Nintendo today confirmed that David Yarnton is to leave his position as General Manager of Nintendo's UK office.
Yarnton has been with the company for 17 years, starting off his career at Nintendo Australia before coming to work at the UK office.
He was in the news recently, but for different reasons. During a charity bike ride he collapsed, only to be discovered by former England cricket captain, Andrew Flintoff. Whether this rumoured ‘heart problem' has anything to do with his decision to leave the company isn't made clear.
This morning's statement (via MCV) from Nintendo expressed the following sentiment: "Nintendo of Europe announces with regret that David Yarnton has decided to pursue opportunities for a change of career outside Nintendo and therefore will shortly be leaving the company."
"David has had a distinguished career of almost 20 years at Nintendo, first as Sales Director of Nintendo Australia and then, since 2003, as General Manager of Nintendo UK."
Yarnton is the latest high-profile figure to leave Nintendo in recent months. Respected trio Robert Saunders, Dawn Paine and Rob Lowe all left positions at the company within the last year.
Nintendo also revealed that Saturo Shibata (the European President of Nintendo) will work with the UK office until a replacement for Yarnton can be found.