Compared to the some of the big developers out there, Game Freak is relatively small. Companies like Ubisoft, Activision, and EA have massive amounts of staffers working on their projects. Meanwhile, the core team at Game Freak has only around 180-200 people working on Pokemon Sword/Shield, which may seem small in comparison.
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TNS: Based on its most recent ESG data, Nintendo boasts a remarkably low staff turnover rate of just 1.9%, with virtually no reported layoffs.
It’s unreal that people are downvoting this when they consistently have the best scoring games on metacritic.
Well it doesn’t surprise me. As much money as they make and how they value their employees. It’s a great company in that regard.
Replies(1)Well, when your games remain full price many years after release.
And you make profit off of outdated hardware.
I would be shocked if they couldn't afford to retain their staff.
I didn't want to say anything but drivxr is right.
Nintendo always sells at a profit because they purposely use tech that's always 5 or more years behind. And it's also true their games hardly ever get price decreases.
Don't get me wrong, it's great they kept most of their workforce, but making a point to have your tech specs behind everyone else affords that luxury.
I don’t think it’s their purpose to use old tech. It’s their purpose to make value of software and know their value. Nobody makes games like them that’s for sure. I just don’t appreciate their customer unfriendly policy.
It’s not impossible to take their status. Companies need to have a selection of 8-bit and 16-bit. Now imagine a split screen for 8 player game for SNES Mario kart and selling at $9.99. The problem is that it doesn’t make profit. So many companies won’t invest in “old” technology. Everyone guns for triple AAA modern technology software but honestly we can enjoy modernized 16-bit creative ideas that allows 8-player mayhem. It’s a pipe dream, possible but impossible.
If they ended up kicking people out after all of that stated above, it would be truly shameful.
Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Tesla and Meta are all trillion dollar companies yet they are laying people off in large numbers.
I believe the reason Nintendo layoffs off less workers may be a result of their culture. It seems Japanese companies believe in giving their workers long term or life long employment opportunities and will exhaust all options before laying off workers. This is something we don't see much of in the west unfortunately.
might be something to do with the fact all those companies hire more than 20x the employees than Nintendo
What the hell are you talking about? It has nothing to do with how profitable they are. Its completely cultural, MS and Sony make stacks of cash and still lay folks off. Nintendo chose not to lay off staff for the same reason their execs took pay cuts to increase staff pay instead; because they value their staff and view them as colleagues, and respect them as such.
If Sony weren't so US centric I fancy they'd fare better too, they should get shot of US and European leadership and go back to when Japanese execs were running the show if you ask me!
TNS: Expedition 33 was the wake-up call Square Enix needed, telling it turn-based RPGs are still popular, but that shouldn't have been the case.
True, but if it does get it through their thick skulls, then that works.
Although, the Dragon Quest 1 + 2 HD remakes will be turn-based and (the worst kept secret) Final Fantasy IX remake should be turn-based I would imagine. Let's see if any newer games go turn-based too.
DQIII HD Remake was turned based and very successful. Then there was a really obscure turn based game came Balder's Gate 3. I heard it might have done well.
It won't get through to them though, despite E33's success, they still won't risk going fully turn based for their big budget projects simply because they are still in the mindset that it needs to be action combat to appeal to the mainstream audience. I hope I'm wrong but don't underestimate just how stubborn Japanese execs can be
Ya'll are hyping up Expedition 33 too much. Reminder that FF XVI sold 3 million in a week and it took Expedition 33 approximately a month to get to that (33 days to reach 3.3 million).
While it is true that Sqaure Enix has moved away from turn based games compared to how they were in the past, there is a good reason for it.
Older gamers will know this but during the ps2 era, we were flooded with turned based games from Japanese studios and this created a form of fatigue back then going into the next generation.
When Square released FF13, they received heavy criticism for making the game turned based like every other FF game and not doing enough to innovate. This is why they made FF15, FF7 Remake and FF16 have real time combat. It gave the series a fresh spin and has brought in new fans to the series.
I personally would be happy with either turned based FF or the real-time combat version we see today.
Dang wish I saw your post before I made mine because we definitely feel the same way lol
Yeah hit the nail on the head but its like ww2 games we get hundreds of them then a decade of nothing and people start missing them i think we're going to start seeing them return
Claire, dragon quest even yakuza have seen turn based return
Only need to look at their own game DQ 11 approaching 10 million to show there's a market. And that's not as big of a name as FF
Another article about Expedition 33 and Square Enix and turn-based games? This is starting to sound like propaganda.
The game didn't sell because it's a turn-based game; it sold and is enjoyed because it's a really freaking good game that released completed at a good price without gamer drama attached to it. No Mtx, no wait-until-it's-patched, minimal bloat, a self-contained story, no multiplatform BS. Just a solid original game that absolutely nails what it intended to do.
Maybe try actually listening to the fans who have supported the series for decades. This habit of ignoring your core audience just to chase people who were never interested in Final Fantasy in the first place makes no sense. And when that approach fails, doubling down on it is beyond baffling.
The battle system has never been the main reason non-FF or non-JRPG players stayed away. Gutting the series’ identity to chase a broader market doesn’t attract new players. It just alienates the loyal ones.
Keep going down this road and we’ll end up with Final Fantasy Fortnite abomination or a F2P Battle Royale game.. Oh wait…
You really comparing one developer to the biggest third party publishers of the industry? At 143 developers, Game Freak is a mid tier sized developer
They should have expanded over the years, the Pokemon games have always done well in sales thanks to the brand name alone so there’s no excuse to not expand your team so you can make each next project better than the last.
Recently it came out that 1000 people have worked on Sword and Shield, mostly from outsourcing it. Now for what the game looks like and the little jump it seems to have had for the next brand new generation of Pokemon with the first ever console game is ridiculous, they should have taken it more seriously.
I know it’s different for each studios and what specific game they make but CD Projekt Red has roughly 886 staff, NaughtyDog has about 336, The Collation is like 300ish, Platinum Games 224 etc. Point is look at what they accomplish and yet here’s GF who can’t even utilise 1000 properly
They have Nintendo’s backing so it’s not like they would be left in the shit.
Pokemon, pokemon = cash cow
If they want to start doing more than POKEMON then they're going to need to expand. Else they'll struggle juggling between it and their new IP if it takes off after release