If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to work for a giant gaming company like Nintendo, then it’s possible that you would not imagine it to be anything like how Goddard described it in a recent interview with Eurogamer. He was one of a group of teens from North London who moved to the Kyoto HQ for Nintendo so as to work on games such as Star Fox with Shigeru Miayamoto and the team. Contrary to what one would expect, Giles’ description of the work environment at Nintendo is one that is much less than ideal.
In the ’90s when Giles was working for the company, Nintendo was already a huge brand name and one synonymous with the gaming industry. However, he describes having had to work very long hours in a factory-like setting. He stated, “It’s a factory.”
“It’s such a clinical, rigid way of working. It amazes me they get so much creativity out of that place, with Zelda and Mario. You go there and it’s white, it’s clinical cubicles and bells ringing for lunch and for going home. How they get any creativity out of that place is beyond me, but they do it.”
Although things haven’t changed much, Giles also admitted that there was some room for playfulness and experimentation in the company. He stated, “You couldn’t dick around in the way you work, you could dick around with the things you did, making demos. You couldn’t dick around with your timecard, being late and not working overtime. You can dick around with the things you’re actually doing, and they encouraged that playfulness.”
As for the current situation, Gilesstated that the company seems to have become more money-minded lately which worries him, and it’s certainly a worrying prospect for the entire industry. Hopefully, there will be some changes made and these issues get addressed sooner rather than later.
