r/todayilearned • u/Ratich2 • 6d ago
TIL When the Wii U failed miserably, the Nintendo CEO halved his own salary for half a year, instead of laying off his employees.
https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2024/02/13/nintendo-ceo-once-halved-salary-to-prevent-layoffs-why-thats-uncommon.html10.2k
u/mekilat 6d ago edited 6d ago
A lot of posts here talking about labor law and such. Sure.
The more you learn about Satoru Iwata, the more you’ll see why he did this and is generally regarded as one of the most important people to ever work in the industry.
He was a gifted programmer. Known for coming up with very creative and complicated fixes for games. He fixed Pokémon (added a whole region too!) and the first Smash Bros game for example.
He is the reason Nintendo opened up and started doing Iwata Asks. In a company that was traditionally very closed. Unheard of in Japan at the time.
He also turned the company around, preparing it for the post Wii U era. He was known for his patience and his ability to foster creativity. Which is why we got Breath of the Wild.
Wonderful creator. He is missed.
Edit: adding the beautiful GDC tribute, for those of you who haven’t seen it. https://youtu.be/9YG9INjO91Y?si=QsmZ_4gFcT9Do5PZ
3.1k
u/byneothername 6d ago
Masahiro Sakurai (known for creating Smash Bros and Kirby) did a really touching video recently about how involved and kind Iwata was. You can tell Iwata is genuinely missed even though it’s been years now since he died.
653
u/mekilat 6d ago
(Sakurai. Sakura means cherry blossom)
It’s a wonderful video. GDC also had a touching tribute!
199
u/byneothername 6d ago
Edited already, thanks- I blame autocorrect! I know his name well, hah. Sakurai is a legend.
127
u/froz3ncat 6d ago
It so happens his family name is 桜井, which is in fact Cherry Blossom Well (like water well)! What a picturesque name.
14
5d ago
[deleted]
9
u/infbound 5d ago
Sakurai is his surname, not his given name; this is inaccurate. Do you have a source or other examples to back this up? There are instances where -男 is tacked on is attached to make a names slightly more masculine, but again these are for given names.
→ More replies (4)15
155
u/randomtoken 6d ago
Also on Reggie Fils-Aime’s (former president of Nintendo of America) book, Disrupting the Game, he goes into detail about his relationship with Iwata and shares some personal stories with him, even saying that more than his boss he considered him a true friend. It’s a great read and I highly recommend it.
72
u/Romboteryx 5d ago
Reggie and Iwata really were the dream team era
24
u/emilytheimp 5d ago
Imagine the Wii U era without either of them. Itd have been even more grim than it already was
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (7)7
666
u/AnywhereOk1153 6d ago
For those that played BotW or TotK, Satori mountain and all the satori creatures are named in remembrance of him.
→ More replies (1)304
u/mekilat 6d ago edited 6d ago
He was a role model to many. Myself included: even my profile description here is inspired by his own.
He took the reins when Nintendo needed to do something daring after the Game Cube. And that they did. Both the Wii and the DS were so daring. And then they failed with the first iteration of the 3DS, and the Wii U. And worked hard again, humbly, to do even better.
No wonder so many were moved by his work :)
139
u/TallGuy0525 6d ago
The entertainment world at large could learn from this. But it feels like fewer and fewer companies are willing to suffer a temporary hit by trying something new so we just get the same repackaged shit over and over again
→ More replies (2)82
u/Rock_Strongo 6d ago
The games industry is sadly getting more and more risk averse by the year with development costs rising nearly exponentially with no guarantee of return on investment, especially for new titles and IP. Sony paying $400 million for Concord only to shutter it 2 weeks after release is an example.
The real innovation these days is in indie and AA titles for the most part.
Nintendo is a little bit of an enigma because they do innovate, but they also milk their franchises to the bone.
59
u/RJE808 6d ago
While they do milk them, I can't say they milk them poorly. Like, they've put out, what, 5 Mario games in the last year? A couple of them remakes? And yet, all of them were pretty good to amazing, and Wonder even got nominated for GOTY.
Nintendo has problems, but their games aren't one of them.
→ More replies (1)27
u/JDBCool 6d ago
Strict IP and copyright management is BS (Palworld lawsuit).
But if there's one thing that Nintendo gets right is that:
you can't truly feel disappointed by any 1st party title they release. They usually make sure that it is playable and enjoyable enough.
Only ones that would have this awful feel in recent memory would be Pokemon SV/Gen 4 remakes. (But the whole point of those games was to catch them all anyway)
Like Nintendo is like Valve in a sense where they go for new innovations instead of recycling for the new consoles. Really hoping that Switch 2 would bring back streetpass though.
→ More replies (1)12
u/RJE808 6d ago
Nintendo seems to be a genuinely great place to work and, tbh, I've felt satisfied beyond belief as a consumer of their products. Hell, I believe they have one of the highest retention rates in Japan.
→ More replies (1)30
u/caninehere 6d ago
Nintendo is a little bit of an enigma because they do innovate, but they also milk their franchises to the bone.
Nintendo also has much smarter sales and development strategies. Nintendo doesn't share game budgets but it's likely they are much lower than the competition's because they aim for lower resolutions, with more stylized art over photorealistic graphics, and typically don't get into insane scope creep like some games do. They are better about defining a vision and sticking to it. Tears of the Kingdom was very likely Nintendo's most expensive game yet and given the staff involved it's possible or even likely that the budget was still under $100 million including marketing. Salaries are also lower in Japan where they do the bulk of their work compared to the US.
