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Report: DeNA Layoffs Impact Vancouver, San Francisco Locations
It appears that mobile developer DeNA has laid off staff in at least two of its locations. The company recently announced a major partnership with Nintendo to bring original games to mobile phones and tablets.
According to GamesBeat, the company says that the decision to reorganize its western offices has nothing to do with the Nintendo deal or the recently released Final Fantasy Record Keeper. Yesterday, DeNA issued a press release stating that the Square Enix partnership title had crossed the 1 million download mark.
DeNA has also produced games based on the Transformers license, and Marvel Comics. We’ve reached out to DeNA for more information and will update should we receive a response.
[Source: GamesBeat]
Our Take
Laying off staff right after a major partnership announcement doesn’t look good to the general public. However, it’s likely Nintendo was notified before staff was informed so as to mitigate any damage to the relationship.
With DeNA expecting big returns from its Nintendo deal (and Nintendo saying it will be handling the development), the mobile company might be scaling back on its own game creation. It will be responsible for creating back-end services, along with a major new piece of technology that will replace the outgoing Club Nintendo.
Regardless, job loss isn’t something that can be rationalized or ameliorated with cold business explanations. Our thoughts are most certainly with those impacted by today’s events.
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