Nintendo employee fired after candid podcast guest spot

A Nintendo localisation editor has been let go after some very candid public comments.

Chris Pranger, who was the localization editor for Nintendo, participated in a podcast called Part-Time Gamers last week not realizing that it would result in losing his job.

That's exactly what happened, though; Pranger has revealed that Nintendo fired him as a direct consequence of his comments.

Pranger confirmed the news in posts on both Twitter and Facebook, though the latter has since been made private or deleted. In both posts he blames himself and describes his comments as a mistake.

The Part-Time Gamers podcast in question was released on August 3. Pranger spoke at length about his role in Nintendo's Treehouse, through which Nintendo translates and often localizes software from Japanese to English and several other languages. He said fanbases frequently aren't large enough to justify localisation costs, and that Nintendo sometimes elects to "take a bullet" bringing over Japanese games.

Considering it's so rare for Nintendo employees to make public speeches without prior approval from its PR team, the podcast quickly captured attention, and snippets were picked up and disseminated by several sites.

Pranger's dismissal has likely put a lid on any future information leaking out about Nintendo as employees become more conscious about making unauthorized public appearances - especially as it's not the first time Nintendo has shown its displeasure in too-vocal employees.

Thanks, GoNintendo.