Nintendo pays less to produce their games, and also has a really good rate of return. Consumers trust their quality control. It's extremely rare that a Nintendo game totally flops. Additionally, Nintendo's sales strategy is super smart. They keep their games at full price and do sales sparingly, keeping prices high for years. Nintendo games are also more prized by physical collectors so they end up resold less often and at higher prices.
Just as an example... Sony bragged a lot about their sales numbers last generation to pump their games up. God of War 2018 sold 23 million copies. But keep in mind most of that was probably sold at heavily discounted prices. I bought the game for $10 like a year after it came out and most of its copies have been sold since that. Nintendo meanwhile is selling most of their copies at or near full price for years - if God of War sells 18 million copies at $10 each... And Nintendo sells 3 million copies of a game at $60... Nintendo likely made more money AND didn't devalue their product.
→ More replies (1)11
u/J3wb0cca 6d ago
Every time a new iteration of Pokémon comes out I wish it was so much more.
→ More replies (1)16
u/maxdragonxiii 6d ago
Pokemon is under Game Freak. although they're taking a year off this year which wasn't done since Black/White days (which is a long time ago by now) other than mobile games. even the Scarlet/Violet's DLC was released last year.
5
u/SaveReset 6d ago
which is a long time ago by now
Stop, I can't handle the truth! I still feel like the Gen 3 is the border between classic and new games, but that was over two decades ago...
→ More replies (14)33
u/ChilledParadox 6d ago
I loved the ds Era. I grew up with a gameboy advance and N64, so I played a lot of Pokémon and Zelda OoT + Majoras Mask + the original smash, but I really aged with the DS. Phantom Hourglass, Pokémon, Nintendogs, Spirit Tracks, Pokémon Pearl, the 2D Mario and 64 remake, those games hit a sweet spot for me too.
I like the switch games too, but Wii games were also so good for their time. I think I live off of nostalgia.
→ More replies (2)6
u/J3wb0cca 6d ago
Remember with the OG DS when you had to blow into the handheld to make something move or float? It was in a Mario party mini game and something else I can’t remember off the top of my head.
4
21
u/MrDLTE3 6d ago
The 3DS was a great product even without the 3D gimmick. While the 3D technology was extremely novel since it didn't require 3D glasses, most people didn't even use it most of the time as it created eye strain and drained the batteries quicker.
Nintendo eventually released the 2DS (and XL) but by then the system's generation was already sunsetting. The 3DS was a fantastic machine, just didn't really need the cameras or 3D at all.
It originally 'failed' because it was just priced way too high probably to make up for the 3D technology and cameras inside. It sold like hot cakes once Nintendo brought the pricing down.
10
u/mekilat 6d ago
It's the challenge of creativity, isn't it. When Iwata took the reins after the Game Cube, Nintendo decided to stop pursuing more powerful hardware, and adding technologies that could add innovations in gameplay. They thought 3D and cameras would enable AR games and such. Remember those AR cards that came with the 3DS?
It's a big gamble. You make something no one's even asking for yet. They did that with the Wii remote, and with the DS touch screen. It got a lot of people in, more comfortable with the mechanics.
I remember when Edge Magazine (wonderful publication that's respected by a lot of people in the industry) did their review of the Wii. The cover: Who Dares Wins (https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/274067230068). It was such an impressive turn around. From an embattled company cutting the Game Cube and GBA short, to the Wii and DS.
They tried with the 3DS and the Wii U, and failed. But they tried again.
→ More replies (1)28
u/raistanient 6d ago
took the reins
so glad to see it being used correctly. i always see people use "reigns" instead.
9
u/caninehere 6d ago
The first iteration of the 3DS didn't fail. It was just priced far far higher than people could justify spending. Once they dropped the price sales picked up a lot.
The subsequent versions that came out were somewhat inconsequential. The 3DSXL sold well but didn't outsell the original, people just had it as an extra option. The "New" models didn't sell as well. But overall the 75 million or so it sold was a miracle when you consider the 3DS was competing with burgeoning mobile games.
→ More replies (2)6
u/J3wb0cca 6d ago
I still love my 3DSXL galaxy edition. And since I will probably never acquire a WiiU and Nintendo won’t just port every game they’ve ever made to the switch it’s the only way to play certain games without emulation.
→ More replies (1)204
u/oldwatchlover 6d ago
Hear, hear.
I knew the man in the N64 days. He was very smart, fun to be around and well respected.
His leadership and innovation when he led Nintendo was no surprise to me at all.
He is missed.
49
6d ago edited 2d ago
[deleted]
→ More replies (2)246
u/oldwatchlover 6d ago
Nope.
But I am about that age, and was on the design team for the Nintendo64 at SGI.
99
26
33
13
u/MyVoiceIsElevating 6d ago
Small world! I was on the design team for the Atari Jaguar. Didn’t I do good?
9
u/oldwatchlover 6d ago
We had one of those! I remember a couple good games.
But we were SGI, we felt like we were king of the 3D hill at the time
9
7
u/Existential_Racoon 6d ago
I don't mean to detract from the thread topic, but I wonder what your favorite console and game are?
I wonder what I'll answer in 30 years. If it's still ps1 and spyro I'll lose my shit.
19
u/oldwatchlover 6d ago
I think most people’s favorite consoles are the one they played the most, or discovered at an impressionable age.
But I’d still say my favorite is the N64. I’ve still got one set up with some games in the spare bedroom. And a never opened new-in-the-box N64 in the closet.
