Soon-to-be-ex senior director of corporate communications joins exodus from Mario Factory's relocating US operation.
Less than two weeks after senior vice president of marketing George Harrison announced he was leaving, another of Nintendo of America's most prominent faces is saying sayonara. Following months of unconfirmed reports, Beth Llewellyn today announced that she too was seeking opportunities elsewhere.
"After nearly 12 years with Nintendo, I will be leaving the company at the end of this week," she said in an e-mail to GameSpot. "I'll be taking some time off to be a full-time mom for a bit. My four-year-old daughter and one-year-old son won't know what to do with Mommy around!"
Like Harrison, Llewellyn's exit was prompted by the company's decision to relocate its internal marketing and public relations department from its suburban Seattle headquarters. As evidenced by a series of job listings posted this summer, the Mario Factory is relocating those departments to New York City and Redwood City, California.
Yikes ... looks like that move has backfired on Ninty, to say the least. Makes you wonder if they'd consulted all their senior VPs before making the decision. That's an enormous amount of experience walking out the door. Wonder if Perrin Kaplan is staying put.
Yikes ... looks like that move has backfired on Ninty, to say the least. Makes you wonder if they'd consulted all their senior VPs before making the decision. That's an enormous amount of experience walking out the door. Wonder if Perrin Kaplan is staying put.
Nintendo Japan never give a dim about Nintendo America. The so call PR department. In one interview with Miyamoto. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Miyamoto said: I have to go or I am going to miss the meeting with Reggie(President of Nintendo America) and he will kick my @ss. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- His Japanese Translator reply: U don't have to be scare of Reggie. ===================================================== Nintendo moved because they don't want to sit next to M$. "Opening Xbox" by dean Takahashi, stated Nintendo and M$ staffs meet regularly at lunch and restaurants. M$ was in talk with Nintendo America to take over the Japanese company. Once Nintendo Japan heard of it, Nintendo bought back half of it share on the market.
Perhaps I just don't get around enough, but I don't think Llewellyn counts as a "prominent face." I didn't even know about her until sometime right before the Wii's launch. Like I said, though, it could just be me.
I don't see any reason to be alarmed. In relocations like this, there is bound to be people who prefer not to be uprooted. The PR department has done exceptionally well in the past year and has the quickest selling console ever! They can afford to look at the opportunities of staying where they're created a life. Nintendo has lots of spare change and the ability to take the time and hand pick the best PR team available. They won't be hurtin' too badly with a skeleton crew until the release of the next console. It's tough to lose people...especially good people, but when openings like this occur, it's also a great opportunity to grow.
I kinda of wonder why alot of people are leaving Nintendo's PR department. I can't prceive it as good or bad but alot of Nintendo fans should really be concered if more people leave. At least Scott's departure from Sega Of America to SCEA is seen as a good sign that Sega will fix it's own marketing problems and will have no problem marketing a new console right when SEGA of Japan annouces a new console.
She's kinda cute (looks like my wife). I'd... oops, don't want to say that and get kicked off the site :-)
They are just relocating. If they lose a few things along the way, who cares? I lose plenty of things everytime I relocate.
I hope all of this corporate turnover means that Nintendo is taking it's US division more seriously. It would be great if they developed some of their more exciting IPs over here. As it stands, NST (Redmond, WA) has a track record of developing Nintendo of Japan's leftovers. Here's to a bright future for American developers who want to work on a Nintendo game!
The most humorous responses to this article are those from Nintendo haters claiming that this will devestate the company. Or completely ignoring the fact that she's planning on taking time off indefinitely to spend with her kids, not immediately seeking a new position to occupy. Man, you guys are really reaching.
If I was into trading stocks, I would be selling all of my Nintendo right now, if they are even a publicly traded company. You could probably get good money for their stock right now. In two to 5 years maybe not so much with all of these people leaving.
There are some people here writing things like "who cares". While Nintendo will, of course, survive (heck, it seems to be doing better and better) it is still a matter of throwing away human capital. These people have invested a lot in Nintendo and the big N invested a lot in them. They know Nintendo through and through and have now chosen to leave. That IS a big loss for Nintendo. Nintendo will hire new people to take their place, of course, but it is unlikely that they will be able to instantly perform as well as their predecessors did, forcing Nintendo to invest resources in this new people. Combine that with the relocation of their offices (that costs a lot too) it is unlikely that no one at Nintendo cares.
Regarding the last paragraph, Is Redmond really considered "suburban Seattle"? I thought the eastside is considered its own enclave....
CrushedGroover: why is Gamespot running the term "Mario Factory" into the ground when what, 85% of Nintendo's products feature Mario somewhere in the product?
Who cares. The Japanese shareholders call the shots at Nintendo anyways. This won't change much.
It's probably a strange coincidence, but a new character I started in Baldur's Gate a week ago (can you believe that I never played the series?) is called Bethreth Llewellyn IX. I must be psychic!
firewiner.. she is head of PR not marketing.. get it right buddy! their is a difference . Public relations is a whole different thing to Marketing.. Marketing is important true. PR not as much! so go back to playing pokemon yourself since you can't read properly.
think about it why would she send an email to gamespot? reason is that she wants to let the game industry know she is available for hire. It's just a way for her to get a new job, maybe everyone else in the industry should do the same.. and being with nintendo for 12 years doesn't mean that much.. besides the american branch of nintendo is not as significant as the japanese.
Good for herself and her family. Tor haven't u noticed the spelling mistake?! (Last sentence)
Who gives a bump, nintendo will survive without these people, they're just parts of the machine, i doubt these people have very much to do with the games, other than saying 'yay' or 'nay' to stuff and writing nice reports. Good luck to her and her new baby, and a 'you jammy git' to whoever gets her very well paid job
Oh my god, don't tell me people starting to leave Nintendo, first George Harrison now this. NO!!!
mrjasler When you get a job in Marketing you'll know why this woman is important for nintendo and even more that she's been with them for 12 years, so just go back to playing pokemon or something ..
this is annoying... who cares about this woman really? she has nothing to do with the making of the games at nintendo.. she is just a suit that sits in boardrooms and looks at spreadsheets/emails all day. Their are people who leave nintendo who are way more important to the development of the games that don't go sending emails to gamespot etc..
This is a sad day for Nintendo. Well, essentially everyday since the Wii has been released has been a sad day for Nintendo employees. Move to new headquarters or loose your job. What a way to break the news to their employees. You know something is going totally ary with the Nintendo corporation if two long standing employees of the company have moved on to seek other opportunities.
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