Nintendo went on a bit of a news spree recently, but not all of it was good: in addition to 130 employees affected by the closure of Nintendo’s European headquarters, the game and console manufacturer told Kotaku it will also cease working with 190 other people by August 31. Nintendo explained that the additional layoffs are related to reorganizing its European Localization Development department. Going forward, Nintendo said there will be “an increase in outsourcing future translation and test activities to third-party companies on an as-needed basis.”
Around 320 employees at Nintendo of Europe will lose their jobs this week, the company confirmed to Kotaku today. That number includes around 130 full-time Nintendo of Europe employees—as was reported in June—and an additional 190 who worked for the company’s Germany-based localization department by way of a leasing agency. Though technically those 190 people were temporary employees, in practice, they all worked exclusively for Nintendo, and many of them had been working there for years, some have told Kotaku. All 320 people will be out of jobs by August 31. In June, Eurogamer and other gaming outlets reported that Nintendo of Europe had laid off 130 people as part of a restructuring, but in the weeks and months afterwards, people affected by the layoffs reached out to tell me that the full scale had not been properly reported. NOE will now outsource the localization and testing that was previously done by these staff.