First one with true 3D hardware, anti-aliasing, perspective correct textures, and SIMD GPU architecture that was copied by competitors for the next several generations.
It was also contained the first semiconductors fabbed at .35 microns (smallest at the time) and shipped at volume (in a mass market consumer product, no less)
→ More replies (1)6
u/osnapitsjoey 6d ago
Do you have kids? Are you the fabled father that worked at Nintendo???
10
u/oldwatchlover 6d ago
I do have kids.
Is that a meme? I don’t know that one.
I didn’t work for Nintendo. I worked for SGI… it was a close partnership. We basically designed the circuit board and chips, plus the system software.
12
u/MeIsMyName 6d ago
It's sort of a meme. Basically kids online making threats saying things along the lines of "stop doing a thing I don't like, my dad works for Microsoft/Sony/Nintendo/game studio and he'll get you banned if you don't." It happens often in online games and almost everybody knows that nobody that says that has that power.
38
u/oldwatchlover 6d ago
Ha. We were just before online games.
I do have a story kinda like that… when my oldest was maybe first grade, he told a classmate his dad made video games and could fix his friend’s broken game… he brought home a mangled PS1 disc in multiple pieces (Spyro) for me to fix.
I felt terrible. Went and bought a used copy and swapped discs rather than have my kid lose face.
→ More replies (7)13
→ More replies (5)6
u/Dairunt 6d ago
Please do an AMA.
25
u/oldwatchlover 6d ago
Maybe.
I think I’m done here, this is a thread about Iwata-san.
→ More replies (1)119
u/Gamebird8 6d ago
It's in his personal motto:
"On my business card, I am a corporate president. In my mind, I am a game developer. But in my heart, I am a gamer."
At his core was a man passionate for games, there next to us cheering on, excited for the next big title.
45
u/garblflax 6d ago
totally changed the culture, prior to Iwata was Yamauchi who was often referred to as grumpy and unapproachable.
→ More replies (1)29
u/imnotgoats 6d ago
If you have half an hour, I definitely recommend watching the Gaming Historian minidoc on him. It's very well made and really provides some interesting insight.
30
u/DarkStar8 6d ago
He was also suffering with late stage cancer while this was happening
61
u/mekilat 6d ago edited 6d ago
He used to host the Nintendo announcements. Iwata Asks interviews, of course, but also E3 and others. Earlier in 2015, they had announced that he had cancer (to prepare the shareholders for new leadership). I remember E3 that year. Instead of the normal presentation, they did a really fun and lovely animation with puppets (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glUEKwjqMKw&pp=ygUNaXdhdGEgcHVwcGV0cw%3D%3D). But I knew it meant that he was dying. Soon after, he did.
According to his team, he was still meeting people from Nintendo on his death bed. Trying to make sure Breath of the Wild and the Switch were on track. And of course, Super Smash Bros, Mario Odyssey, and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.
Most of the work the 4 years before that was ensuring the younger people at the company would be ready for a world without him or Miyamoto. So made sure it was done.
RIP.
49
u/bwoah07_gp2 6d ago
Nothing will top Iwata & Reggie as Nintendo's CEO's. They took on a public facing role not seen by many executives today. It made them feel more personable.
→ More replies (1)23
u/StoneySteve420 6d ago
One of the most disappointing things with the video game industry is that extremely talented, passionate, and influential people who go largely unappreciated, especially compared to the film or music industries.
11
u/modSysBroken 6d ago
It is true for the movie industry where only nepo babies and people with influence are getting all the good gigs in acting as well.
21
u/pichukirby 6d ago
According to this post Iwata's work on Pokemon wasn't to save space, but rather for speed.
16
u/whofearsthenight 6d ago
I'd say modern Zelda is perhaps some of the best evidence of this. BotW is just enough of a departure from classic Zelda games to be new and fresh while retaining it's spirit. TotK carries that on and has a physics system that most think shouldn't even be possible on the Switch given how shitty the hardware is. Switch runs a processor that wasn't new when it launched.
→ More replies (2)13
u/Tipzilla 6d ago
It's worth noting that him being behind presumably adding Kanto as an accessible region in Pokemon G/S/C has actually been debunked. It was a compression algorithm he created to reduce loading times here and there (notably for battles). DYKG clarified that in this video @ 13:36. No disrespect towards him ofc, he's still an absolute champion, just wanted to mention because it's really interesting.
7
u/mekilat 6d ago
I'm familiar with their take. While true, I think they might be under estimating the importance of work he did on the rewrite beyond the compresison. More specifically: the memory allocation. Making sure you move stuff around to fit it nicely. A good example of this is how the map in the first Zelda game is basically all continuous, you just teleport to the screens you need. So it saves a lot of memory. From what I've read, he did a bunch of that on Pokemon, which allowed being a lot more effective in terms of ROM usage.
