I could mention the firm that's also under fire, but... they're working for Nintendo to provide U.S. contractors.
The complaints allege that the companies have "coercive rules", and retaliated in a sneaky way that resulted in a worker either being disciplined or discharged for engaging in protected activities along with others. This may seem like fluff, but Axios explained that these types of complaints generally arise when employers interfere with employees discussing workplace conditions and unionizing.
Nintendo and the firm have yet to reply to requests for comment. I'm sure they're going to remain as silent as possible until they get a game plan in place. I won't say that my issue with Nintendo years back (2nd party development related) confirms that they can't be trusted, but... would I put it past them to do something like this? I wouldn't put it past any company, but they're playing with fire if it's true.
I can't put a stamp on whether it's actually true or not (Nintendo's not going to admit it in my opinion) but... there's a weird same going on here. The prior complaint was brought to light by Kotaku who said the worker was allegedly terminated after inquiring about unionization in a company meeting. Nintendo fired back on that one and said the worker was terminated because they divulged information that was supposed to be confidential. I don't know if this is true or false, but Nintendo has a bigger voice than the worker.
Something happened at that time though, because more of that... weird same came out when current and former contractors at Nintendo began to speak out to media outlets like Axios about infuriating conditions. 2022 isn't the only time this occurred either.
Axios mentioned complaints about... conditions across the industry (my guess is to avoid pointing the finger directly at Nintendo) and said that the complaints were mainly based on excessive hours + negative work conditions + low pay. So there's that, but regarding the current complaints... the NLRB is currently investigating the complaints, and if it's true... I hope this works out well for the dev team members.
Developers, this is certainly something to learn from. If Nintendo is truly doing this to contractors or employees in general, it's messed up. Think about what it could ultimately do to them and any developers considering such. If more contractors/workers get burned (via termination) that could result in a domino effect because more work falls on the remaining team... and some of you know all too well what happens when you're burned-out. The company is nothing without the team.
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