they had an opening in my dream area a few years ago, but I was living across the country at the time. Now I live in Seattle and am constantly refreshing their jobs page to see if it comes back, but that is a huge bummer... Especially since I would have to ask them to sponsor me a work visa, and yeah, now I don't think they would...
There are so many companies like this. Walmart is pretty much the exact same way.
I hope Nintendo gets their act up. I've been a fan for most of my childhood, and to see something that I held dearly treat it's workers like crap. It just saddens me. Again, I hope Nintendo gets their act up. Because I rather play games knowing that the company behind them is trustworthy.
That’s really sad. I understand that Nintendo is company and that they are trying to get out a quality product, but people come before product. Something like this was bound to happen eventually, but it”s still heartbreaking. I hope for Nintendo’s sake and for the employee’s sake, they fix this.
Contractors aren't employees. Their independent agents hired to do a job. It's not an employee relationship. The complaints are probably coming from college grads who didn't know what the difference was between being an employee and contractor when they signed up. All this will do is motivate Nintendo to hire more experienced contractors or pay more lip service to their contractors while changing virtually nothing
Nintendo has been making some bad decisions lately and this just keeps adding to that bad stuff on whole another level (from Nintendo’s standpoint at least). It’s sad to see the company I’ve loved and cherished since a young age turn out to be a displeasing work area for their tired employees
Most corporations are like this. Idolizing companies is a bad idea. You'll always be disappointed. Most of the regular employees are probably largely fine, but contractors always get this kind of treatment. As a contractor, you're relationship with the company is purely cold and transactional. You may get tp go to some company events, but, as much as possible, you can expect to largely be segregated from the actual salaried team. That's the choice you make when you decide to work on a contract. Contracts for hire are somewhat different, but most contracts are this way
Sony and Microsoft ain't the same either. So are Disney, Square Enix, Konami, UbiSoft, Hasbro, Coca-Cola, Walmart, Amazon, Budweiser, Toyota, GM, Fox, Toei, Netflix, etc. In the end you may as well not trust anything.
@@VOAN They've been built to not be trusted. Modern marketing and planned obsolescence have shown that these companies know how to manipulate people to get them to continue to buy their products even when they know they're dropping the quality or doing shady shit. People don't act on it anymore. Even if a vocal group starts to act out, they have such mass market appeal, they can just adjust their marketing a little to make up for a small portion falling off unless they literally already passed market saturation like Netflix recently did (also they're losing numbers cause there is so much more competition now and their original monopoly is gone)
Contractors are not employees, so it is not the same as new EMPLOYEES who are actually hired by Nintendo. This is often how contractors are treated in companies throughout the US and probably many places around the world. I was a contractor working for one of our local utility companies and we were always given the jobs that their own in-house staff didn't want to do. As we are not employees, we didn't get to participate in company functions, too. That's how much of corporate America works. This is not a Nintendo issue. This is a corporate America issue. Full time EMPLOYEES and part time EMPLOYEES of Nintendo shouldn't be treated that differently, but since you're talking about CONTRACTORS, they are NOT employees, so again, this is corporate America. I don't see any problem with this. Contractors are always treated as second class citizens in virtually every corporation.
I'm a bit disappointed that lately, some of the videos are a bit "click baity". This is one of them and is really a non-story.
What a shitty, depressing, and tragic mindset you have. Hopefully things get better in your life....
While I agree that it is common for contractors to get that treatment, I still consider it a problem. The company I work for treats contractors almost the same as employees and it makes the work environment much better for everyone.
Tbh Nintendo is much darker than that really
Nintendo has always had quality problems they just convinced everyone "that is their style".
Thats so common in most big companies...
That's the unfortunate and inconvenient truth. :(
What needs to happen is for all the higher ups to be removed and replaced.
Unfortunately that's corporate America. I myself work for a major hospital system and they do an incredible job making you feel valued. However at the end of the day we are replaceable
What did they expect when Bowser is the boss.They need Mario to rescue them.
Sounds like a disgruntled worker is sad he didn't get hired full time... I mean... Am I the only one that thinks it's pretty obvious you wouldn't let non Nintendo employees into your main office... Nintendo are notoriously secretive, I expect even within the main building there will be various clearance permissions... This whole story is not really news at all
True. From experience, security in the video-game industry is one of the strictest, way above even financial and governmental institutions. And sub-contractors are often a source of leaks, so for that part, it makes a lot of sense.
