Sexual harassment and sexism at Nintendo of America?

A revealing report from Kotaku on the work environment at Nintendo of America. Between sexual harassment and sexism, with women underrepresented.

Nintendo is often seen as one big family with a great image and games that players of all ages can enjoy. However, according to a report from Kotaku, the company isn’t all that different from other gaming giants that have previously been accused of creating a male-centric work culture. The blog recounts the experiences of several women who were sexually harassed by colleagues and often paid less than their male counterparts.

Kotaku’s revealing report on the work environment at Nintendo of America.

One of the main sources of kotakuis a former tester named Hannah, who was reportedly asked to be less outspoken after reporting inappropriate behavior by a Nintendo staff member over multichat. An employee allegedly posted a copy of a Reddit post detailing why Aquali was the best Pokémon — whose versions of Scarlet and Purple are eagerly awaited by fans — to make love, justifying why it was perfectly normal to be sexually attractive to Paimon, an NPC from Genshin Impact with very childlike appearance. Hannah also found that she was paid $3 less than a male junior tester and had to fight with her agency to get the same salary. Being homosexual, she was also subjected to inappropriate comments from male colleagues.

Between sexual harassment and sexism

So many bad experiences, very similar to what many women have been able to tell Kotaku. Some say that Melvin Forrest, one of the test managers at Nintendo of America, is a must-have character for all testers and quite difficult for women to deal with. Another was harassed for months by an elder who threatened her with dismissal if she reported it.

One of the most common complaints is the lack of promotion opportunities: “Your chances [of leaving full-time] were probably lower when you were a woman. Usually [they get promoted] are men. Often they are all friends. They watch the Super Bowl together,” said a tester who worked on The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

With underrepresented women

As Kotaku notes, one of the main reasons for these problems remains the underrepresentation of women in the company. According to some reports, Nintendo’s female contract testers make up only 10%, and they rarely get full-time contracts. The company’s data also shows that only 37% of Nintendo of America’s full-time employees are women.