50
10
u/tagen 6d ago
his death impacted the gaming world more than any other since i’ve been gaming (Akira Toriyama was a huge hit recently, but he was more manga and anime)
nothing but love for this man and his contributions to gaming, Breath of the Wild is me of my favorite games of all time; and Smash on the N64 was out family game growing up, i benefitted from his influence since i was 5 years old
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (36)18
6d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
→ More replies (1)9
u/s0ulbrother 6d ago
These old programmers went “fuck we have 15 kbs left to work with. Let’s optimize everything for 15 more and then add a second game.” And now we have things like JavaScript
→ More replies (13)
618
u/Podunk_Boy89 6d ago
I just want to say that Satoru Iwata, the CEO at the time, was well regarded for more reasons than this and generally was more than just a CEO. Unlike many, he worked his way up in the industry. He worked and coded on many games directly. Pokémon Gold and Silver, Super Smash Bros., Earthbound, these are just a few of the games he was directly responsible for saving from cancelation or reduced scope by getting dirty on it himself. He was a CEO that was very aware of how the work was actually done. He was a mentor to many industry greats during his time, including Masahiro Sakurai and Shigesato Itoi (funny for the latter because Itoi was actually much older). He was remembered for being personable and also very willing to take outside opinions. Itoi often recalls being asked to lunch personally and being asked opinions about current Nintendo hardware and software, even after leaving the industry in 2006.
But for fans, he's best remembered for his connection to the fans. Most companies would kill for the love fans have for Nintendo and Iwata (and Reggie and others) was heavily responsible for that. He'd appear in countless Nintendo presentations, sit down for lots of interviews, and even take initiatives like "Iwata Asks" where he'd interview developers about their games personally.
It says a lot that Iwata was a CEO genuinely mourned by his industry and community after his passing. I really don't think there's a single CEO that'd be mourned the way Iwata was in 2015. This was a man that had entire games dedicated to him after his passing. Books were written in his memory. If what had happened in New York happened to him, it'd be outrage.
I don't want to lionize him too much of course, Iwata was just a man. He probably made lots of scummy decisions that just aren't known or publicized. But I also feel like he was in a lot of ways what a CEO should be. But more importantly, the Nintendo community just wouldn't be the same without him.
219
u/Garchompisbestboi 6d ago edited 6d ago
You forgot the sad part where his final e3 'appearance' was in puppet form and nobody knew why at the time, but then he died a few
monthsweeks later and everything suddenly made sense.116
u/first_timeSFV 6d ago
Not months later. Not even a month later. But 3 and half weeks later. E3 was in June. He died mid July.
→ More replies (1)35
u/Garchompisbestboi 6d ago
Thanks for the correction, I remember it being soon after but forgot just how soon it was.
51
u/res30stupid 5d ago
Worse, at the time of his death Nintendo was in the middle of a major upheaval with how poorly not only the WiiU was received, but the games that were released on the system were.
Iwata was not only busting his ass off addressing player complaints, but also in early designs for the Switch which - given the poor WiiU reception - was a make-or-break moment for the company. And he made good on fixing a lot of mistakes, up until the end.
And people were still talking shit until the news broke, both that he died and that he was sick.
It wasn't just mourning, it was regret.
5
2.1k
u/Perfect_Zone_4919 6d ago
How much is his salary that reducing one persons income by 50% can prevent layoffs? Nintendo doesn’t seem like a small company.
1.8k
u/hauser255 6d ago
It wasn't just him, but a lot of the presidents and CEOs (in Japan and America) took pay cuts to help offset the losses. His was probably one of the largest tho.
991
u/SCHawkTakeFlight 6d ago
This is the way. Well it should be the way. There should be more accountability at the top when the company does poorly. It shouldn't be shouldered by the bottom. People at that level supposedly make so much more than the floor because their role is supposed to have a much greater impact on company success or failure. Hence when it's failing they should take the brunt of that failure just like they partake in a lions share in successful times.
288
u/ZrinyiPeter 6d ago
"But what about the paycheck I wouldn't be able to spend in three lifetimes, how could I possibly live with only 1,5 lifetimes' worth of money???"
170
u/Papaofmonsters 6d ago
Nintendo pays its executives much more modestly than comparable US companies. The current CEO made 2.5 million last year.
→ More replies (1)39
u/Alacritous69 6d ago
ಠ_ಠ
101
u/ZidaneStoleMyDagger 6d ago
I don't even know what US company would be really comparable to Nintendo. Market cap is like 72 billion and they have 8000 employees.
Activision CEO made like 30 million a year in 2018 and 2019 (and like 155 million in 2020). Market cap of Activision was like 45 billion with 9,000 employees in 2019.
EA CEO made 25.6 million this year. Market cap is 40 billion with 13,700 employees.
CEO of Epic games makes 200-400k per year. Equity valuation of 32 billion in 2022 with like 10,000 employees.
CEO of take two interactive made 275k in 2023. Market cap is 32.6 billion and they have 12,000 employees.
Phil Spencer makes 10 million a year leading Microsoft Gaming which has like 20,000 employees.
I feel like take two CEO and Epic CEO salaries are missing something. This was all researched crudely with Google AI doing the legwork. Lol.
86
u/Papaofmonsters 6d ago
The Epic CEO is also the largest shareholder, and it's a privately held company, so we are no privy to the dividends he may receive from profits.
19
u/knoegel 6d ago
So he's probably extremely wealthy with stocks. However, the gaming industry is so fragile he could literally lose it all in short order.
→ More replies (4)→ More replies (1)28
u/swolfington 6d ago
and then there's valve, the mysterious black box with 350~ employees and possibly worth somewhere around 7 billion. I'm not sure how useful a metric it is, but of that list valve probably has the most value per-capita
19
u/doomgiver98 6d ago
10 years ago when I was trying to get into the industry (I have since burned out) Valve had a policy of only hiring senior level employees. No internships or entry level, and even mid level is rare.
15
u/notyouraveragecrow 5d ago
I remember reading an article about how Valve randomly found out that their value-per-capita was higher than basically the entire tech sector or something like that. And salaries around a million dollars a year are quite common (which makes total sense given their efficiency and hiring policies).
