Aonuma Says “Staff Comes First” in Regards to Nintendo Work Culture
Posted on June 19 2019 by Rod Lloyd
Wellness in the workplace has been a hot topic in the game industry as of late, with many people coming out against unfair or unhealthy working conditions within some the industry’s biggest developers and publishers. Just last week, Nintendo of America president Doug Bowser justified the recent delay of Animal Crossing: New Horizons as a way to maintain a “good work-life balance” for employees.
Naturally, the topic of working conditions within Nintendo came up during a recent interview with Zelda series producer Eiji Aonuma. When asked by Kotaku’s Jason Schreier about his stance on overtime when creating Zelda games, Aonuma promoted a staff-focused philosophy:
“Schreier: There’s been a lot of conversation here in America about overtime hours, the hours it takes to get games like this out the door. What’s your team’s stance on overtime?
Aonuma: When creating a game, game development is all about the people. So if one of them or any of them aren’t well, that definitely affects the game and overall quality, and that’s just not good. We always try to think flexibly about delivery dates, and in the past I’ve apologized for delays. That’s because staff comes first, and I always want to think about it when creating a game.
Schreier: Did you work long periods of overtime for games like Breath of the Wild?
Aonuma: Overall as a Nintendo work culture, we focus on flexibility. And so even the staff have that flexibility of when to focus, and use their energy on something, or they have a little bit of leeway in their work schedule, don’t have to exert themselves so much. They can maintain that balance themselves. Especially for Breath of the Wild, it was the same, and we focused on the staff. We didn’t have anybody be exerted or anything like that, and I think we were able to achieve our goal.”
In recent interviews, Aonuma — who was recently promoted to a deputy general manager position within Nintendo — has discussed how his own workload has changed over the years. Responding to the producer’s thoughts on overtime, Kotaku asked Aonuma about his current work schedule:
“Schreier: I’m curious to hear about your day-to-day life, since it seems like you’re supervising a lot of projects—how do you spend your days? Are you playing a lot of builds?
Aonuma: Every day’s a little bit different. Just to explain maybe an average day: In the morning I’ll check my mail, take care of that. In the afternoon, it depends on what’s needed—sometimes one of the teammates will ask for advice or I’ll play through something just to make sure it’s fun. And then before I go home I’ll check my email. Lately I’ve been able to go home pretty early, so it’s been good.”
I definitely appreciate Aonuma’s (and Nintendo’s) approach to a happy and healthy workplace. A great game shouldn’t come at the expense of the people who made it. Hopefully other game studios will follow Nintendo’s example on this one and take strides to protect their employees.
Do you agree with Aonuma’s thoughts on overtime and work culture? Sound off in the comments below.
Source: Kotaku
Rod Lloyd is the Editor-In-Chief at Zelda Dungeon, overseeing the news and feature content for the site. Rod is considered the veteran of the writing team, having started writing for Zelda Informer in 2014 as a Junior Editor. After ZD and ZI officially merged in 2017, he stepped into the Managing Editor role and has helped steer the ship ever since. He stepped up to lead the writing team as Editor-In-Chief in 2023.
You can reach Rod at: rod.lloyd@zeldadungeon.net
