I don’t get why Nintendo doesn’t just hire these people. You’d want these talented people on your team and they probably know the hardware/software better than people in the company.
That's the basic equation for most Japanese companies IMO. They'll still hire "genius" type people in specific positions, but probably not random hackers that have a strong sense of not playing by the rules (of course not everyone in the homebrew community is like that, and I'd expect there's actual hirings happening with the more team oriented members)
PS: I think another cultural element to this is, the "brilliant jerk" stereotype is way less pervasive, and you'll already find within Nintendo's hiring pool crazy talented people who are also extremely good team players with decent social skills. That makes it all the more harder to hire wild ninja rockstars.
Leaked documents showed Nintendo hired private investigators to follow and track the movements of 3DS hackers and to have a lawyer confront them at their house to get them to stop. Why would that person want to work for them?
That's a real shame, you're right. I guess I just see talent different. If this was happening for my product I'd want them on my team. You could argue the legality but there is clear drive and talent to be tapped into.
Came here to say this. I grew up in the Sonic ROM hacking and fan game creation community (with this same username - my first posts are around 2001 and still around) and it was so cool to see how SEGA not only didn’t fuck with, but silently actually supported the scene. It was really awesome to see taxman and stealth get to where they did! I remember playing around with the Sonic Retro engine back in the day on my actual Dreamcast hardware. :)
Meanwhile; my friends in the Mario and Metroid hacking scene would constantly be hit with cease and desist orders from Nintendo, and some absolutely insane projects have been basically DOA and had to go underground. It’s quite a bit sad.
they have hired some homebrew developers in past under some reasonable terms [e.g nda that expires after given time] but guessing well informed actions got overrun by corporate protectionist bullshit.
