Harrison Confirms Nintendo Exit

Nintendo of America’s senior vice president of marketing and corporate communications George Harrison has confirmed that he will be leaving the company before 2008, after the reported departure of other top marketing executives with the company's partial Bay Area relocation. A relocation of Nintendo of America’s sales and marketing staff from their current Redmond, Washington offices to Redwood City in the San Francisco Bay area was confirmed in July, along with the reported departure (not yet confirmed by Nintendo) of long serving director of public relations Beth Llewelyn and vice president of marketing and corporate affairs Perrin Kaplan. The status of Harrison has also always been unclear, with Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils Aime indicating only that around 60 percent of all staff would not be making the move to Redwood City. However, speaking to news agency Reuters, Harrison has now confirmed he will leave the company by the end of the year. "I have confirmed to all employees that I will be leaving at the end of December and not making the move to California," said Harrison. Harrison has served at the company since 1992, joining during the heyday of the SNES and continuing on through the Nintendo 64, GameCube and now Wii eras. Harrison has given no indication as to whether he will remain in the games industry following his departure from Nintendo.