Summary
Nintendohas just denied a recent rumor that employees at its Mario Club Co., Ltd subsidiary are being laid off. Layoffs have become an increasing occurrence throughout the game industry over the past year or so, with big-name studios and indie developers reportedly cutting down on their workforces due to low sales, corporate downsizing, or other reasons. For example, Velan Studios, which worked withNintendoonMario Kart Live: Home Circuit, sent layoff notices to about a third of its workers back in March following the cancelation of a major project.
This wasn’t the only Nintendo-related company faced with news of layoffs, as it was claimed that Mario Club Co., Ltd. was letting go of roughly 150 of its 400 employees earlier this week. For the uninitiated, Mario Club Co., Ltd. is a game-testing and debugging team that has worked on many Nintendo games sinceDr. Marioback in 1990, with some of its most recent projectsincludingLuigi’s Mansion 2 HD,Princess Peach: Showtime, andSuper Mario Bros. Wonder.
However, it looks like these layoffs might not be happening after all. A Nintendo spokesperson recently provided a statement toEurogamerdebunking the claims of layoffs happening at Mario Club Co., Ltd. “We have confirmed with Mario Club Co., Ltd. that the rumoured information in the report is untrue,” the statement reads. The rumor in question originated from a Japanese publication named Leakpress (as translated byGoNintendo), which claimed that the layoffs were being done to remove employees who “cause trouble” and “drag their colleagues down.”
Nintendo Says Layoff Rumors Aren’t True
The report that started these rumors also claimed that Nintendo would handle these supposed layoffsdifferently than Bandai Namco, which reportedly banished some of its Japanese staff to so-called “eviction rooms” with nothing to work on. This would basically pressure the employees in question to leave Bandai Namco on their own rather than be laid off, and sources claimed that roughly 100 have done so.
We have confirmed with Mario Club Co., Ltd. that the rumoured information in the report is untrue.
Meanwhile, Nintendo is assuring the public that nobody at Mario Club Co., Ltd. is being laid off at the moment, either directly or through this so-called “eviction room” method.Nintendohas seen plenty offinancial success thanks to the Nintendo Switch, and it seems like the Big N has a big year planned for 2025. The tentatively titled Switch 2 console is reportedly set to be revealed sometime before March, and highly-anticipated games likeDonkey Kong Country Returns HDandXenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Editionare launching right at the start of the year.
