“Every single employee at Nintendo Europe” was tasked with playing Animal Crossing: New Leaf daily, months before launch, by former boss Satoru Iwata, says ex PR
A former Nintendo Europe PR employee has claimed that ex-Nintendo president Satoru Iwata required every member of staff at the company's European division to play Animal Crossing: New Leaf every day for months ahead of its release. The claim highlights the hands-on approach Iwata was known for taking towards Nintendo's output, treating staff engagement with a game as a way of ensuring the company genuinely understood and could vouch for what it was selling.
The instruction reportedly applied across the entire Nintendo Europe workforce, not just those directly working on the title, underlining how seriously Iwata treated pre-launch familiarity with the life-simulation game. Animal Crossing: New Leaf launched on the Nintendo 3DS in 2012 in Japan and 2013 in western territories, going on to become one of the best-selling entries in the long-running series.
- Ex-Nintendo Europe PR says Iwata made all staff play New Leaf daily
- Directive reportedly ran for months before the game's launch
- Illustrates Iwata's hands-on approach to Nintendo's output