Thank you so much for making this video. I know your brand is happy-go-lucky and I think this video hits even harder because it's coming from you. Nintendo's fan base needs a bit of cold water thrown on them sometimes and understand that no large company is their friend.
Contracts and contracts for hire are 2 totally different types of jobs. Regular contracts are paid a premium. My salary job has tighter policies than what you described and I would not consider them unreasonable. If you're paying a premium, you expect premium service and that includes trackable work, off-hour availability, and an understanding that you are not an employee of the company, but a temporary agent who will not be receiving benefits
Look for the guy on top. Doug "Bowser" should've been the first clue...
Ah. I've heard about this. The way you deal with it: Don't take jobs that are temporary. Period. If you're good enough for a full time spot, don't take something with less benefits.
I know a couple contractors who prefer to stay contractors because it's more lucrative, provided you do the paperwork.
This is just par for the course for businesses in the US. I only hear this coming from their US branch, not their main headquarters in Japan their European or just other buildings they have. This sounds more like a US work culture problem more than a Nintendo problem specifically. Hopefully now these allegations are public they are forced to change for the better.
I also worked at Microsoft, and honestly, it’s the testers and the workers who bring the value, not the company of the company saw their value then they would all have red badges.
Morals of the Story:
1. Don't Judge a Book By it's Cover.
2. NEVER EVER MEET YOUR HEROES EVER!!!!
I’ve lost my respect for Nintendo a long time ago, this just proves that they don’t deserve my respect.
We need to let Nintendo know how we feel about how they treat people. They are making money hand over fist. They should be ashamed of how they treat good hard working people.
Problem is no matter what shitty things Nintendo does, they NEVER feel ANY remorse.
That’s pretty much the norm in corporate Japan. There’s a culture of “being willing to die for your employer” that helped with the economic miracle after WW2 and making them the number 2-3 economy in the world.
I am genuinely disgusted.
Finally, a Nintendo lover that has the courage to speak his mind, unlike other channels that kiss Nintendo's ass so they can keep getting free games.
I wish they keep covering this , it’s easy just to forget and play there games I mean heck I’m still gonna play Pokémon but doesn’t mean it’s right and I don’t feel right about it I hope we keep getting on Nintendo for this because I’m sure they’re hoping Pokémon scarlet and violet will take our short spanned attention from this
I actually heard about this on my Google notifications a while ago. I hope Nintendo doesn't try to shut your video Down because you are being honest to all of the Nintendo fans. Nintendo treats their workers bad and Nintendo is a money hungry company (FACTS) People are buying the same games over and over on different Nintendo platforms. From Zelda skyward sword on the the Wii, Wii U and now the switch. Zelda twilight princess on the the GameCube, Wii, Wii U and now the switch. Wind waker on the GameCube, Wii U and now the switch. people needs to stop buying these games over and over and tell Nintendo (hey I'm not purchasing these Nintendo brand games over and over for $60 while you treat your workers like crap) I love all of my 7 Nintendo consoles and Nintendo brand games and I will keep buying Nintendo brand games but I'm not letting them dig in my pockets for the same games over and over again. I haven't purchased skyward sword and I'm not purchasing twilight princess or wind waker for the switch. Now if they add new areas, new side story, new weapons and a bunch of new content then maybe I will buy them but to purchase the same game over again on HD which they are already HD on the Wii U isn't worth it. Great video switch force as always.
Facts Indeed!
And I'm not paying $50 for the remaster of Mario VS Donley Kong or $60 for the remaster of Paper Mario TTYD, so there.
This is really horrible. I was a contractor until recently before I was made full time. I was treated extremely well. But being a contractor you don't get paid vacation or even holidays. Which makes burn out very real. I can only imagine what these people are going through. It's sickening to me. Happy workers are better workers
Sadly this is how a lot of companies treat their contractors. Maybe not as bad, but I’ve done projects for folks where they never let you forget you are a contractor. And contractors at nearly every company I’ve ever worked for used different colored badges so not sure why this is so “shocking” to people.
All companies do stuff like this. You must not even have a job.
