The Wii U may not get many AAA Third-Party games, but it does get a lot of Indie games. This is thanks to Dan Adelman who was able to court many Indie developers to Nintendo’s platform. However, Indie developers may start leaving the platform. Why? Because Dan Adelman has left his position at Nintendo of America.
Adelman confirmed his departure via Twitter. “Happy to announce I reached an arrangement w/ @NintendoAmerica whereby I can tweet again. Arrangement includes my not working there anymore.”
Speaking with Kotaku, he revealed that his main reason for leaving was due to Nintendo attempting to censor, and even stop him from posting to Twitter. This all came to a head when Adelman engaged in a conversation about region-locking, and resulted in Nintendo telling him to stop using Twitter altogether.
“I had been strongly encouraged to stay off of Twitter—or at least say only things that were clearly safe—so after the region-locking comment they just said I needed to stop completely. When people started complaining that I wasn’t active on Twitter anymore, it was suggested that a PR person could just post in my name. I thought that was about the worst idea I’d ever heard, so I left it as is and let the silence speak for itself.”
Adelman was responsible for bringing high-profile Indie games such as World of Goo and Cave Story to Nintendo platforms. Nintendo has lost a valuable asset. Though the company will continue to court Indie developers, it remains to be seen whether they will have as much success without Adelman.
I’m a little disappointed with this move Nintendo and you guys almost never disappoint me.
Well it seems like he had(s) something lined up, so best wishes to him. I’m sure lots of indies will be finding themselves in much better positions thanks to his expertise.
Thankfully it seems he was able to affect good changes from within Nintendo during his time there, and hopefully anyone that steps into his position can continue to do so, though with the obvious caveat that it won’t be the same and they have some big shoes to fill.
Though if anyone wonders why Reggie gives such non-answers to basically every question he’s asked, let them wonder no more (not saying this is right).
Honestly, he deserved to be censored. He is posting as a representative of the company as an element of his job. The company decided that he was not a good representation for them. Having a social media presence is an element of that job, therefore it can be regulated by the company. If he really did not agree with that decision, then it is good he left.