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Merrick Leaves Nintendo

by Steven Rodriguez - January 11, 2006, 6:51 pm EST
Total comments: 15 Source: http://www.gamesindustry.biz/news.php?aid=13996

The man who liked talking about Nintendo's plans more than anyone else won't be doing it anymore.

Jim Merrick has been working for Nintendo for almost 12 years, and today he's calling it quits. The former marketing head of Nintendo Europe was slated to return to Nintendo of America, but apparently he had second thoughts and decided to leave altogether.

The official company line? "After nearly 12 years with Nintendo, the last three of which were at Nintendo of Europe, Jim Merrick has left the company to pursue other opportunities," says a spokesperson for Nintendo.

Nintendo fans might remember Merrick as being the only one in the Nintendo executive chain to actually speak out on their next-gen plans. More importantly, he oversaw the launch of the DS hardware across the European territories.

PGC wishes Mr. Merrick all the best for his future!

Talkback

mantidorJanuary 11, 2006

aaaw, now where are we going to get those little tiny tidbits of info he used to give? not from NCL for sure.




kirby_killer_dededeJanuary 11, 2006

This is terrible. Merrick was the bee's knees.

KnowsNothingJanuary 11, 2006

yeah well no one ever liked merrik anyway >=U

DjunknownJanuary 11, 2006

Someone at Nintendo who actually keeps the fans in the know, and now he's leaving? Hmmm.... *cue inner conspiracist* Maybe he was talking too much and silencing him would be too suspicious...

Oh well, maybe its just for family reasons. Its a shame though, the Aussies could have really used him.... face-icon-small-wink.gif

BiLdItUp1January 11, 2006

Godspeed to the man, real shame that he's leaving...I'd probably be more concerned, though, if it were Reggie leaving. We need a go-to guy like that.

Hostile CreationJanuary 11, 2006

Let's hope they find an equally awesome replacement. It'll be pretty hard to do, he seemed like a decent guy.
And he let plenty of good facts slip, which was nice. face-icon-small-wink.gif

What was so great about this guy other than that he was a pair of loose lips?

~Carmine M. Red
Kairon@aol.com

nemo_83January 11, 2006

Maybe I'm jumping the gun, but it just looks too obvious. The story comes out, Nintendo denies, Merrick leaves the company after 12 years, and NGC defends themselves against Nintendo claiming a senior at Nintendo gave them the scoop on Zelda.

One would assume, if one believes NGC, that Nintendo went into a s*** fit when this story broke, and the nail which stood up had to be hammered down.

KnoxxvilleJanuary 11, 2006

Well, at least now we know why he was so loose lipped when nobody else was....face-icon-small-laugh.gif

ruby_onixJanuary 11, 2006

Quote

Originally posted by: Kairon
What was so great about this guy other than that he was a pair of loose lips?

http://www.n-sider.com/personnelview.php?personnelid=793

More recently, Mark Rein (the Vice President of the company that makes Unreal) was blasting the Revolution, saying that the controller will result in nothing but more kiddie gimmicky crap on Nintendo systems, and while Nintendo was pulling their usual "tee hee, we won't confirm or deny that" thing, Jim Merrick personally called out Mark Rein and told him to make an appointment to see the Revolution firsthand, at which point Mark Rein apparently became a Revolution convert. This was before we learned that the Rev might not even be powerful enough to run Unreal 1.

Mostly I think this is just bad news because it's yet another Nintendo personalty to have walked out the door in the last five years, without much of any attempt being made to replace them.

Who the heck does Nintendo have left now? Shiggy. Iwata. Perrin Kaplan. That's about it. They've lost more than 50% of their personality and tried to replace it with one guy, Reggie.

couchmonkeyJanuary 12, 2006

And, uh, who did they lose again? Yamauchi, the crazy president that destroyed third party ties in the N64 era? Merrick, the guy who was replaced by the all-powerful Reggie? (Not that I think Reggie is quite as great as everyone says, but to me he's done more for the company than Merrick). Ken Lobb - I completely forgot he existed - what does he even do at Microsoft? Don't get me wrong, these were all unfortunate losses but I think Iwata and Reggie have stepped into the spotlight in the absence of these employees and I think if anything they're doing a better job.

I'll miss the tidbits Merrick released every 4-6 weeks for Revolution, but not that much. I wish him good luck.

My personal conspiracy theory is that Merrick was through with Europe, but found that he didn't have much of a place at NOA anymore with Reggie in the spot he traditionally occupied. I don't know if Reggie took over Merrick's exact position, but from a media perspective he did...it used to be Jim Merrick and Perrin Kaplan, now it's Reggie and Perrin Kaplan. They don't need anyone else at NOA.

Honestly, although it probably was not intended as such, moving back to NOA was likely seen as a demotion in his eyes. What more natural a time to leave than when he's changing regions, anyway?

ThePermJanuary 12, 2006

if your reading this Jim Merrick...form a Second Party. You'll get rich.

pyrokamileonJanuary 12, 2006

hey as long there isn't a news article in the near future anouncing him signing on with microsoft or sony, then I don't really care what he decides to do with his time!

CraveJanuary 12, 2006

Heh, I have been thinking the same thing ever since the announcment of Merrick leaving Nintendo. I am willing to bet all my money (ok I have none, but if I did) I would have to agree with you 100% This is an obvious removal of someone who let too much slip out..period.

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