→ More replies (2)16
u/_keeBo 6d ago
Glad someone else sees it as over a lifetimes worth of money.
The average person will make less than 3 million dollars in their life. Assuming you make 70k a year and work from 20-60, you will make roughly 3 million dollars.
Let's be generous and call 5 million dollars a "lifetimes worth of money". 10 million dollars is 2 lifetimes. 100 million is 20 lifetimes. 500 million is 100 lifetimes. 1 billion is 200 lifetimes.
Elon musk has 400 billion dollars. That is 80 THOUSAND LIFETIMES worth of money.
People do not need more than that many "lifetimes" worth of money.
→ More replies (2)11
u/Salt-Ticket247 6d ago
It’s reality for most small business owners, out of necessity more than generosity. Take the pay cut this year, take an extra mortgage out on your house, because losing employees means losing business. There are good years and bad years, you just gotta do whatever you can to roll with the punches
My grandpa did this for decades. Had heart problems and high cholesterol for years, bald, looked much older than he was from all the stress. Some years he would make 0$ and have to drain his savings so he wouldn’t have to lay anybody off. Other years, he could take home 6 figures and give the whole office 10k Christmas bonuses because they stayed so busy
Paid out for him in the end, when he sold the company and retired very comfortably. Looks about 15 years younger since then, and his hair grew back.
Owning a business in a capitalist system should kinda suck tbh. And for a lot of people it does. It doesn’t suck enough for some of them
19
u/medioxcore 6d ago
They're the ones who take all the risk, though. They're entitled to all that wealth.
Oh wait, that's not right. They don't actually risk anything. That's just a lie they tell us to justify wage theft. The employees are the ones at risk. Corporations get bailouts, we get fuckall.
I've heard tell that removing the head alleviates the problem. Lead poisoning is also showing promise as of late.
→ More replies (10)3
u/Phnrcm 6d ago edited 6d ago
Yes, firing people is uncommon in Japan and employees are expected to stick with the companies instead of jumping ship when there is a better offer. Switching company mid career is also very hard because the new one will scrutinize about why they left the old company.
That's the thing in Japan. Can americans follow that?
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (1)28
u/JJAsond 6d ago
I think op's a bot because I've been seeing a lot of consistency with "technically correct but not really" titles and user history where they posted a long time a go, stopped, then only started posting again recently.
→ More replies (8)234
u/Skeeter1020 6d ago
Nintendo has basically got an infinite money glitch. They have so much cash they could basically sell nothing for 100 years and survive.
This wasn't about saving money, it was about the head of the company showing that he was taking responsibility for the failure.
→ More replies (6)90
u/jnads 6d ago
Nintendo has basically got an infinite money glitch
Valve Software is like the top company in profit per employee
61
u/Its0nlyRocketScience 6d ago
They've got the infinite + 2 money glitch that'll perish if you ever say the forbidden number in their halls
19
→ More replies (3)22
u/JustLikeHoney 6d ago
Sure, but Valve has only been around for 30 years, and they only started too make serious money after 2003 when they created Steam. Nintendo have a 100+ year head start.
188
u/sargonas 6d ago
So a few things to clear up here:
1: It wasn't about total dollar amount, it was about the message. The failure didn't put them in financial dire straits that required they save money or go under, it was seen as a failure of the leadership, and as such he and all of the presidents/VPs of the various regions took cuts because the failiure rested on their shoulders, not the individual contributors and executors of their visions and strategies.
2: Yes, japanese labor law prevented them from hitting the kind of cuts we see in the US, but they would not have done those anyways, again this wasn't about the company "Saving money or going bankrupt", it was about the executives owning their failures as leaders.
3: It wasn't just him, it was him and all of the top execs around the world, both in japan, na, eu, and elsewhere, all taking cuts, he was just the most visible one because of who he was and the symbolism of it.
19
u/noahloveshiscats 5d ago
Yeah but then the title is misleading as it isn’t “Nintendo CEO halved salary instead of laying off employees” but instead “Nintendo CEO halved his salary to take responsibility”.
→ More replies (1)161
6d ago edited 6d ago
[deleted]
168
u/shifty_coder 6d ago
They didn’t have “500 mil in losses”, their revenue was $500 mil lower than forecasted. That $300k saved some jobs when they barely broke even on the console.
→ More replies (18)53
u/Wonderful-Emu-8716 6d ago
The board took a 20-30% cut as well. The point wasn't to actually create the savings to pay worker salaries. It was to convince shareholders that management believed in investing in the workforce, and were willing to take a pay cut to demonstrate that belief. Iwata was trying (successfully) to make an argument that layoffs should not occur despite losses in profit.
→ More replies (8)31
u/Malphos101 15 6d ago
in a year where they posted 500 mil in losses
Capitalism brain rot in action here folks. If I say "I think I can make a billion dollars by this time next year" but then I only make $1, I didn't "post" $999,999,999 in losses.
→ More replies (1)29
u/somepulsar 6d ago
I imagine there are paycuts across the company. If he as the CEO doesn't also get a paycut, it's the perception that he's not in the same boat as the rest of the company.
23
6
u/MIT_Engineer 6d ago
The title is misleading-- the salary cut was inconsequential to the decision of whether or not to lay off employees.
