Nintendo to lay off 86 Redmond employees this spring

Nintendo of America is laying off 86 contract workers in Redmond.

The layoffs will begin May 25. In an emailed statement to the Puget Sound Business Journal, Nintendo of America said it has reorganized its product testing.

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Gaming news site Kotaku noted the layoffs are coming ahead of the launch of Nintendo’s highly anticipated successor to its Switch console, now said to be coming in 2025 after delays. The Switch is the 15th and most recent gaming console Nintendo has launched dating back to 1977. Released in 2017, this has been one of the longest gaps between consoles in company history.

“These changes will involve some contractor assignments ending, as well as the creation of a significant number of new full-time employee positions,” a spokesperson for Nintendo told Kotaku in an email. “For those contractor associates who will be leaving us, we are tremendously grateful for the important contributions they’ve made to our business, and we extend our heartfelt thanks for their hard work and service to Nintendo.”

Redmond-based Nintendo of America is a subsidiary of the Japanese company Nintendo Co., home to gaming franchises including Super Mario, Pokemon and The Legend of Zelda.

Nintendo is the latest in the gaming industry to lay off employees recently. Bellevue-based Bungie, the gaming studio that created Halo and Destiny, laid off employees last October while Hidden Path Entertainment, also based in Bellevue, laid off nearly 70% of its staff.

Additionally, Amazon went through two rounds of layoffs to its own gaming division last year, including 180 employees last November, according to Kotaku.

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Nintendo announced everyone impacted will receive severance packages.

Frank Sumrall is a content editor at MyNorthwest. You can read his stories here and you can email him here.