I regret giving money to nintendo...
That’s so sad 😞
This is regular in Japan tho. Jobs are way more strict and people work ridiculous hours just to keep their jobs. I don't think this is just a Nintendo thing
Yeah, the Activion/Blizzard controversy earlier this year.
Post-Script- Wasnt really controversy it was literal crimes being commited
This reminds me so much of Amazon & how they treat their warehouse workers. Its so sad to hear about this.
I work for the state government, and even state government uses the same system. Regular full-time employees, and then 'contractors' who also work full time - often are paid a higher amount, but get little to no benefits. While job shopping I avoided the temporary and contractor jobs with the same departments I was applying for because they were decidedly less cared for. Companies use this for scalability, something that is more and more important to facilitate quick changes and to not overextend resources. It is a smart move by Nintendo to utilize this business model, and let people choose for themselves the extent to which they will be 'part of the company'. If people don't like it, they should avoid the quick, easy to get jobs, and hold out for one that is permanent. That could take some time.
That's the entire point of a 'contract' worker, you have far fewer benefits but you are being paid significantly more money then a full time employee is.
Wow...just wow. I don't know what to say other than this needs to be fixed.
This is less of a Nintendo issue in more of a corporate America issue. I experienced the exact same thing working in entry level mental health jobs. Corporations operate from a churn and burn model; but I agree you wish that Nintendo was better.
This makes me so sad. It almost makes me feel dirty for sitting down to play a game on my Switch, or buying a new game. I don’t know if I can support a company that treats its employees in such a way.
Or not care about fans.....
Joy con drift anyone??
If they are overworked they should put that work to acnh new dlc i WAANT MOREEE
Nintendo is the Disney of video games in so many ways. Mario is Mickey. The corporate offices mirror their Disney counterparts. The products they produce are amazing, but behind the scenes, they are sharks.
This isn’t new. It didn’t start in 2015. It started in the 1980’s with their shrewd tactics that both saved and crippled the game industry until the rise of SEGA.
We tend to romanticize things and only see the good until we are met with the truth. Japan is beautiful, but it’s not a place that welcomes outsiders to come live. Disneyland is fun and the happiest place on Earth, but is built on a lot of back door deals, hostile takeovers, and politics. War is glorious and full of heroes, but controlled by people with money and power who have never put their lives on the line. Nintendo is no different.
It’s the sad truth of the matter. This is how most things in the world work. Hollywood isn’t as glamorous as we see on the silver screen. Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft; they are all the same. It’s the nature of business.
Capitalism, communism, socialism, democracy, republics, monarchy…. All it comes down to is this; those with power take advantage of those without. Sometimes it’s fair and honest, but most of the time, it’s ugly. That’s why we shouldn’t look too close, unless we are prepared to take the shit with the sugar.
Is it fair? No. But it is the truth. Sadly, you just lost some of your innocence today. Life is full of these kinds of realizations. I’m 44 and have seen it happen. I used to be naive and believe everything was as good as it looked, until the veneer was scratched away and revealed the dingy foundation of many things.
My advice, just be the best person you can be and enjoy what you enjoy. If you treat others with respect and love, no one can fault you for being part of the problem. That and try not to let it get to you. Keep in mind, Nintendo used to run “love motels” in the 50’s through the 70’s in Japan. Nothing is sacred and no one is lilly white.
With any job. It is a contradiction to complain about the job while continuing employment at the company. If you don't like it quit and work at a company that you prefer. If you can't get a job that is better then you really don't have it that bad.
We’re is the Nintendo I know
I don't know how to feel after hearing what you just said I loved Nintendo and I still do but this is terrible
Nintendo is so broken😭
Man Nintendo fallen from grace
Wow thats very sad to hear. Doesn't change how I feel about Nintendo.
I don't get it... Is a COMPANY after all, a job, like my dad says "from the door in you come to work, and if you don't like it That same door is wide open"
I did some contacting work I wasn't included in the office party BUT I was included in the department party. Contractors are there to fill the gap from a few months up to a year.
Sadness. I know work is shxt in Japan but I thought they would at LEAST be more lenient in America
Nintendo of America, right?
Second guessing future purchases with Nintendo.
