Nintendo has closed an office in California and plans to close another in Toronto. The closing of the office in Redwood City occurred on Friday and came as a surprise to its roughly 100 employees. It was used for sales and marketing, with merchandising teams that traveled to retailers across the country. SVP of Sales and Marketing Nick Chavez has resigned and joined KFC to promote its Yum! brand. Kotaku reached out to Nintendo regarding the closure and was told that the company is consolidating staff into its Redmond, WA, and Vancouver, BC, locations.
Nintendo of America headquarters are in Redmond, WA, and Vancouver, BC. We are moving more of our employees and operations into those headquarters and will be closing small satellite offices in Toronto, ON, and Redwood City, CA, over time.
Devon Pritchard, Executive Vice President, Business Affairs and Publisher Relations for Nintendo of America (NOA), will assume interim leadership of Sales, Marketing and Communications following the departure of Nick Chavez. Ms. Pritchard will oversee strategy and execution of sales, marketing and communications across the U.S. and Canada.
The reason for the closures is unknown, but the staff in California is understandably shocked and upset. The change also comes as a surprise, considering the success with the Switch consoles.
Source: Kotaku