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August 13, 2015   3DS, Wii U   47 Comments

Chris Pranger Fired from Nintendo Treehouse

nintendo_e3_2014_nintendo_treehouse_live_e3

Nintendo has fired Chris Pranger from the Nintendo Treehouse over comments he made in a podcast recently. I don’t think Nintendo should allow Treehouse members to do podcasts if they can get fired for what Pranger ultimately said. But that’s just my opinion.   Via: Nintendo Everything

Author: Francis@PE (19567 Posts)


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  • eaglebob345

    I don’t think he should have been fired, or even punished, based off of that Podcast because it seemed to me that he was mirroring what Reggie and Miyamoto have been saying for months about fans and localization costs. I already knew about the voice acting thing, someone said it before, I just can’t remember who or when. I think I heard it during a Treehouse Live broadcast. However, like others have said, I too think there is the possibility that he did something else that caused him to be fired. He may not have had permission to attend the Podcast in the first place, or maybe something he did that was completely unrelated.

    • uPadWatcher

      Chris had ignored the Non-Disclosure Agreement during the live podcast. Nintendo of America did what they had to do and fire him. If Chris wasn’t fired, he could have said “no comment”.

  • Wanderlei

    There are professional standards in certain types of employment.

  • Santiago3:16

    Feel bad for the guy but he made his bed now he has to lie in it.

  • Tedthesporthead

    This guy is a pretty small potatoe, a Nintendo localizer who had less than 8,000 Twitter followers, who appeared on a small obscure podcast.

    I’m sure Nintendo is very, very surprised at all the gaming sites running articles about this. lol

    In no way does the punishment fit the alleged “crime”. I gotta think they wanted to get rid of this guy for other reasons. I wonder what else was in his file? Did he appear on the podcast after being told not to? There’s gotta be more to this story. No ones this cold

    • ex_mp4

      do you have a job? on a company? did you know about disclousure agreement? when you first signing a contract work on a company? i have some kind of this on my place you know, maybe he doesn’t read it well, so it was his own mistake, this kind of agreement is not only on nintendo you know , EA, sony have their own agreement , if somebody talk shit about the company, well get ready to be fired

      • rcrennick

        actually he didn’t talk shit. He always has Nintendo’s back.

        • ex_mp4

          yes i know , sorry, he doesn’t talk shit, just if you have sign NDA, you need to follow the rule on that NDA, maybe he broke some rule on that contract related the NDA, something is not supposed to be talk without the company permission

  • Tedthesporthead

    “I look around my house and see images of my son and feel such intense shame and crippling sadness,” Pranger wrote on Facebook. “I know that if I can’t find a job at least as good as this one, I won’t be able to provide for my family I’ve lost them their health coverage and their security. ”

    Nintendo comment: “We have no comment on this topic other than to wish Chris the best in his future endeavors.”

    Cold as hell.

    Punishment should fit the crime.

    • Mythosa

      Imagine that! Feeling shame about this. I would feel shame as well. Wouldn’t you? If you made a choice that got you fired?
      How would you handle it if you were Nintendo? I would say the same thing. But again, he made his choice.

    • Wegotexclusives

      Why you think he feels shame? Cuz he did something he wasn’t supposed to.

  • http://www.youtube.com/user/PwerlvlAmy GameNChick

    he came off like a prick in that podcast, plus im pretty sure he was under an NDA. So he screwed himself over basically in the end

    • Mythosa

      Of course he was under an NDA, a big part of his job is to pass approved information to the public.

    • rcrennick

      not really. He just said what Reggie had already said before.

  • Mythosa

    I’m not allowed to talk about my company in any form of social media. It’s not my department. I’m fully aware of that since I signed stating I wouldn’t do it when I got my position with my company.
    There have been circumstances where others have been reprimanded and even removed from the company due to them not following procedures outlined by the company.
    I didn’t listen to the podcast but this seems like he likely didn’t follow the rules he agreed to.
    If he was removed from the company and he didn’t do anything wrong, I’m quite sure he would be in the process of appealing, well, he likely is either way. Many corporations don’t tend to be too hasty with this kind of stuff because there can be repercussions.

    • Tedthesporthead

      It’s silly. This guy had less than 8,000 twitters followers. He’s added a few hundred the last couple hours. Now his muzzle is off. Hope he isn’t bitter.

      Simple “don’t do that again” wouldn’t do?

      I find firing this man silly and idiotic

      • KnightWonder

        There are rules and when you break those rules consequences follow.

      • Mythosa

        Actually, what will generally do the trick is a cease and desist.
        When he was fired he was likely warned about the possibility of legal action. If it’s serious enough that he was fired, then it’s serious enough for legal action.

        • Tedthesporthead

          lol

          They already look bad enough. I’m sure they are smarter than making the “nobody” a martyr. Come on dude.

          • Mythosa

            Since when are these kinds of things get made public?
            If they were to issue a cease and desist then the person went to the media about it would instantly be a guilty sentence since they instantly did the same thing they just attempted to fight.
            Are you kidding me?
            Please explain to me how a company that creates a non-disclosure agreement looks bad if they fire someone that doesn’t follow that contract.
            I’m going to assume you work. Every job I have ever worked at has the employee sign an employer-employee contract, so you have most likely signed one yourself. It makes no difference if you have read it or not. Within that contract they often state that there is a non-disclosure agreement, but you signing it, you are agreeing to it. If you are to disclose information about that company to another individual you are able to be held fully liable for that action. This is no different. In fact, it might be to a higher extent since this person worked directly with the media.