That’s crazy but off Topic the sign to the Nintendo building looks like the Wii Wifi adapter…idk if that was on purpose…😆
I can’t believe Nintendo would do this hell not Nintendo, Nintendo is the people that make up the company that gives us these masterpieces. The Nintendo leadership needs to change, i don’t have the ability to change it, maybe we don’t either. We can’t boycott, its been proven time and time again that Nintendo knows we will buy it if Mario is plastered on it. So lets thank the people who did the heavy lifting for developing these games!
It was a contractor, aka, not an actual employee, aka, he doesn't get the same benefits as them
Yeah but it stinks that they have to go through that
It's pretty standard stuff. Heck, my company will let go of an employee who skips 2 days, much less contractors. Missing 3 days is totally unprofessional, that's a high tolerance bar for keeping a low performer on. If they're sick and alert the company, or some other emergency comes up and they do notify them, that's different, but it sounded like it's a 3 day hooky tolerance. That's honestly a lot
Well time to switch gaming platforms, I’m not going to support any company that works like this. I’m worked for too many that work on a structure like this.
Thank you!
Nintendo Workers of the World Team Up!
When you mentioned the source article being IGN.
My mind to this article is like: Press X to Doubt until I see evidence that proves that Nintendo's work culture is like this.
And if so, is it Nintendo of America, Nintendo of Japan, Nintendo of Europe or all of them?
Or None and this IGN article is just Fake.
I don't believe Game Journalists all they did is spread propaganda or make stuff up to get clicks.
I'm not feeling this new nintendo management. Iwata and Reggie were gamers first and business men second. Furikawa and doug are just straight up business men and unfortunately all they really care about are the numbers. I'm afraid the Nintendo I grew fond of is no longer there.
I'm feeling the same way, man.
yup. a lot of this sounds exactly like my job at Amazon. its sad to say but nintendo sounds like a giant company like any other
I can relate. I''ve seen what amazon did to theyr e-commers in person
garfield kart
Yes
This is why companies have strikes and walk outs because the big wheels way up in the company don't care! P.S> "ITS NOT JUST NINTENDO" There are lots of companies that do that :) What some place you would not think........ Apple , Amazon warehouse workers, and so on. The only thing that it does seem anymore for Nintendo is the bottom line the Dollar mark and dont care how its made as long as its made. Sometimes Companies get these huge tax breaks by letting lots of employees go before the year ends and refilling the positions with enough to fill the position. The bottom line is the $$
Whoa 😳😬🤐😢😱 Ever since we talked about the very bad Activision Blizzard situation I never thought nintendo would ever be like this!?
Yeah if they keep this up nobody wont work for them the blue batch will work for another company and quit all together !!!
This is just the world now adays. Few companies are preparing ways forward
Zach what did you expect, they are a giant corporation. Just because they make Mario, doesn’t mean they care about their employees. Nintendo only cares about you buying Nintendo, period.
And Nintendo knows that most of us will despite what they do, like every other company on the planet…
Many companies have red and blue badges and contractors are held at arm’s length.
Same as any company that uses contract / agency staff ....
Easier to replace
This just in...employees complain about employer! *shock*
I want nintendo back
TH-camrs is scientist, politicians, doctors, businessman, professor
Sounds like Nintendo is starting to sound like Blizzard Please Nintendo dont turn into Bowsers castle!
Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
I’m sorry this is just like everywhere else in the USA... miss 3 days and you are terminated for job abandonment, vacation and sick time are the same if you even get that, must always account for 100 of your time... they aren’t different they are just following the norm... so hard to be sympathetic to just the Nintendo contractors
This is where unregulated capitalism has gotten us. Almost every big studio is doing this, unfortunately. They can't give contractors employment perks because legally that would convert them to employees. So they use this loophole to save on taxes, medical benefits, and employment perk. It's totally a system built to take advantage of employees.
Alot of companies are like that to be honest
Worker exploitation.
watch when Nintendo does something hyped to avoid the controversy
This is just NOT what I thought Nintendo was like
Well that is disheartening to hear. Not suprising but still a tough pill.
"The brighter the picture... The darker the negative."
Sooo... Nintendo is like Mr. Krabs? Well, that's disappointing.😟
Have you ever worked for a factory?
Oh wow I have no words