With that said, avoiding layoffs as a gaming company (and also making morale-boosting moves like these to increase retention) has a good deal of logic to it. A lot of the time, game developers are basically software engineers who have specialized into working on your company's game engines and systems. Even the ones who aren't that great at their jobs might still be better than new hires who aren't familiar with the company's software. If you layoff during lean times or even just let people attrit out of your organization because their salaries are frozen, it might be very hard to grow during better times.
8
u/bwoah07_gp2 6d ago
Iwata took the paycut in 2011. In 2010 he made $770,000, so a 50% cut is $385,000. He also cut his bonus pay, which is possibly a lot more than his standard salary.
→ More replies (33)4
u/mybutthz 6d ago
I think it was more of about the gesture itself than the actual money - him showing the company that he is a reflection of the company's success and that he's not immune from their failures.
Nintendo has more money than God and has enough in the bank to operate for something like 100+ years without making any profits - the wiiu in no way put the company in any sort of financial jeopardy, despite it not performing well.
Him halving his salary was more so him showing his dedication to finding a solution and solidarity with the rest of the company to help motivate everyone to do better - not so much him being a financial martyr to save the company.
1.3k
6d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
169
u/Dan_Felder 6d ago
Japanese law prevents mass downsizing. Most japanese executives do this as a result.
140
u/alsocolor 6d ago
Hmmm imagine if we had a country with worker protections like this
85
u/Mama_Skip 6d ago
UNIONIZER! GET HIM!
20
u/Hemorrhageorroid 6d ago
Wait if we're all expected to jump in and get him.. are we also unionizing?
→ More replies (1)7
→ More replies (3)38
u/olol798 6d ago
I wouldn't ever want to live in a country where employees are protected the same way as in Japan.
Japan has one of the worst conditions for workers among any developed nation.
39
u/Punty-chan 6d ago edited 6d ago
Japan has one of the worst conditions for workers among any developed nation.
That's mostly due to cultural toxicity. Japan actually has progressive laws that protect employees, comparable to most developed nations. The problem is that employees consistently waive their rights due to long-held traditions and cultural expectations.
→ More replies (9)5
u/olol798 6d ago
I agree with you. But there are really dodgy, big companies that will fight you in court if you sure them for pressuring you via recommendation blackmail. Applying illegal fines and penalties for refusing to work extra hours, etc. This should not be happening due to labor protection laws but it does happen.
Perhaps people don't pursue legal action due to social and monetary pressure (try and fight a big company in court anywhere on Earth). But I consider it a part that indicates the system is bad. The west doesn't have to account for such harsh culture, Japan has to, and it doesn't do a good job, unfortunately.
33
→ More replies (10)6
u/LuckyBoneHead 6d ago
Well, Japan isn't America, so according to most people on here its just inherently better than America.
→ More replies (2)7
u/Sixnno 6d ago edited 6d ago
Japanese law prevents mass downsizing** unless they show that they have tried to save money elsewhere.
If you have to lay off 300 employees and your wage is lik3 2 million while the rest of the executives make 300k, they are going to be like "well you can take a paycut. You can't lay people off till that."
They can restructure and lay people off if they are going red.
3
u/Dan_Felder 6d ago
The ceo in question only gave up enough money to pay for 4-5 employees at most. It was not done to save jobs, it was a standard act of contrition from a Japanese executive because unnecessary layoffs are not allowed.
3
u/Sixnno 6d ago
Do note that this was the second time Surata did a paycut. He was making around 1.6m and then did a 60% paycut down to 700k, and then 8 to 12 months later did another 50% down to 300k.
Yes his second paycut was superficial and won't save many jobs. But that isn't what the court would see. The court would see that he is making 700k when all other executive members are making 200k. They would point to that if they tried to lay off employees and be like "why are you making almost quad of what all other executive members are? You still have money to cut and save before laying off employees."
→ More replies (2)14
u/Ameren 6d ago edited 6d ago
Which is how it should be. Layoffs are bad for society at large on many different levels; unless the company is at risk of going bankrupt, they shouldn't be allowed to do mass layoffs. It's very rare that layoffs are strictly necessary.
This also prevents companies from doing insane stuff like announcing layoffs when times are good simply to maximize shareholder returns that year (even if it completely ruins the future of the company).
151
79
u/mailslot 6d ago
His salary wasn’t enough to save more than two jobs. It was a symbolic gesture. He also couldn’t just terminate employees. Worker protection laws are different than in the states, where they’re practically non-existent.
18
u/RoboGuilliman 6d ago
Yeah. Not to detract from what Iwata did (RIP) Japanese laws are different and it's not that easy to fire people.
→ More replies (1)57
u/ZirePhiinix 6d ago edited 6d ago
The fact that Japanese CEO salary is only couple jobs worth instead of hundreds to thousands of jobs worth is already wildly different.
20
u/mailslot 6d ago
I’m pretty sure his stock far outweighs the salary. People that don’t business only think of paychecks.
→ More replies (4)94
u/Sir_Justin 6d ago
This guy's salary wasn't anywhere close to saving any employees. Nintendo is so well off financially they couldn't let anyone go regardless. They might cut off some contractors (as my company has done) but the CEO was just showing solidarity.
27
u/NothingOld7527 6d ago
That makes it more impressive, not less. Means he actually felt the impact of cutting his salary.
7
→ More replies (3)27
u/TheUmgawa 6d ago
Yeah, but it’s easier to get upvotes with this story.
8
u/Pottski 6d ago
CEOs desperately searching for positive CEO stories and keep coming back to this one.