          • Tedthesporthead

            Cease and desist for what? Talking about his firing? Going on the podcast? What are you referring to

          • Mythosa

            Releasing information to the media was what I was referring to off he were to do so. As u said, he likely would have been warned about it during the firing. Although, honestly, if he ever wants a decent job again, for his own well being he probably won’t say anything without any input from Nintendo.

          • Wegotexclusives

            Even fast foods has NDA lol that guy is just trolling.

  • RickyDelRio

    Perhaps the old guys in Japan should join the 21st century. Not sure they even know what a podcast is. They had no idea why Twitch was so popular. They shut down some poor fan’s awesome Super Mario HD project with a cease and desist order. Good grief, it was like 1 level for God’s sake. I hear they don’t like “lets play” channels either, though they seem to work fine for everyone else.

    • KnightWonder

      There are rules to everything.

    • Mythosa

      They don’t have any issues with lets plays, they just require them to be part of the Nintendo network thing, and there are of course rules that need to be followed with them.

  • ednice

    Did he even say anything out of order?Francis’s cliffnotes of the interview seemed pretty inoffensive.
    And BTW “Nintendo’s media policy has recently changed regarding employees being more open about talking about their work”-from the mouth of the man who got fired for talking about his work.

    • Mythosa

      It’s possible he might have taken it a bit too far. Hard to say. I might have to find the podcast, but if it’s the reason for his firing it will likely have been taken down.

      • Ryuken13

        Definitely the podcast is zapped and gone I would think..

  • RickyDelRio

    Man this is harsh. Seems like a case of using a sledgehammer to squash a mosquito.

  • koopzilla

    I don’t see why you are acting like this is Nintendo being assholes. I’m sure as an employee of Nintendo he had some pretty strict guidelines for what he can and can’t talk about. He knew that and chose to do it anyway. I feel bad for the guy losing his job, but it’s the same pretty much anywhere you work. People need to understand that in this day in age with the internet anything you say is going to get out. You need to be careful and think about what you are saying, I’m shocked at how some people think stuff like on Facebook they can say what they want and it will be completely private. I work for a small business not even a fraction of the size of Nintendo and I understand I can be fired for talking about what goes on there, he had to have known. Maybe it was just a temporary moment of stupidity on his part, but that’s enough to lose your job over. I wish the guy well, and it sucks, but I can’t really pin it all on Nintendo.

  • Gabe Hoffman

    Oh boy here comes the Nintendo is evil comments

  • Hardin Twentyfive

    Chris got fired from comments on a podcast.
    Guess Chris is now… A (pod)castaway.
    YEAAAAHH…no.

  • Wegotexclusives

    What did he say? Has much has i love nintendo that show can’t entertain me.

  • getagrip

    should have been killed for it, dr evil style

  • TheBowelsOfTrogdor

    Pranger (noun): A German physical punishment device related to the stocks and the pillory. The Middle Low German word means “something that pinches badly”.

    Irony is a cruel mistress.

    Honestly, it’s called a ‘Non-Disclosure Agreement’ for a reason. You don’t talk about internal company decisions like that, especially ones above your pay-grade.

    • Ryuken13

      Absolutely agree with you but there is a critical weakness that podcasts have: They get to feeling like a casual conversation.

      I am sure that is what happened here. The guy relaxed in the middle of the podcast and started speaking honest opinions and feelings with no professional mindset or thought of NDAs..

      Not a huge fan of social media for professional reasons.. Really powerful tool to reach people but really easy to slip up and in the new era of butt-hurt and enforced political correctness you don’t get written up when you goof up. You either lose your job or really hurt your business.

  • awang0718

    That sucks. Feel sorry for him. Sure, some of the things he stated may have been a bit “controversial”, but nothing he stated was a lie or some kind of insult to anyone. He was being brutally, brutally honest.

    • Travis Touchdown

      He probably shouldn’t have gone on a podcast to begin with, since of COURSE people are going to ask sensitive questions.

      • awang0718

        And he could have simply stated “_____ is not something I am allowed to talk about.” Instead, he was honest about things and explained them in his perspective.

        • Gearchin

          sometimes being honest gets you in hot water even if you didnt want the outcome. sucks but it happens alot (know from personal experience lololol :(

          • awang0718

            Yeah. I guess Nintendo is a huge advocate of “ignorance is bliss”

          • Gearchin

            heh, it sucks man but if your under specific ndas in your job. I can understand why but if its just because of opinion then its just shady

  • Travis Touchdown

    They don’t allow Nintendo Treehouse members to go on podcasts, especially if they’re going to outright criticize customers.

    • Wegotexclusives

      What did he said about the costumers? Cuz others sites say that it was because about the translation comment he made and i think that is just PR talk.

      • Travis Touchdown

        Probably about how fans don’t know what they’re asking for when they ask for certain projects to be translated, specifically RPGs.

      • Shadao

        I recall he talked about how customers don’t realize what the actual cost of localizing a game is and then assume the misconception that Nintendo hates money.