Joel Luther

Wow. Just wow.

Some of you may remember that Nintendo had previously told its employees in the sales and marketing divisions, based out of Redmond and Seattle, that they would be moving these divisions to the Los Angeles area and New York City. The employees were given an ultimatum: either make the move with Nintendo, or give up their job. They had until June to make the choice.

Now that the deadline has passed, we are starting to hear of the effects of this move. GameInformer is reporting that not only did 90% of the sales and marketing divisons quit, three of NOA's most notable figures have stepped down. The three key executives leaving are: Beth Llewelyn (Senior Director of Public Relations), Perrin Kaplan (Vice President of Marketing and Corporate Affairs), and George Harrison (Senior Vice President Marketing and Corporate Communications) (no, he wasn't one of the Beatles ).

It is not currently known when these people will actually step down (or when NOA will make the move), but GameInformer is probably right in betting that it won't happen until after this years E3.

This is pretty major news. What will this mean for the future of the company? Will they decide not to re-locate to keep from losing such major people? Or will they just be replaced in New York? Discuss it in the comments.

I have contacted Nintendo for a confirmation, and will post here either way.

--Joel

UPDATE: It may have just been a rumor. This text comes from an interview with Harrison:

Harrison, who is the senior executive in charge of sales and marketing, will be moving, with about sixty people from NOA. President Reggie Fils-Aime will remain in Seattle, Harrison said.

And from an interview with Kaplan:

GameInformer: Are you going to have to move?

Perrin Kaplan: Well I could choose not to. But we are relocating that part of the division down there [San Francisco, California]. And then also in New York.

GI: So what’s moving where?

Kaplan: Sales and Marketing is moving to Silicon Valley – San Francisco. And Online and some of my department is moving to New York.

GI: Would you take a different position if you didn’t move?

Kaplan: If I choose to stay in Seattle, I’ll do something else.

GI: For a different company?

Kaplan: Yes. The problem is that I love my job.

GI: Do you love Seattle?

Kaplan: But I love Seattle, so I have a little bit of a dilemma.

While Harrison made it quite clear he was making the move, Kaplan wasn't exactly sure. She did mention that if she didn't move, she would take a job with another company, and that she loved Seattle, but she also mentioned that she loved her job.

Still waiting for a response from Nintendo...