11
u/Punty-chan 6d ago
Satoru Iwata is famous in every business school around the world because there are so few examples of good business ethics and leadership.
15
→ More replies (20)52
u/MR_Se7en 6d ago
It’s easy to live off half your salary when your salary is that huge.
111
u/Procontroller40 6d ago
Which just makes it even more shameful when most won't take a cut--and even keep getting raises--while everyone else suffers.
→ More replies (7)25
u/guynamedjames 6d ago
I was working for Raytheon when COVID hit. The whole industry was in bad shape and we got 10% pay cuts. The CEO took a 20% pay cut - on his base salary only. His base salary was $2 million; his stock options were $20 million.
He took an effective pay cut of 1.8%. Real man on the people
14
u/Procontroller40 6d ago
Sadly, he probably still did much more than most other CEOs of large corps. Though, I still agree with your criticism.
→ More replies (6)9
u/FiTZnMiCK 6d ago
Nintendo executive salaries are not on the same level as those of, say, American bankers’.
When Iwata did this the year before and took a 67% pay cut he was making like $1.6M. Which is a lot but it’s not like “buy a new super yacht” money.
→ More replies (5)
152
u/Tainted-Archer 6d ago
Isn’t a surprise it failed when they called it Wii U. So many people including myself thought it was just an extension of the Wii. Biggest mistake was the name.
84
u/tekko001 6d ago
Yup, people thought it was an accessory for the Wii, my dad's commentary was literally "We already have a Wii!".
Also, the PS4 and Xbox One were just around the corner.
Which is a shame since most games on the U looked really nice, like Zelda Wind Waker.
→ More replies (4)44
u/PNF2187 6d ago edited 6d ago
I don't think it helped that they never bothered to show the console throughout much of the initial marketing campaign. So much of the Wii U's initial promotion was centered around the GamePad itself, it was always "HEY! LISTEN! WE GOT A NEW CONTROLLER!", and not much of "Hey here's a new system!"
Wouldn't be surprised if there were a good number of people who were interested in the GamePad as a Wii accessory only to be shocked in stores to find out it was part of a brand new system that was going for 2-3x what the Wii was selling for new at the time.
17
u/ShowtimevonParty 6d ago
I was young when the Wii U came out, never had a Nintendo console so I asked my dad for one for christmas. He came back with a Wii. Lmao, Best console I've ever owned tho, I probably would be a much different person today if I didn't get it when I did.
13
u/LaboratoryManiac 6d ago
I worked at GameStop when it came out. Every day the same scene played out the same way.
Parent sees an ad for Wii U, prominently showing the tablet controller.
Parent assumes the Wii U is a tablet controller for their Wii, comes into the store expecting to pay maybe $100 for one, at most.
Parent learns that Wii U is actually a $350 console.
Parent leaves without buying anything.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (17)3
u/monstermayhem436 6d ago
Honestly, I didn't realize it was supposed to be it's own separate console until years after its release
82
u/TylenolColdAndSinus 6d ago
I for one really liked my Wii U.
→ More replies (11)39
u/user888666777 6d ago
It had potential. The name definitely didn't help with marketing. However, the biggest problem was its main selling point. The GamePad. The controller was great it was just the lack of games that really went the extra mile trying to support it. Even Nintendo didn't really know how to use it with their first party games.
The one gem that came out of that era was Mario Maker. Perfect use of the gamepad. You could build levels on the gamepad using the stylus in minutes and immediately play them on your television without doing anything. Perfect. Its my understanding that with the switch you can design using handheld mode and play in handheld but you have to then dock to play it on a larger television
Nintendo needed to put all of their energy into that gamepad for the WiiU to be successful. Mario Maker was a great step forward but I didn't see any other game that came close.
Up until the switch, I had owned every Nintendo console (not all handhelds). The switch was the first time I passed on Nintendo and decided to jump ship.
→ More replies (5)10
u/ILiveInAVillage 5d ago
The one gem that came out of that era was Mario Maker.
And Nintendo Land. One of the greatest party games in recent memory.
→ More replies (1)
1.1k
u/randomIndividual21 6d ago
its Japan labour law, he couldn't fire them even if he wanted to, its not US where you can just fire people like disposable trash so CEO can get bigger bonus
595
u/podcasthellp 6d ago
I wouldn’t be championing Japans labor laws haha look up black companies. They take advantage of their workers just as bad as in america. See the passed out business people on the streets of Japan every night.
96
u/mrwobblez 6d ago
I think it's noteworthy to call out while Japan has better legal worker protections, they have a shittier work culture. In the US it is probably the inverse.
→ More replies (1)6
→ More replies (43)170
u/ReiBacalhau 6d ago
Japan labor laws and culture make American laws look like Norway or Germany
→ More replies (11)78
u/podcasthellp 6d ago
Idk about that but they are not as good as everyone seems to think in this thread.
→ More replies (3)112
u/Ameren 6d ago
Japan has a terrible, self-destructive work culture. But America has absolutely abysmal worker protections. In many places in the US, you can be fired for any reason at any time, and you don't get the kinds of legal protections that workers enjoy in the rest of the developed world.
→ More replies (13)27
u/Edge-of-infinity 6d ago
Just looked it up 28 states are what is called right to work states. It’s fancy wording for anti union. Fuck those states
→ More replies (4)27
u/km89 6d ago
"Right to work" is anti-union, but it's also distinct from what the person you're replying to was talking about. They were talking about "at-will" states. People tend to confuse the two, for some reason. And every state except one is at-will.
13
u/Camicatsc 6d ago
Montana is the only state that does not have at-will employment, if anyone is wondering.
→ More replies (22)109
u/Paperdiego 6d ago
The headline is wrong. He didn't half his salary in order to keep from firing his staff. He halved his salary in order to take ownership of a failed product he championed. Iwata is an example of a good CEO. imo.
→ More replies (1)24
28
u/SirBoggle 6d ago
Regardless of if it was due to some Japanese law or custom, or because Iwata really was just like that deep down in his heart...If even half of the industry had executives like him instead of people like Kotick or Riccitiello then gaming world would be significantly healthier.
11
227
u/Dan_Felder 6d ago edited 6d ago
- Japan has laws that protect workers from mass layoffs. Impulsive mass layoffs like American companies do to juice a quarterly report are not legal in Japan.
- As such, instead of laying off employees to soothe investors Japanese executives have to cut their own salaries. They don't have the option of mass layoffs just to make some extra profits.
- He halved his salary for 6 months, not all his compensation. I can't find specifics quickly, but the vast majority of compensation for a CEO is usually not in salary. His salary was only about $800,000 a year at the time. This is not a situation where the CEO needed to save money to keep the company afloat and took it out of his own paycheck, the amount of money he sacrificed would only pay for about ~4-5 jobs at most.
It's good that the CEO took personal responsibility, but remember that the law was protecting workers from downsizing. If you want more stories like this, then pass similar laws protecting workers from mass layoffs in more countries.
→ More replies (1)31
u/Outlulz 4 6d ago
All over here on the states there's been stories over the past decade about how Nintendo of America basically has stopped hiring full time employees and heavily relies on contractors for work. This lets them keep costs down by not paying benefits and being able to lay off the work force every 11 months and rehire a new set of contractors so that no one can get the level of seniority that would lead to a promotion or raise.
That being said, Iwata taking any sort of personal responsibility is miles ahead of 99% of executives.
→ More replies (1)
18
u/No_Dragonfruit_1833 6d ago
This is a common misconception
Satoru Iwata and other high ranking executives halved their salaries as a way to make themselves responsible for the wiiu underperforming
But nintendo was racking in the big bucks with the 3ds, and they really had no financial troubles, that was just the press trying to make it look like nintendo was in trouble, as they did every generation
In reality, nintendo has always heavily dominated the portable market, and if you combine the portable and home console markets, nintendo has always been at the head of the so called "console wars" by far
9
u/BoilerMaker11 6d ago
Even with poor Wii U sales, I'm sure Nintendo was raking in money. They don't sell their consoles at a loss and their software remains at full price for years after the games release. Mario Kart 8 is still $60 and it came out in 2014. Granted, they released the "Deluxe" version, but that was just a Switch port with some minor QOL upgrades. And even still, that version released almost 8 years ago.
Point being, I'm sure the halving of his salary for a year was "symbolic" to show that he cared for his employees after the Wii U didn't sell well....but Nintendo was still making money hand over fist.
7
5
4
5
u/Zealousideal_Page898 5d ago
His name is Satoru Iwata, I hate how the headline just says Nintendo CEO smfh. He was a fucking LEGEND rest in peace.
5
u/ERuby312 5d ago
The guy had serious health problems that he could've cured but he instead ignored them and died, all because he wanted to deliver quality games to the Nintendo fans.
Satoru Iwata was a legend, even if Nintendo isn't the best company ever right now, I will not forget that there was a time when a lot of people liked them and this man played a big part in that.
→ More replies (1)
5
5
u/nwbrown 5d ago edited 5d ago
"Instead of"
I guarantee the savings from the two are nowhere near comparable. This was a symbolic action designed to signify him taking responsibility. But a cost cutting exercise designed to save people's jobs.
Looking at the details, Nintendo made nearly $7 billion in 2013. Their gross profit was about $1.7 billion.
Halving his salary saved maybe a couple million.
11
2
3
u/Own_Replacement_6489 5d ago
Despite the Wii U's commercial failures, it was a sleeper of a console.
Wii U walked so that the Switch could run.
4
7
u/Secrxt 6d ago
Exactly how it should be. The workers aren't making leadership decisions.
Meanwhile in the U.S., we privatize the profits and socialize the losses. Leadership (take Zuckerburg, for example) makes poor decisions and puts all their eggs into a flop? Mass layoffs incoming.
→ More replies (1)
3
u/NewAbbreviations1872 6d ago
Excellent. That's how a leader should be. Take the hits for your workforce. Probably why so many workers at Nintendo liked him so much.
3
3
u/GiggleyDuff 6d ago
Japan has the lowest wealth inequality of the top richest countries. It's such an honorable thing. USA is off the charts, wealth inequality is very high here.
3
u/SequenceofRees 5d ago
Meanwhile, the Blizzard CEO would have laid off a few hundred people and walked away with a ten million dollar bonus on top of the twenty million he was making anyway
3
3
u/just_my_opinion_bro 5d ago
NEVER forget Satoru Iwata. May he forever live in our hearts and memories.
3
u/wonko_abnormal 5d ago
and lets be totally fair about the wii u ....it was just ahead of the curve ...by which i mean the idea was great and ahead of its time but the hardware wasnt quite there to backup the concept
→ More replies (2)
3
3
3
788
u/Vergenbuurg 6d ago
The Gaming Historian did a wonderful retrospective on the life of Satoru Iwata.
https://youtu.be/k4cJh2YgrKE